Fwd: Hermes Goes Ballistic-Expanded/Updated...

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Subject: Hermes Goes Ballistic-Expanded/Updated...

 

 

 

HERMES GOES BALLISTIC!!! - Expanded/Updated Version (Now fortified with jet power)

A Statement from Acting Assistant Editors-in-Chief George and Marion

 Kerby: "As you can imagine the death of RD/CJ is strongly felt and we

are in the process of closing up shop at CJCS Comsats; Acting Publisher

and Editor-in-Chief Dago Red is handling those procedures. We are

operating with a skeleton crew and there hasn't been much activity.

Hermes approached us about expanding an article which appeared at

www.quasarpolitical.blogspot.com and having it appear at this venue. We

green-lighted the proposal. we hope that you continue to enjoy the articles

on astronomy and philosophy at www.comsat-ak.blogpot.com and the

articles on aeronautics, astronautics and space policy at quasarp."

("Hernes Goes Ballistic" was originally published on 5/30/13)

The planned Hermes/Urania Joint Parts 3 & 4 have been placed on hold. Why?

They are holding each other and don't wish to be disturbed!

Preface One: Our King-God was a philanderer who had a preference for Goddesses,

 nymphs and mortals alike. He even fathered children with humans, including,

Hercules. Hera, his wife, decided to follow him around in a scheme to keep him from

 the nymphs. Zeus got nymph Echo to engage Hera in conversation so that he could

 pursue the other nymphs. This ruse succeeded for awhile until Hera got wise to it. In

her wrath, she punished chatterer Echo by compelling her to wander the earth forever;

unable to speak until someone else spoke first, nor to remain silent when someone else

 had spoken, and then only to repeat that which had been said. She suffered unrequited

 love with Narcissus (who only loved you-know-who). In sadness, the poor nymph pined

away until nothing remained of her but her voice. It is her voice that we hear coming

back to us in certain places. This returning sound is named after the lovelorn and lonely

nymph. (CJ: "When Momus told me this story, we laughed and laughed and laughed;

our sense of humor being strange.").

(Do you remember when we were famous for our extra-long preface(s) at

www.rickcmtsite.blogspot.com - of course, you do - rhetorical question).

Preface Two: We all know what a 'fly-by-night' individual or company is. Originally, it

meant a witch, one who, as popularly supposed, actually mounted her broom at midnight

and went off on her round of appointments ( including stealing infants or to meet secretly

 with the devil himself for less than holy activities (some of which many today find

acceptable).

(You're welcome to supply your own appropriate or inappropriate preface; we're

very democratic here).

                                          HERMES GOING BALLISTIC

                             by Richard DePersio and Citizen Journalist

                            (Hermes Updated)            (Part of Trifecta*)

(Hermes: "I'm finished and I'm back (No longer embracing Urania. Parts 3 and 4 no longer

 on hold but scrubbed and replaced with "...- Expanded Version and "More).You are

well-advised to read or reread the articles at qp on air flight and space flight, especially,

for Part Two of this article) --- or not. Who cares if you do - rhetorical question. Besides

 there isn't going to be a part 2). Some ballistic missiles reach space and are considered

sub-orbital. BMs (what are you thinking, that's, disgusting!) are classified by range:

 Battlefield (up to 60 miles) and tactical; short-range ballistic missiles; long-range; ICBMs

 (4,000 miles or greater).

We wondered for many years why we couldn't have conventionally-tipped ICBMs,

perhaps, even retro-fitting, if feasible, conventionally-tip for nuclear-tip as we reduce

 nuclear warheads in compliance with arms treaties; otherwise, new type ICBM 

would be dictated We just learned that  former Secretary of DOD, Gates stated in

2010 that we have been secretly developing such missiles to be launched from subs.

 We want mobile land-based for we contend that the Air Force should dominate in

our military strategies. Would anyone be surprised if Air Force is doing just that. Take

 'secret' Air Force 37b. Air force denies larger manned-version is under-development.

