Day 29

We mostly talked about precision measuring instruments today.

We were promised that we would have some shop time tomorrow. We've got a short list of tools we need to bring to class (finally), and we'll be using them (finally) to do something (finally) constructive... finally.

We measured some things (apparently most pencils are two-hundred and seventy five thousandths of an inch), and learned how to read micrometers to the ten-thousandth of an inch.

I bought some dial calipers on eBay, and when they showed up, they were broken.
So I ordered another set. It would be awesome as balls if they showed up today so I could use them tomorrow, but I doubt it. I'm not that lucky.

They're Starretts, (the ones I most recently bought), so even if they show up wonky, I can get them worked on-- unlike the Peacock calipers I bought the first time. I guess that's what I get for being a sucker for products with nifty brand names. I'll have to put it next to my Cockatrice food processor and Mudskipper of Borneo pencil sharpener.

He may not look like much, but he's a pencil-sharpening fool.

Day 28

Did you know that there are two kinds of cross-pointed screws and screwdrivers in common use in the United States today?

Chances are, if you own any tools at all, you own some of both.

Reed & Prince and Phillips.

Also, apparently they make toothless, gearless ratchets that work on spring or bearing tension. Cool, huh?

Somebody's Christmas list just got a little longer.

Also, we learned about what is called a Vixen file, which I had never heard of before. It's a deadly dangerous file about the size of a mill file designed for quickly removing soft metals from a structure. Yeesh. Dangeresque.

Day 27

Today we did some worksheets and talked to a guy from Southwest Airlines.

Until now, I was pretty sure that I didn't necessarily want to work for an airline.

But the more time I spend talking to people, the more I realize that this is where all of the money is.

I like the idea of working in General Aviation. To me, that seems to get to the heart and soul of what being an aircraft mechanic would be all about. In the airline industry, one can get paid a lot more, but with a lot more stress and the nonsensical crappery of seniority and shift work.

Plus an individual has to be willing to move around quite a bit in order to even get started with an airline.

But, then again, I like to travel. What an opportunity that would be.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to work assembly. That's not really my speed. I would be selling myself short, to be honest, and I've been doing that my whole life.

I don't want to do that anymore.

I guess I'll see what the future holds, but it was indeed great to talk to someone who had started as an A&P student and worked up to management within a company as illustrious and apparently great to work for as Southwest.

Hell. I'll just be happy to get a job.

Day 26

Today we learned about aircraft fasteners.


Holy shit, there's a lot to know about aircraft fasteners.

Nuts, bolts, rivets, pints, et cetera.

With my background, I knew that the world of fasteners was large, but I didn't really appreciate the depth and complexity that specific types of fasteners could go into.

Sheesh.

Good news is that I'm learning how to read the codes associated with metals. Things like what the "1060" in "1060 aluminum" means. I've always wondered, but never really had a reason to go and look it up.

Now I know.

My current knife's blade is 8Cr13MoV It's a low-end Chinese steel, but at least I know what all of that gibberish means, now.

Day 25

Today we started learning about aircraft structural materials.

Aircraft were once composed primarily of wood and fabric.
They were light, sure, but they required constant maintenance, and were susceptible to being eaten by moths and termites. What a bummer...

Then, as we learned to alloy materials to take the strength properties of some materials and blend them with the weight-saving properties of others, we began to make aircraft from steel and aluminum. It was with this generation of aircraft that humans were able to break the sound barrier and go to the moon.

Now new aircraft are mostly made of aluminum and composite; woven fiberglass with thermoplastic resin, Kevlar, glass-filled nylon, et cetera. Lighter, stronger, and faster.

This leads me to wonder what could possibly be next.

I'll just take a stab in the dark here and imagine that we will begin to emulate nature. Millions of years of evolutionary biology have given birds the wings and ease of flight we're not yet capable of. Most of the bird's airframe weight is in its internal organs, which can't be made any lighter. But their bones and feathers are essentially hollow structures. Maybe, as time goes on, we'll be able to impregnate our synthetics and composites with air (or lighter-than-air gasses) to reduce the effects of gravity.

