College of Aeronautics

Residence communities make dreams come true

September 4, 2019 by Marc Kanneh Leave a Comment

Students chat in their LLC lounge with a plane of Gemini on the table.

Florida Tech students are making their dreams become reality as they now have the opportunity to be more immersed in the world of aeronautics and aerospace engineering.

“I was talking to somebody in the Residence Life department at the time, mentioning that I would like to stay involved in the department somehow even though I was moving over to the College of Aeronautics,” said Warren Pittorie, an instructor in the College of Aeronautics and a former resident director. “I didn’t hear from the department for a few weeks, then somebody came up with the idea to start another living-learning community.”

The aviation living community—Let’s Fly—was established on the second floor of Brownlie Hall and took in freshmen aviation and aerospace engineering students this fall.

Pittorie explained that an LLC is where students are placed together on a floor or within a building based on a common majors, common interests or common program affiliations.

The Let’s Fly LLC is the third LLC on campus, joining the Women in STEM and the Honors College LLC.

Keeping with the theme of aviation, Pittorie reached out to College of Aeronautics alumni and asked for donations to decorate the hall.

“Those that did reach out had a lot of stuff to donate,” Pittorie said. “We have a bookshelf with a couple aviation books, and we put a lot of study tables up there as well, rather than a lounge to hang out and watch tv.”

Both RA’s in Brownlie hall, Kerrington Witherspoon and Michaela Salazar, are aviation students.

Witherspoon, a sophomore, said, “I have the same responsibilities as other RA’s. We’re trying to plan trips to get students to Melbourne airport, down to Vero Beach to the Piper manufacturing facility, Cape Canaveral and guest speakers.”

Pittorie explained that although the events are targeted towards the LLC students, others would also be able to participate.

Witherspoon said that so far the residents are enjoying the LLC and utilizing the common area to hang out and study.

Thus, the newly added LLC on campus has connected more students in a comfortable living space where they can achieve success above and beyond.

Panthers solve real-world problems

April 23, 2019 by Marc Kanneh Leave a Comment

Malia Ashmead, Jamison Burch and Emanuel Rossi with the Osiris bioreactor.

Students utilized their knowledge gained through their years at Florida Tech to find solutions to real-world problems and present them at the Northrop Grumman Student Design and Research Showcase.

The event took place on April 12 at the Clemente Center.

“This was the first time that we could really put all of our knowledge to use and see everything we have learned since freshman year,” Emily Perron, an ocean engineering major, said.

Perron’s group, Reef Life, created an artificial reef that creates a perfect surf while also protecting the shoreline and promoting coral growth.

Perron said that the modular design was based off of LEGOs so the reef could be configured in any shape.

“It feels really great to have won Best in Show for Ocean Engineering and to know that someone really appreciated our hard work,” Perron said. “I’m very grateful.”

Reef Life placed first in their category, but success did not come without challenges.

Emily Perron and Stephen Hammond with their artificial reef, Reel Life.

“Originally we tried 3D printing our blocks, and they took 20 hours each to make and kept failing,” Perron said. “We had to make 100 of these blocks, so we had to find a different method of designing.”

Reef Life opted to use molds instead of printing to speed up their manufacturing process.

Dev Patel, an aerospace engineering major, presented the Perching Unmanned Monitoring Aircraft or PUMA.

PUMA can act as both a rotorcraft and a fixed wing aircraft, giving it increased speed and maneuverability.

The aircraft has a claw-like landing gear, which allows it to perch like a bird.

“It’s designed to act as a mobile services platform for emergency service providers,” Patel said.

Computer engineering major, Ahmed Okasha and his team designed an on-board diagnostic tool for the formula electric team.

“Once they build the car, the engineers would basically just walk up and plug in the device to the car and be able to get all the readings that they need,” Okasha said.

The device would give battery voltage, temperature and charging state readings.

Okasha said that in the future, a radio can be added to the device so that it can stay on the car permanently and send info back to the engineers while it’s racing.

“It [completing senior design] feels satisfying, but there’s always that one part of you that feels as if you could have done more,” Okasha said.

Cooper Mitchell, an ocean engineering student, and his team built the foundation vessel SWATH. SWATH is a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hole vessel was built to bridge the gap between large vessels and smaller vessels with not much over complications.

Mitchell’s project reached outside of ocean engineering and recruited the help of aerospace, electrical and computer engineers.

“It’s a great culmination of my ocean engineering degree,” Mitchell said. “We did coastal process, naval architecture, instrumentation, material science and ship design and construction. It showed me to have a full range of experience to take with me into the job market.”

Distress in the Air: Florida Tech’s take on the Boeing 737

March 26, 2019 by Olivia McKelvey Leave a Comment

Within the past five months, Boeing has had two 737 Air Max 8’s crash.

Most recently, the Ethiopian airline crash that killed all 157 members on board caused a worldwide grounding of the Boeing model.

Carlos Obregon, a junior majoring in aeronautical science with flight, has been discussing the components of flight failure in the classroom and relating them to the crashes of the Boeing 737’s and how they are relevant to his field of study.

“In my advanced aircraft systems class we talked about how flight systems and controls can cause malfunctions and enroute flight problems,” Obregon said. “We debated on how the software stalling function and overriding features on the model and learned that this could have been the potential reasoning for the planes to crash.”

Pat Spangler, a junior in aeronautical science with an associates degree in air traffic control, was concerned about the safety dilemma that these crashes have drawn attention to and how aviation management is handling it.

In Spangler’s opinion, the Federal Aviation Administration and President Trump could have handled the situation better, but the aviation industry is still the safest mode of transportation and he stands by it.

“Safety is obviously one of the top priorities in the aviation industry, as it should be,” Spangler said. “One protocol put into place by the FAA that I think is essential to the job is a computer test every air traffic controller is required to take on a recurring two-month basis to remain updated on safety and eligible for the job.”

The FAA is responsible for regulating aviation and promoting safety.

However, in recent light of the situation the administration has been criticized by many as the United States was one of the last nations to decide not to fly the 737’s.

Aviation safety regulators in the European Union, China, Australia and the U.K. made the call to not fly the planes ahead of the U.S.

According to prior reports from The New York Times, the delay in the call for Trump to ground the Boeing models was deemed as “a bit too late” by many passengers and pilots.

It’s not just current aviation students that are especially affected by the grounding of the 737’s but also alumni that have entered the industry.

Jared Goodlaw graduated from Florida Tech in 2017 with a degree in aviation management with flight.

He has worked for a regional airliner in the past but is currently flying private jetliners.

Goodlaw stated that the FAA has released no private statements or reports to any licensed pilots in regards to how the situation is being handled nor any other investigative details.

Goodlaw had expectations of announcements directly to all private and commercial licensed pilots from Boeing or the FAA in wake of both incidents.

However, both organizations have failed to communicate if there are any plans underway requiring pilots to complete more training and/or simulations before anymore 737’s are cleared to take off again.

The consensus amongst Spangler, Obregon and Goodlaw is that they all feel their training and studies regarding flight emergencies and preparation is well documented in the Florida Tech aviation curriculum.

All three stated that they still feel safe to work in the industry as it is a very reactive field.

Incidents like this are thoroughly investigated, responsibility is held accountable for and updates and corrections are made as soon as possible.

Pilots are not the only people concerned about the Boeing 737’s.

CBS News reported that approximately 8,600 flights use the Boeing 737 Max 8 in a typical week of travel.

Furthermore, Boeing released an announcement saying that models will be grounded for at least three months.

Travelers may experience more travel and flight difficulties than they expected.

Charles Bryant, a business professor and the manager in charge of Florida Tech’s study abroad program to Spain, is one example of these worried travelers.

“With the Boeing 737’s being grounded, myself and those participating in the Spain study abroad program are having to look at different airport destinations within Spain,” Bryant said. “For example, instead of flying out of a smaller airport in the country like Malaga as we had originally planned, we are looking at other options that have more flight availability in bigger airports like Barcelona. Yet, this adds more planning and financial stress as the travel date in early June arrives closer and closer.”

Bryant draws attention to another issue: If he is having troubles finding flights for a group of roughly 20 or so people, it will likely be hard for the immense number of international students on campus to find flights home at the end of the semester in early May.

The Boeing 737 investigations are still underway and officials have stated they are doing their best to remain honest with the general public as they are well aware of the pressing matters and concerns at hand.