NASA “Civetta”

 aircraft, projects  1 Response »
Mar 282009
 

A “Personal Air Vehicle” (PAV) from NASA_Langley, circa 2003-2005. Yet another in a long line of designs that would, it was hoped, bring Flight To The Masses. Regardless of the technology of the aircraft, though, there will always be one major impediment to Flight For The Masses within the United States… the FAA. As anyone with even a slight medical issues (such as me with my asymptomatic Type 2 Diabetes) can usually attest, the FAA is not exactly interested in the filling the sky with pilots.

This particular PAV concept used a mid-mounted engine with a long drive shaft to power an aft fan. The idea was to create a vehicle with certain capabilities, acronymed EQuiPT (Easy-to-use, Quiet, Personal Transportation). An automotive engine coupled with a shrouded fan would, hopefully, produce a relatively simple and easy to maintain design with minimum noise.

• Length: 8.08 m (26.5 ft)
• Height: 3.29 m (10.8 ft)
• Wing Span: 11.89 m (39.0 ft)
• Wing Area: 15.10 m^2 (162.5 ft^2)
• Cabin Length: 2.53 m (8.3 ft)
• Cabin Width: 1.40 m (4.6 ft)
• Cabin Height: 1.22 m (4.0 ft)
• Cabin Volume: 3.91 m^3 (138.0 ft^3)
• Gross Weight: 1633 kg (3600 lb)
• Empty Weight: 1111 kg (2450 lb)
• Useful Load: 522 kg (1150 lb)
• Fuel Capacity: 322 l (85 gal)
• Engine: Chevrolet LS-1 V8
• Power: 224 kW (300 hp)
• Cruise Speed: 302 km/hr (163 kts)
• Cruise efficiency: 5.4 km/l (11.1 nm/gal)
• Cruise Fuel Flow: 55.3 l/hr (14.6 gal/hr)
• Landing Speed: 96 km/hr (52 kts)
• Landing Gear: Fixed Tricycle

NASA continues to study the PAV idea.

And yes, the pics are small and crappy.

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Read nothing more about PAVs in the latest Issue of Aerospace Projects Review!

 Posted by at 11:04 am

YouTube star summoned to White House?

 news, Obamazombies, politics  2 Responses »
Mar 272009
 

If true, this is… interesting. Since it comes from Whirled Nuts Daily, the likelihood of it being accurate is questionable. But if true, it’s a headscratcher.

The man who created two phenomenally successful “We The People” YouTube videos urging Americans to stand up against Congress and reclaim their republic now – or perhaps lose it forever – reportedly has been summoned to the White House by President Obama to discuss the subject matter of the short films.

Bob Basso, who posts videos under the name funbobbasso on YouTube, has created videos in which he portrays Thomas Paine, author of the “Common Sense” pamphlet that made the case for independence during the American Revolution.

His videos are certainly non-Obamist. Here and Here.

I would suggest that Basso make damn sure that he’s got cameras recording the whole time. Is there going to be some sort of mysterious transformation of Mr. Basso between the time he enters and the time he leaves? Or is this yet another example of 0bamas inexperience, setting himself up for trouble?

I certainly hope not the former. Clearly, 0bama’s at least part hypnotoad. How else to explain the armies of Obots?

Hopenotoad?

 Posted by at 1:06 pm

Boeing Spanloader

 aircraft, drawings, projects  4 Responses »
Mar 272009
 

A 1976 report to NASA details a few Boeing concepts for span-loaded cargo aircraft. Spanloaders use fat wings… wings fat enough that the cargo goes in them rather than the fuselage. The purpose of this is that it distributes the weight of the cargo along the wing, lowering stresses on the wing (while conventional aircraft have massively heavy fuselages  attached at basically a single point to lightweight wings, meaning a massive point loading and moment arm). Obviously, the idea has never caught on. This sort of thing really only works for LARGE cargo lifters, and there’s a limited market for those. Additionally, they require very wide runways, something not needed by conventional cargolifters.

The initial Boeing model 759-163A, with 600,000 pounds payload (payload bays sized for both standard freight containers and to hold M-60 tanks). Note the offset cockpit.

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In-flight view of the refined model 759-165A.spanloader-1.jpg

General arrangement drawing of Model 759-165A. It would cruise at Mach 0.68, 28,000 feet, for a range of 3000 nautical miles. Payload would be 697,800 pounds.
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A wide range of sizes were possible.

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 Posted by at 12:07 pm

TelePrompterPres Phones It In

 dumbassery, Obamazombies, politics  1 Response »
Mar 242009
 

Some notes from 0bama and tonights “press conference:”

1) 0bama’s an ignoramous. He doesn’t know how to pronounce “Orion.” Like it’s *that* fricken hard. And even if on the odd chance he’s never heard of it – unlikely, given the constellation AND Project Constellation, which as President he really aught to be aware of – it shows he’s a lazy schmuck who couldn’t be bothered to try to know what he was going to be yapping about in advance.

“Orion?”

“Oar-ree-un.”

“You’re putting me on.”

2) Speaking of which… he got rid of the teleprompter.

And replaced it with a big screen TV waaaaaaay in the back, where nobody would see it. Except some people with cameras.

I guess it’s too damned bad the teleprompter doesn’t spell things out fo-ne-tick-lee.

3) Atlas Shrugged “Life Imitates Art Alert:”

We’ll recover from this recession, but it will take time, it will take patience and it will take an understanding that, when we all work together, when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interest to the wider set of obligations we have towards each other, that’s when we succeed, that’s when we prosper and that’s what is needed right now. Via Yahoo

Ah, “social responsibilities.”

 Posted by at 11:03 pm

“Enough photos”

 cats, photography  No Responses »
Mar 232009
 

Raedthinn  is by far my most photogenic cat. Koshka, who I think is the prettiest of my cats, can’t stand to be photographed; Tak is just a dumbass. But even for Raedthinn, the paparazzi can get to be a bit too much after a while, especially when the flash is going off.

img_0182.jpg  img_0186.jpg  img_0188.jpg

 Posted by at 10:40 am
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