news from the Congress 11/16/03

ASME Congress Hosts “100 Years of Flight” Panel Session; Mechanical Engineering Magazine’s Flight Supplement Unveiled (11/16/03)

Benedict Bahner
ASME NEWS

WASHINGTON — Three experts from the aerospace industry weighed in on the subject of the first century of aviation history – and what they thought lay in the future for the aerospace industry – tonight at the “100 Years of Flight” plenary session at the ASME Congress here in Washington.

Approximately 500 people turned out for the session, which was sponsored by Mechanical Engineering magazine. Members of the audience were given the first-available copies of the magazine's special issue 100 Years of Flight, which will be sent to members with the December issue of Mechanical Engineering.

After a greeting from ASME President Reginald Vachon and an introduction by the session’s moderator, John Falcioni, editor-in-chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine, the program started with a presentation by Dan Mooney, vice president of Product Development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

From left: John Falcioni, Dan Mooney, Amanda Wright-Lane, Victor Lebacqz, and Mal O'Neill.

Mooney’s topic for the talk was “Leveraging Technology Into Success,” and he provided attendees with an outline of some of Boeing’s greatest contributions to the history of flight, from an early plane that could carry just two passengers and some airmail, to the introduction of the 707, which ushered in the Jet Age. After that, the company produced the Boeing 747 in the 1960s (and is still produced to this day) and, in the 1990s, the 777, which provided jet travel with lower fuel consumption, less noise and fewer flight accidents.

Mooney then discussed what he saw in the future for Boeing — its next jet vehicle, the 7E7, which he said will provide significantly more fuel efficiency than previous models, a quieter ride for passengers and less noise for people who live in neighborhoods adjacent to airports.

Next, Mal O'Neill, vice president & chief technical officer, Lockheed Martin, gave a talk on this company’s contributions, including the World War II era jet-engine aircraft the P-38 “Lightning,” which was built in less than 5 months and first flew in 1943.

As for Lockheed Martin’s contribution to the future of flight, O’Neill noted the company’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the state-of-the-art fighter plane that is not only used by the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines, but the British Navy and Marine Corps as well.

The panel’s final speaker, Victor Lebacqz is acting associate administrator for NASA's Office of Aerospace Technology. Lebacqz’s discussion touched on some of the NASA projects he felt were particularly important, including the Helios remotely operated, solar-paneled flexible air vehicle.

In the future, Lebacqz pointed to the X43A Hyper X Vehicle, which is built to fly at Mach 7, as a project worth following. After one failed flight attempt, NASA is currently readying the craft for another flight test next January.

Also at the ceremony, ASME presented an honorary Spirit of St. Louis award to Amanda Wright-Lane, great-grandniece of flight pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright.

 

Villanova Students Mine Gold at the ASME Student Design Contest

WASHINGTON — This year for the ASME Student Design Competition, student teams had to build prototypes of a device that would be able to assist a mountain mining operation reduce the energy consumption of their equipment, using gravity by tapping into the natural resources of local mountain streams for potential energy to lift ore from the earth. A two-member student team from Villanova University walked off with the top prize in today’s finals.

This year's contest, called "Moving On Up," had participating ASME student members build machines that would employ the gravitational potential energy stored in two liters of water to lift as much long-grain rice (simulated ore) as possible up a 1-meter high ramp, and deposit it in a receiving bin at the top of the simulated mine.

The 13 teams taking part in the Student Design Competition finals today were from universities in the United States and Hong Kong. Each team was the winner of the design competition in their ASME Region.

Charles Hurst presents Timm Strayer (center) and Hyung Jung with the first prize trophy for their contest entry.

First prize went to Villanova University ASME student members Timm Strayer and Hyung Jung for their entry, which lifted its payload to the top of the ramp in a fashion similar to a ski-lift. Strayer and Jung, who represented ASME Region III, won the $3,000 top prize, and their student section will receive $1,000.

“It went as well as we could ask,” Strayer said after he and Jung had their turn in the contest. “We played it semi-risky,” he added, since the two of them attempted a particularly heavy payload. But in the end, “it worked perfectly,” Jung said.

Michael Montesinos and Robert Dancer from LeTourneau University (Region X) secured second prize in the contest with their entry. They received $1,000 for their efforts; their student section will get $500.

The four-member team from University of Kentucky – Lexington (Region VI) won third prize: $500 to the students, and $250 to their student section. The members of that team are Nicholas Rueff, Russell Lucas, Jason Webb and Joseph Masterson.

The other teams who competed in the finals today included the University of Vermont (from Region I), City College/CUNY (Region II), North Carolina State University (Region IV), Michigan State University (Region V), the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (Region VII), Oregon State University (Region VIII), California State University – Northridge (Region IX), University of Southern Alabama (Region XI), Colorado State University – Pueblo (Region XII), and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Region XIII).

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