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The Dormoy Bathtub

This one-of-a-kind flying flivver holds a special place in aviation lore

By Micah Ciampa

Once upon a time, the economy was in a depression, fuel was expensive and resources were scarce. This was the era of the flying flivver, a 1920's shade-tree mechanic’s precursor to the dream of a personal jet-pack or helicopter in every garage. Had those dreams come to fruition, we would be looking at mid-air traffic jams during rush hour instead of bumper-to-bumper highways.

One of the weirdest flying flivvers made was the Dormoy Bathtub, the hardware store brainchild of Etienne Dormoy. Born in France in 1885, Dormoy became a draftsmen for Deperdussin in 1911, where he perfected a technique using thin strips of wood glued over a form to create a strong wooden monocoque fuselage structure. Monocoque is a french word meaning "single shell" referring to construction where the skin of the fuselage is the structure, as opposed to an internal frame with non-structural cover. Most modern light airplane fuselages are metal monocoque.

Deperdussin was known for producing some of the earliest monoplanes and the first monocoque fuselages, which were unusually aerodynamically clean and fast for the time. Founder Armand Deperdussin had been a traveling salesmen and cabaret singer in Brussels and Liege, Belgium, who later made his personal fortune in the silk business. Deperdussin was charged with fraud in 1913 and imprisoned until 1917 when he was tried and convicted of funding his aviation business and expensive lifestyle by borrowing against his silk business secured with forged receipts. After his conviction he served no more time in prison, out of consideration for his being a first-time offender and his contribution to French aviation and the war effort. Unfortunately, Deperdussin committed suicide in 1924.

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Space Bound

As the commercial space flight industry develops, four main players are taking to orbit

By Jack Ferguson

A childhood dream for many of us is quickly becoming a reality: space travel. Commercial space flight for the masses—or a few of the masses at least—is conceivably just a couple of years away. We’re not talking about a sketchy $20 million trip aboard aging Russian spacecraft where peanuts and cocktails are out of the questions and Right Stuff-like preparation is mandatory; but Disneyland-type space rides for regular humanoids in Hawaiian print shirts and khaki shorts. Ticket prices are a bit stepper than a typical theme park, with initial fares set at roughly $200k per passenger. But hey, that seems fair for a great view and five minutes of weightlessness. For pilots, there could even be a new rating system to allow for the word “astronaut” somewhere on the standard FAA license.

Many have heard of the initial few private space explorers, mainly American Dennis Tito, who was the first private and very privileged citizen in space. Virginia-based Space Adventures (SA) organizes these trips aboard Russian Soyuz missions to the International Space Station. SA acts like a space ride travel agent, booking clients on already planned, nationally funded space missions. What’s interesting, however, is the number of private companies going full bore into this high stakes market with proprietary spacecraft and the variety of options being considered, from recycled Learjets to 1950’s sci-fi-movie-styled rocket ships. At this point there appear to be roughly four primary players who have a reasonable chance of getting you space bound in the next few years. Here’s a brief look at the main players, what they have planned and, of course, their spaceships.

Virgin Galactic is certainly the most popular and well-publiscized of the group. Billing itself as the world’s first “spaceline” the company plans on using an improved second generation version of Spaceship One which won the $10 million X prize in 2004 for a privately developed craft to break the magical 62-mile barrier (recognized as the arbitrary line that separates Earth’s atmosphere and space). Spaceship Two (SS2) will be flown to roughly 50,000 feet MSL via the White Knight Two (WK2), its airplane-based launch system. Upon release from the White Knight, SS2 willa light off it’s rockets and blast to 360,000 feet MSL in what is surely to be an exciting 90 seconds. SS2 will quietly linger for approximately five minutes before gravity’s pull begins to lure the ship earthbound. The SS2 features a very unique solution for the issues of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. By feathering it’s wings, SS2 drastically increases drag and automatically creates the optimum attitude for re-entry. This system reduces heat and makes the process less dangerous than it currently is. Once safely inside Earth’s protective bubble, SS2 will then enjoy a relatively dull glide back to base.

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Lava Lamps and Cumulus Clouds

Summertime serves up some crazy weather patterns, especially over the Great Plains

By Jack Ferguson

Last week at a party, I was trying to explain to a friend what causes those fluffy, cotton ball shaped cumulus clouds, when I saw the perfect tabletop example inside a lava lamp. Wow! You’ve got a hot plate below (the earth's warm surface), the beautiful parcels of heated air (custard colored globs of some secret greasy substance), and convection (those globs floating to the top and then back down).

Late spring and early summer are the peak seasons for convection, because the Earth’s surface is hotter, which in turn heats the air just above it. Those jolts of moderate turbulence we all feel while flying are the updrafts and downdrafts associated with this process. So how can we know that we’re going to be in for a rough ride when the skies are clear in the morning, the air really calm, and all the planes at our flight school are available?

One quick-and-dirty way Colorado pilots can find out, is by simply going to the Denver National Weather Service's Web page at www.crh.noaa.gov/bou, and clicking on the soaring forecast. Look at the soaring thermal index. If it’s rated “good” or better, odds are your ride's going to be a regular puke machine for the passengers. You can even find out what time the bumps begin by looking at the table where it shows the time of first lift. This analysis �done by a meteorologist who is also a pilot�does all the technical dirty work that we had to learn in ground school regarding lapse rates and stability. But what if you’re leaving for that cross-country, mother-of-all-time building trips to Kansas, Nebraska or the Dakotas? Obviously you can check for airmets that call for moderate turbulence. Then find out where the lowest cloud layer is and fly above it if you can.

While we’re on the subject of flying above those fluffy clouds, remember that even if it’s 80 degrees at lower elevations, it can be freezing at 11,000 feet. Remember what happens to those fluffy cumulus clouds when the temperature drops to near freezing? Yep, those droplets in the cloud become super cooled, which means that they’re still in a liquid state until they hit the leading edges of your plane. When that happens, the wings no longer develop adequate lift and the plane turns into a flying popsicle.

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Paper Airplanes and The Final Frontier

In an effort to study new designs for winged space travel and perhaps save a few bucks, Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo are working on paper planes that will be launched from the International Space Station. Somehow, the design will allow these origami planes to withstand the force and heat of re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere. In wind tunnel tests, the roughly 2-by-3-inch planes held up to Mach 7 speeds (5,390 mph) and temperatures of 446 degrees Fahrenheit.

Kites: The New Green Energy Source

Not sure about this one, but some folks are taking the idea of kites being used to harness wind energy for the creation of electricity quite seriously. Milan, Italy-based Kite Gen is working on a system that would allow a group of paraglider-like airfoils to spin a ground based carousel. Each kite would be controlled via wench-based cables with airfoil-based sensors allowing the system to automatically adjust tension to control flight path and thus energy production. While seemingly bizarre, the system allows it’s tethered kites, flying up to 3,200 feet AGL, to take advantage of the more consistent winds aloft, unlike conventional land-based wind turbines. Where a typical wind turbine might cost $1.3 million, a kite-based system providing the same energy would run $95,000.

Zeppelin Come Back Tour

Some people may not know the difference between a blimp and it’s lighter than air (LTA) brother the Zeppelin. A blimp has no internal structure and, therefore, it’s engines must be mounted from the cabin or gondola. The mighty Zeppelin has a rigid internal frame that allows the engine to be mounted on the side of the hull. This fact makes the Zeppelin quieter and more efficient. San Francisco, Calif.-based Airship Ventures, which recently raised $8 million in private equity, plans to import the German produced Zeppelin airship to offer scenic flights, advertising and research capabilities. The ship can hold 12 passengers and has a useful load of 4,300 pounds. Maximum level flight speed is 79 mph.

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Sucked Through a Window

MYTH: Passengers will get sucked out of an airplane if a window breaks

REALITY: While it is possible - and has happened - it is extremely unlikely

By Brendan Harrington

U.S. Marshalls Pete Nessip and his brother Terry were escorting a federal prison inmate aboard a commercial airplane when the unthinkable happened. A group of terrorists attempted to hijack the plane, leading Nessip to fire his sidearm and put a bullet through the fuselage. This small bullet hole quickly expanded and sucked Terry out of the plane to his death.

Nessip, played by Wesley Snipes, felt responsible for the accident and his brother’s...Wait a minute...Wesley Snipes? That’s right, the entire incident was fictitious, part of the 1994 skydiving-action film Drop Zone. In reality, a bullet hole could not cause this kind of damage and the likelihood of somebody being ejected through a hole in an airplane is extremely low.

Hollywood has conditioned us to believe that passengers would quickly be sucked through any opening in the skin of an airplane. While the sudden change of pressure would cause a vacuum effect, potentially sucking or pushing people and objects out of the cabin, it requires an extraordinary set of circumstances for it to actually happen. First, the plane would need to have sufficient altitude for the air pressure outside to be significantly lower than the artificial pressure inside. Most commercial flights will achieve enough altitude for this to happen, but a Cessna flying at 10,000 feet would not have enough pressure differential to cause problems. Second, the opening would need to be large enough for the person or object to fit through. And, third, the person or object would need to be close to the hole, and unsecured.

A simple crack—or bullet hole, for Wesley Snipes—would not be enough to depressurize the cabin of an airplane, much less create a gaping hole. In fact, depressurization, not a human-sucking vacuum effect, is the real danger in penetrating the fuselage at high altitude. Rapid cabin depressurization is very blatant, and can be corrected by a rapid descent. Gradual depressurization, however, is difficult to notice and can literally creep up on the crew, causing hypoxia and the inability to think or function normally, even complete loss of consciousness. This gradual loss of pressure is likely what doomed Payne Stewart’s Learjet in 1999, the Helios Airways Boeing 737 over Greece in 2005, and others.

Instant loss of pressure, due to a window or door popping out, can—and has—cause hydraulic failure and loss of control. But, as for sucking an unsuspecting passenger out, well...that can happen too.

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