April Blog Post

This month has been a lot of reacquainting myself with earlier research. Since we have been working on all of our findings and such for the iSearch paper, I needed to brush up on the specific details of my first answer. I also did a lot more research on some basic aerodynamics and such so I can help better understand my answers for my presentation. Besides that, not many interesting things have happened. However, I did almost find a new mentorship/summer internship at an aerospace manufacturing company. They said if I am able to go there, they will count my time there as a long interview to consider hiring me part time as I am in college. This was very exciting news and I hope it pans out, but for the moment it is on hold because my contact with them lost his brother in the midst of all this. I am not going to pressure for a response, and wait it out.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL

(a)  I, Kade Peich, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) My first interviewee was one source that helped me complete this. This is mainly because he recommended I look into model aircraft if I want to become an aerospace engineer, so it gave me the idea for this project. The other main source I used to complete this project was Paul K. Guillow Inc.'s FAQ page because there I was able to answer and understand many of the problems and questions I had while constructing.
(d) For my 30 hours, I finished constructing a Guillow's model P-51 Mustang. It is a balsa wood model aircraft to the scale of 3/4 of an inch for every foot. Its total wingspan is 27.75 inches. It required many hours of gluing and cutting and following plans to construct.

INTERPRETIVE

My aircraft required a great deal of precision, time and understanding to complete. I had to look at plans for all aspects of an aircraft. From there, I had to use the provided parts to construct what I was shown in the plans. This was not very easy, but after awhile it was better. I had to glue many small wood pieces together, then clamp them there for a while to dry. I even spent a good amount of time researching the parts and skill I would need to convert it to a flyable model.
   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.

Pre details, structure done

Just some of the plans I used

Most of the parts scattered on my bed

Me with all of the stuff before I started building.

Finished product

APPLIED

This component helped me answer my EQ because it exposed me to the design principles of basic aircraft. From this I am able to compare it with modern day aircraft to see how the aerodynamics have improved to help fuel-efficiency and see just how much more they can improve. It also demonstrated how important the design of an aircraft is, even more so then the design of the engine that pushes it forward. I was able to see this because I had to build it myself hands on and realize the precision that went into the design. For example, if I misused one of the airfoils when creating the wings, it could have resulted in catastrophic failure had I ever gotten this thing to fly. Ultimately, through having to use designs, I am able to see how impactful design is on functionality, which leans towards my first answer as the most important answer because it is focused on changing the whole design of the aircraft to improve fuel-efficiency.