We've pushed the aerodynamic envelope about as far as we can go.
Who knows what the next 50 years holds for structural material?

Days 22, 23, 24

We continued drawing, learned about charts (one called a nomograph... nom nom nom), and then today, we took the exam for Aviation Science.

I'm glad to get that behind me.

Mathematics, physics, aerodynamics, aircraft blueprints, drawings and charts. Gas mechanics, fluid dynamics, a few basic electrical principles and a whole lot of drawing out of the way.

We watched what might possibly be one of the more excruciating instructional videos ever conceived. It covered the basics of engineering drawings. I'm pretty sure the VC used it to torture American POWs.

In any event, I'm glad to have Aviation Science behind me. Next course is Shop Practices. We start tomorrow, and I'm pretty stoked.

Next week we'll finally be bringing some tools to school. A few hand tools and some dial calipers, but that should be sufficient to get my hands dirty.  The instructor has done an excellent job of mixing the classes up so we don't spend too much time at once in the classroom. I'm sure this tactic has helped his course completion percentages.

We've lost two of our original group so far. One just quit showing up, and the other took a full time position somewhere else. I foresee losing at least two more. But maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

Oh, I got a 100 on the aviation science final, by the way. Which, according to my records, should give me an A for the class. Thats two courses, two As.

I guess I'm satisfied with that.


Yesterday we took a field trip to go see the Space Shuttle trainer, which is now permanently housed in Amarillo, Texas. It was neat to be in a NASA craft. To touch one still warm from flight, and to know that nobody had come in and wiped the seats down between the time the real professionals landed and we were allowed to board.

Really cool stuff.



The aircraft itself is a Gulfstream II. They're not cheap craft, and they're well-built. I think, if the information I was given is correct, that this was the only craft currently in production which met the glide requirements for NASA. That could be jibberjabber, but the G2 did its job for many astronauts.

It is now being kept in a location where I can go see it anytime I feel like it.

Awesome.

(I'm still holding out for a decommissioned SR-71.)

Day 19, 20, 21

We drew and drew and drew some more.

I now know more about blueprints, drawings and schematics than I ever thought I would.

I have an idea for a product which, if it hasn't already been patented, could make me some money. My guess is that it's already been put down on paper somewhere, just not marketed. We shall see.

Tomorrow is a test on aircraft drawings. Like most tests, I'm not concerned.

Thursday is a test on Aviation Science, then we move on to Shop Practices. I'm excited about this; ready to get out of the classroom for a bit.

Day 18

I used a protractor today for the first time since.... 7th grade?

We seem to be spending what seems to me to be an inordinate amount of time on drawings. Maybe it will be necessary, maybe it won't.

Day 17

Test Tomorrow. I'm not all that concerned about it.  Basic aerodynamics and some simple physics. Should be pretty simple.

I learned something neat yesterday.

I had always wondered what the purpose of winglets are.

Winglets are the small vertical protrusions on the wingtips of some aircraft.

Those are winglets.

I had always imagined that they had some sort of function for aerodynamics or control, but I never knew what they really did.

Well, now I know.

As an airfoil (in this case a wing) goes through the air the pressure differential created is what produces lift. Since air wants to reach equilibrium and functions like a fluid, the low pressure air at the tips of the wings are prone to basically slip off of the ends of the wing to the high pressure side. When they do this, any potential lift is destroyed.

Winglets come very close to eliminating this phenomenon by creating a buffer between the low and high pressure sides which is more difficult for the air to overcome by moving along the lateral axis of the plane (the way it does without winglets).

While winglets are an obvious source of drag, the lift they help produce (or maintain, as it were) compensates for any added weight or induced drag.

Winglets also (also) eliminate the vortices which are a common source of drag, and add to the problem of lateral lift loss.

Pretty neat, huh?

Today we talked about aircraft and basic electrical drawings. Nothing earth-shattering, but interesting nonetheless.  There's an electrical diagram symbol for "Space Station." It's a boxy thing with a circle in it. Definitely not Buck Rogers approved.

