Independent Component 1

LITERAL

(a)  “I, Kade Peich, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours of work.”

(b) Well, my first interviewee recommended I look into RC planes and such to get a better understanding of aerospace engineering. This led me to watch lots of YouTube videos, especially from a channel called Jason Anderson, but I ultimately did not have one particular book or source that I followed. If I had to choose it would be the YouTube channel Jason Anderson, however.

(d) I completed the acquisition of the P51 Mustang prelasercut balsa wood kit, despite my original plans to build from scratch which proved near impossible for the style I wanted to achieve. After acquiring it and researching all about airfoils and their aerodynamic importance, I began to piece together the wings of the craft. This allowed me to visually understand the structure of aircraft wings, which are the most important part of the craft and how they fly. This gave me a much better understanding of how the airfoil's affect wing shape and how that affects the aircraft. 

INTERPRETIVE 

My work was very related to my senior project because many of the few engineers I have talked to noted that RC is a very good way to get introduced to the basic mechanics of engineering. By creating this wing I have began to understand just how important the wing shape is and how it is manipulated at the structural level before becoming a full structure. I have also learned that they are often hollow and this allows for a reduction in other aerodynamic forces, like weight. Ultimately, this project was very tedious because of all the set backs I had, and the wing is not one solid piece it is hundreds of little wood pieces connected together then covered (you can kinda see it in one of the pictures) and requires a lot of precision gluing. It also has given me a glimpse of what to expect in an aeronautical industry.

        (This is actually my cousins hand, too hard a picture to take one handed but it looks cool)

(The glue I came to love)

(My workstation)

APPLIED

This helped me understand the foundation of my topic better because, as I have said earlier, it showed me the basic structure of wings. It led me to understand how important the wing's are in creating a solid aircraft that can be used commercially or privately. Like for example, I have been reading a lot about Bernoulli's principle and how the shape of an airfoil affects this, but with this I got to actually see small scale airfoils and how they are used to shape a wing to produce lift. Basically, all of the things I have been learning about wings I got to apply by creating a small scale one.