Literary Review

After doing research at the library, there was no information on the Hokie Flying Club, so I have expanded my search region to student pilots and aircraft construction and maintanence. I chose these topics because at a college airport, there are a great number of student pilots, and I am looking into becoming a pilot, so it is only natural for me to direct my research towards something I am passionate about. Secondly, I am leaning towards aircraft construction and airport maintanence because there are many sources on this available at the library.

The first is the book "Inventory and aviation demand forecasts phase of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Airport master plan." (Sit, Tak Po. 1975) which outlines the projected airport needs at VT. In addition, there has been several recent articles written about the FAA safety standards and the needed changes that the VT Airport is currently undergoing. These changes directly affect the Hokie Flying Club, and are therefore useful to my research. The airport is currently undergoing numerous changes, and these resources will be very beneficial in my research. This book is on hold after being transported from storage, and the other articles are online.

I also have three books on the world of Sport Aviation, which includes recreational flying and aircraft construction. Since Aircraft construction has been the backbone of recreational flying advances, I found this to be a worthy starting point when researching recreational flying clubs such as the HFC. These books ("The World of Sport Aviation", Davison; "Design for Flying", Thurston; "Build Your Own Sportplane", Dwiggins.) outline the past methods used by recreational aircraft construction as well as detailing the present need and demands for recreational aerial vehicles. Most of the 17,000 runways across the United States are only available to recreational pilots, which shows the widespread use of private recreational pilots. These books offer great insight into flying clubs and recreational flying, which will be a great point of comparison to the Hokie Flying Club.

Cookie Cravings...

Oh wow I had a craving for a homemade cookie, so I decided to make a batch in my dorm room. I was told it was impossible, by several sources that is. Ok, so I had $15 to spend, which included buying the cookie dough. I splurged and got the $5 tub, which left $10 for the "oven". So I built an easy bake oven (half in my room and half on the bus on the way back). Oh, and it takes about 30 mins to cook, but they are supurb!

What if?

What if people cared as much about the 2 million people who die each year due to lack of clean water as the discomfort of the new FB? God Bless America...

Preparing for Bliss

Oh, wow. I spent the last 3 hours in preparation for the most glorified goal a southern boy can have....making sweet tea. Took the bus, went to Wal-Mart, bought the tea bags and sweetener....Let the adventure begin. A month without tea is far, far, far too long....and this is going to be the best tea ever.

Site Visits....

Well, over the last week I have visited the airport multiple times, and I have talked to several people about flying at Blacksburg and becoming a student pilot. Blacksburg/Montgomery Executive Airport is a fairly large airport, about 4500 feet long. This is planned to be lengthened by nearly 1000 feet in early 2009. Also, there is pressure from the FAA to demolish a gas station (and relocate it) because it falls within the safety buffer on one end of the runway. If the business is not moved, Federal funding will be cut. I also learned that there have been only two crashes involving planes taking off from Blacksburg Airport, with only 1 fatality.

I have been in contact with a few instructor pilots (since Hokie Flying Club refuses to respond to my emails), and they said they are always excited about student pilots. New River Aero, a company at the airport (very similar to Hokie Flying Club with the exception that they teach as well) said that it takes the average student pilot about 65 flight hours to get enough experience for the private pilots license. They charge $158 an hour for this, so it becomes quite expensive ($10,000) for the license. They rent planes to pilots though, which is much needed given the fact that most pilots do not have there own plane.

As I have visited the airport, I have noticed that at about 11 PM the airport shuts down for incoming and outgoing flights. The main terminal has hours from 8-6, but I have often seen planes land after 6 PM. One time I was sitting on a hill about 100 yards off the end of the runway, watching a plane take off and land. It was about 10 PM, with no moon, and it was beautiful to see all the runway lights and the stars with the plane practicing taking off and landing. I watched the plane take off and land three times, each time making a big loop over the campus and the surrounding hills. It was a Cessna 152, a two seat training plane, and the sound of the propeller revving and waning was melodious. There is just something about flying that man has always desired.

I plan to move forward by taking an introductory flight with New River Aero, and talking to two other student pilots which I know. One has actually taking me flying before on a grass runway (she got her license 1.5 yrs ago, and is in HS) and the other person is a fully trained pilot but is lacking his license. These resources will be beneficial in my studies of flying in Blacksburg and student flying.

Trees.

So, does anyone else have a great sense of awe around trees? Just take a moment to think about how graceful they are, how the branches seem to just float out in utter stillness from the trunk. Gracefully hovering above us, shading us and giving home and refuge to numerous animals. What amazing design, and yet every tree is unique!

Course Goals? Sure.

Ok, so this year in 1204H I need am seeking to grow in many areas of writing and research. But before I really begin to grow and make progress, I need to set goals that I can progress towards, keeping my learning focused in order to make the most of my time. So, I have set three goals for this course:

1. To learn how to perform research and then accurately relay what I have discovered to others. This will be much needed in whichever area of Engineering I go into, as research and then relaying that information is key to all fields.

2. To learn how to vary my sentence structure (fancy word: syntax) to better capture the attention of my audience and to better relay information learned. I feel that most of my writing structure is plain and can become boring without syntax variation.

3. To learn how to open and close a research paper. This will be a needed skill for me later on in my career as I will be required to adequately document my research.

Interview Questions

Here are some questions I came up with for the interview(s) I will be involved in:

How did you get involved in aviation?
Why be a pilot in Blacksburg?
What was the moment/event when you realized you wanted to be a pilot?
What does the preflight and postflight procedures look like?
What was the most interesting flight you ever did? Why?
Describe your first solo flight?
Do you ever want to own or build your own plane?
Who do you normally fly with?

Ok, So I know this is random, but...

Does anyone else have Chem Lab this Semester? If you do, take a look at the porcelain crucibles in the drawers in the labs. They are apparently made by "Coors", with the same logo as the alcoholic bottling company. Hmmmm. Does this make sense to anyone? Take a look for yourself if you are a bit skeptical. Talk about diversification! (or simply supporting all parts of higher education!)

Activity Observation: Volleyball

One - Zero. First Serve. He picked up the ball and lofts it over the net. Thud. Ugh, the opponent said as she missed the volleyball. Ok, service! Bummer, that one was a bit long, sorry! She goes to retrieve the ball which has now bounced past the chain link fence. "My serve" she says. The game continues with grunts and dives with sand flying as the contestants struggle to keep the ball in the air for just a little while longer. Soon it is tied at 5 points each, and even though neither one of the teams of three is very good, the fun they are having is quite evident in the laughter and smiles constantly flying with the volleyball. Soon the boundary lines drawn in the sand fade under the feet of the six players, but no-one seems to care because it is just another casual game of volleyball.

The game grinds to a halt momentarily as the score is questioned, probably due to the fact that no-one has called the score in several points. When the discussion fades to resumed play, the score is 13-10, with only two more points needed for a win. It seems the other side is going to make a comeback, but those hopes are dashed as the team on the closer side wins by a close two points. All six players chat after the game and decide to play again, with the addition of two more people who were standing around before. The play is still very casual and not too pretty, but they appear to be having alot of fun.

As for questions, I wonder how the games initially begin? Does a single person go out with a volleyball, or do two people go out and recruit two more people to get a game going? Sometimes the courts get quite full, so how does one begin play when there is a full court? Do they have to wait for the current people to get bored and leave, or is he/she entitled to play in the next game? It appears that since it is such a casual play style, there is little argument, and it sort of 'happens' on its own without many rules or regulations beyond the loose, tradition rules of volleyball.

If, by: Rudyard Kipling

I found this poem, and absolutely loved the video too. Hope you enjoy it as well and connect with it. I'm not a poetry person, but for some reason I really like this one.

Helpful Tip

Alright, for those of us who don't want to log onto Blogger every time to post something, here is a better plan, and it works wonders for me. There is a setting so that you can simply send an email to your blog, which then automatically and instantly posts itself. This is far easier for me since I usually have my email program running all the time. Ok, so here's how to do it.

First, sign in to your blog and go to where you normally post a new 'post'. Click on the settings tab at the top, and then click on the "Email" tab below that. There are two boxes on the "email" page, and the second one is how you set the email address for your blog posts. I put the word "send" in that box, so when I send an email to briansblog.send@blogger.com it automatically posts it to the blog. Don't forget that once you put text in that box, you must save it. Check and see if it works, and then add that email address to your address book. Blogging just got easier!

Oh, and when you send an email to that address, the Subject in the email becomes the header for your post. Hope this helps somebody!

Knowledge and Communities

So, how do we know what is true? There are established facts, but these facts sometimes do not align perfectly with every situation, which leads to different opinions. When knowledge is constantly changing, we have to remain up to date, and not always just agreeing but rather contemplating and debating the opinions of the experts. We must make our own decisions, or else we will have no basis for our knowledge.

In the aircraft community, which is what I am researching for my community, the design must be built on truths. These truths don't change, which is what keeps the plane in the air. The people who fly the plane must know the truths that make the plane work, and those who build the plane must abide by those truths. When these truths are compromised, the plane will not fly, and people die.

There are many different kinds of truth, and many different applications, but in the flying industry, both across the world and in Blacksburg, the truths which hold the plane in the air are not up for discussion, and absolutely must be abided by.

And its Official

So, I will be officially researching the Hokie Flying Club and flight community in Blacksburg. Yay!

On the Topic of Hokie Flying

So, have I been the only one noticing all the airplanes flying around over the school? I got interested and followed one as I saw it flying back to the airport. I talked to the guy at the airport there,... it was very refreshing to walk into the airport and not have to go through a metal detector! The man said that they there are several people who teach VT students how to fly, so I got a few business cards. He also pointed me towards the Hokie Flying Club and New River Aero, which has a local hanger. I have seen fliers for New River Aero flight lessons, so I think I will have ample places to do research on the Hokie Flying and the general airplane community in Blacksburg.

Oh, and I also figured out that I missed an Air Show the first weekend here at Tech (August 21-24). They apparently had a few old warbirds and other replicas, which I definitely saw flying overhead, but didn't get to see up close. Oh well, maybe next time!

Communities, continued....

So, I have been doing some more thinking about Communities, and I am looking at researching the Hokie Flying Club. I had been in contact with them since about July, but I have never met a member or gone to a meeting. There website is www.hokieflying.com and they have monthly meetings which would be nice for research purposes. I have visited the VT/ Montgomery Executive Airport twice, and it is within walking distance (hour walk roundtrip or 4 miles...). Besides researching Hokie Flying, I am not quite positive about a second choice.

So, the HW search begins....

I thought I didn't have that much HW, but it seems that every time I check my email or go to Blackboard, I am reminded of something that I have forgotten, especially all those dreaded online quizzes for Math, Chemistry, Engineering, and the other Math Class. Wow, not to mention the plain old random HW that is posted deep in some long forgotten corner of BlackBoard. I mean I can see where I have no excuse for missing something (thank goodness nothing yet!), but it still seems a bit sneaky to randomly post HW assignments. One expires and within minutes the next one begins. And not to mention, apparently I am not supposed to use Internet Explorer. So, I downloaded FireFox. But apparently that doesn't work either. So if I manage to finish the assignment or heaven forbid a quiz, and the technology craps out somewhere down the line, it is now my fault and I am screwed. That sums it up. Oh, and every teacher has there own special program that they like to use, their own special webs
ite....it all gets lost in cyberspace, but alas, since it is technically findable, we are left without excuse. Ugh.