Aerospace Education
LCCS Aerospace Education
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) promotes and supports aerospace education, both for its own members and the general public. CAP educational programs help prepare American citizens to meet the challenges of a sophisticated aerospace society and understand its related issues.
The Lewis County CAP Squadron is committed to Aerospace Education Excellence through rich experiences such as filed trips to aerospace facilities, vibrant hands-on activities, and the promotion of aerospace education exploration through CAP published study guides and materials.
External AE Takes Flight in Lewis County
Lewis County Composite Squadron Aerospace Education Officer, Captain Eric
Corder, and his daughter, Cadet Airman Jessica Corder, took their message to the
streets, well Adna Elementary School. As part of the CAP's vision to take external
aerospace education to the community, he spent an hour with Mrs. Berg's fourth grade
class in May. This was a trial for us to see if this was something good for both the
CAP and the fourth graders. And you know what? It was, and will be in the future, he
said.
This was the first time he took part in AE instruction outside the squadron and he
was promptly invited back. I would like to partner with the school under the Aero-
space Education Membership program and look at implementing the "fly a teacher"
program as well, he said. When asked if it was a success, he grinned, The kids absolutely loved it. They were so inquisitive and attentive and showed a lot of respect. Although, one little girl kept referring to me as Captain Underpants, much to the chagrin of the teacher, but what are you going to do? They're fourth graders! Don't even think about it cadets....
Capt Corder spent time telling them of the roles of the CAP and then did some activities with them. One activity is from the AEX booklet where you demonstrate how a wing produces lift by air rushing over the top. This is easily done with card stalk and a hair dryer. The final activity was a paper airplane building seminar complete in CAP red, white, and blue paint scheme. The students then went outside to test their airplane building prowess. Capt Corder looks forward to future time in the classroom with prospective cadets and is proud to represent the Lewis County Composite Squadron.
Aerospace and NASA
Gulfstream Aerospace and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center tested the structural integrity of a telescopic 'Quiet Spike' sonic boom mitigator on a NASA F-15B testbed aircraft. The Quiet Spike was developed as a means of controlling and reducing the sonic boom caused by an aircraft 'breaking' the sound barrier.
Made of advanced composite materials, the Quiet Spike weighed some 470 pounds and extended from 14 feet in subsonic flight to 24 feet in supersonic flight. Since March 2004, when Gulfstream was awarded a patent for the Quiet Spike, the device had been through extensive ground testing, including wind-tunnel testing, to arrive at the point where it was installed on an F-15B aircraft and flown. The F-15B is capable of flying at speeds in excess of Mach 2.0, or two times the speed of sound.
Once the Quiet Spike had proven to be structurally sound, it could be incorporated with confidence onto advanced low-boom configuration aircraft to further control and mitigate adverse acoustic impacts of supersonic flight. The hope was for the Quiet Spike to become an important means of changing the traditional N-wave sonic boom into smooth and more rounded pressure waves, shaped roughly like a sine wave or a sideways "S." This change in the wave shape resulted in a softer sound that is quieter than the Concorde sonic boom by a factor of 10,000.
Fun Aerospace Education Links
Live Air Traffic Controllers communications
Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Home of the Spruce Goose!
An amazing Space Website called...Amazing Space