I've been looking over the study guide for the test, and I'm really not too worried about anything at all.
One thing that surprises me of the things that we've apparently learned that I've since forgotten is that wet air (air with a absolute humidity) weighs less than dry air. That doesn't really make a lot of sense to me at first, but when I start to think about it, the water is vaporized and floats about in the air, instead of condensing and falling out. That means that the water is ligher than or as light as the air.

So, there ya go-- winglets and wet air.

Day 16

Classes started on August 11, and today is September 12.  One month down. 20 to go.

That's not to say that this isn't interesting or educational (far from it), but my schedule is kind of starting to wear me down.  I'll be glad when this is over and I can have some time at home with my wife again. As it is, I don't get to do much goofing off. Perhaps that will change in the future.

Enough about that. We finished up the aerodynamics portion of the Aviation Science course today.  We'll be taking the Aviation Science exam on the 22nd.  I'm not too concerned about it. The Jeppesen study guide is the source for most of our exam questions, so there's no reason for me not to rock these exams. 

I learned that the SR-71, my favorite aircraft since I was a child, leaks fuel when on the ground.

But the craft flies so fast, that the air friction heats up the entire plane, causing enough expansion to seal the leaks. This was an intentional design.

Apparently, they put just enough fuel in the SR-71 to get it to a refueling altitude, then refuel it in the air, and they either dump or burn the rest of the fuel before landing so they don't have to clean up any leaks.

This thing is like magic, and it always blew my mind as a kid. The fastest, highest, longest flying aircraft. It looks like a knife from outer space.

Today, it's outdated, and likely to be completely scrapped. Satellites can do its job better, faster and with less risk.

The SR-71 still looks to me like it shouldn't be able to even fly.

We also learned about shockwaves, sonic booms, and how and why air condenses around vortexes around the airframe.

If the humidity is high enough, sonic booms become visible as the rapid depressurization of air around the shockwave drops the temperature of the air, which momentarily condenses invisible water vapor into visible water vapor.

Like so:

Anyway, neat stuff!

Day 15

We talked bout physics and general fluid and gas mechanics today.

Nothing spectacular. Pretty much everything we learned in high school.

Day 14

Finally! Something to write about.

So today after we took our math test (glad that's over), a guy named Mark came in and talked to the class. He is currently a technical trainer at a local aircraft manufacturing facility and would be the person to whom we would all listen to if we went to work out there.

He has a lot of experience in the industry, has worked all over the US, and knows a lot of people in a lot of places.

By the time it was over, I was feeling more like I didn't want to work for a manufacturer, and more like I wanted to actually work on aircraft instead of just put them together.

______________________________________________

We took a field trip to see some local General Aviation mechanics.
I think this is what I would like to do.
We shall see. I know it was really impressed by their work environment, and their attitudes towards their jobs.

Day 12

Today we did more stinking math.  It's not difficult, just time consuming.

Day 11

Today....


we did math.


That is all.

Day 10

Today, we did math. Hooray.

Day 9

Today was Day 1 of Aviation Science.



We first discussed number systems, their history and development. We talked about nautical miles vs. statute miles, and discussed the shortcomings of each.

Nautical miles have a fixed value, but change depending on your location on the globe, since they measure degrees. A Nautical mile at the equator is different from a nautical mile 3 miles South of the North Pole.

But, since nautical miles have a given value at equator (1 60th a degree / 1.15 statue miles)  they can be figured for speed rather than distance, measured in knots.

Then we did 275 math problems. Almost all of them were simple, and repetitive, but served as a useful refresher. We reviewed ratios and percentages, which will apparently be really important in our chosen field. Fractions and their decimal equivalents were discussed at length, as was scientific notation.

We were informed at the end of class today that we have the opportunity to clep out of the math portion. So tonight, while I'm at work, I'm going to attempt something I've never done before: become a mathematical autodidact.

Lets hope it turns out better than this: