Session 3 at SOAR by AVEMBSYS

       The 3^rd session of avembsys was commenced after a long wait of a month gap on 5^th jan 2011. The session as expected was very enlightening and educational. At the start of the class we were little bit refreshed about the basics of C language by one of our friend.

       ‘’ How does an aircraft fly? ‘’Yes, the session started with the very question and mainly dealt with various mechanisms and factors that answered the above question. To begin with, the various factors and phenomenon that govern an aircraft flight was discussed. We therefore started from the fundamentals, discussing about Aerodynamic basics and some physical concepts such as Mass, Weight, Force, Momentum, Moment, Couple, Density, Viscosity, Temperature and Pressure. Then we had a brief concept on Gas Laws, Isothermal Process, Adiabatic Process, Standard Sea Level Conditions and Aircraft Terminologies such as Aircraft Attitude, Centre of Gravity, Aerodynamic Centre, Centre of Pressure, Mach Number etc.  

Out of all these, pressure was discussed in a bit broad as it is the air pressure that gives lift to plane. Talking about air pressure, we discussed about a device, Pitot tube, used to determine the aircraft speed and also referred to an air crash of Air France 447 that killed 228 people which resulted due to malfunctioning of pitot tube.

         Then we were introduced to the various elementary parts of a modern day aircraft. These parts play the vital role to drive and handle an aircraft starting from take-off to landing. They include the Jet Engine, Flaps, Slats, Aileron, Spoilers, Rudder, Elevator, Cockpit, Fuselage, Horizontal Stabilizer, and Vertical Stabilizer. They help the aircraft to maintain its speed, altitude, attitude and direction.

After a small break, the session resumed with a small video session. It started with a video depicting VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) systems in Fighter Jet Planes. Also in the video session was the air crash of Airbus A320 due to fatal errors made by the pilot and authorities. The session proceeded to its end with the discussion of projects.  We were then assigned a project to design two transceiver systems, each interfaced with 8051 microcontroller and consisting of a keypad and LCD. The module also consists of a line sensor that monitors the two devices and responds if there is crossing.

        Thus the session ended keeping everyone engaged and busy with the projects.  Looking forward to the exciting and educational next session .