(Hermes: "Too bad Echo couldn't fly in the air and space like me. We could have had

fun. Forget you 100-mile High Club! Commercial airliners fly at a cruising altitude of

between 6 and 8 miles. {Why 100 mile club?} Echo, I can go much higher! Although,

not as high as Priapus - the BIG show-off!").

      "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe (A bantam Book, 1980): "Way back in April of

1953, (Chuck) Yeager had made a speech in which he said, Some of the proposed

 fighters of tomorrow will be able to find and destroy a target and even return to their

home stations and land by themselves. (Hermes: Today's jet fighter pilots only monitor

 and give final decision to fire. And, than there are the drones."). The only reason a pilot

 would be needed is to take over and decide what to do if anything goes wrong with the

electronic equipment.'" (Hermes note: During the '70s, navigators were phased out

aboard commercial transports and over the past ten years flight engineers - leaving the

 Captain (pilot) and first officer (co-pilot. Are their days numbered!?!). Soon fighter jets

will land by computer on aircraft carriers. Wolfe also points out the supersonic jets and

commercial transports will still have the joystick so that he can push on it every now and

then in order to feel like a pilot: it would be a goddamned right stuff security blanket.

 "Maybe the age of the 'fly boys,' the stick 'n' rudder fighter jocks, was just about finished."

      "Stick and Rudder" (see our review below): "A pilot must judge things less by the eye

 and more by his other senses than the ground man. (Hermes: "Poor Echo was a ground

woman")...The pilot needs this sense of buoyancy" the sense of lift and a feel for his

 angle of attack. "..he can always sense whether he is doing right or wrong largely by the

 feel of the controls."

      Early planes didn't have many instruments, some didn't even have radios and so you

flew by the 'seat-of-your-pants': using all senses, including, ass to estimate wind speed,

 outside temperature, overall condition of plane, etc. (Hermes: "The only way to fly!").

      Before digital computers, the yoke or control wheel or joy stick was connected to

airplane control surfaces ailerons, rudder, elevators) by cables which were difficult to install

 - these were mechanical links. Pilot was physically connected to the plane (Hermes: "Look,

visitors to comsat, do you see any mechanical parts on me!"). A key indicator was how

much pressure was felt in stick due to control surfaces. A planes got bigger a pilot didn't

have the physical strength  to push stick forward and via cable lift the elevator or other

control surfaces. (Early airplanes and General aviation aircraft with propellers still use cables).

      During the '50s, another mechanical system was introduced: hydraulic lines. Designed for

 larger planes, the pilot could still feel of the aerodynamic loads on the control surfaces

 (feedback). By the 60s, the 'feel' was gone. Used in commercial transports and some high

 performance aircraft.

      Fly-by wire*: with the computer in the loop, there is no need for mechanical connections.

Pilot inputs command, computer translates into an electrical signal, wires to various actuators,

signal is converted into a mechanical action - example: elevator moves. Briefly experimental

to operational in the late '50s; it returned around '70 with digital version in the '80s. (Hermes:

 "I say: to Hades with computers. Some people think that they will be as smart as

 Gods/Goddesses some day. Taurus shit!).

       In Science and Invention Encyclopedia H. S. Stutton Inc., '88): "The airliner approaches to

 land by ILS (Instrumented Landing System). ILS equipment  on the ground provides

approaching airliners with heading (directional) and glide path information normally...(align

 themselves with the runway) 5 to 6  miles from the runway and follow the guidance beams until

the aircraft has landed. The procedures are becoming increasing automatic and many of the

latest aircraft can carry out the complete approach and landing without any manual pilot control

 at all..."

      "ILS was originally designed for use in bad weather, but it is now regularly used at major

airports to keep traffic flowing."

      Radar is employed to steer the pilot on to the ILS beam. In recent years, this can be

accomplished by the computer as well. Less busy airports have VOR which is inferior to ILS and

 necessitates more pilot involvement.

      Visual landing aides are still present: Pilot sees only red lights when he is below glide path,

 all white when he is too high, both colors lights correct path, they are located on both sides of

 runway. Lighting with a white center line crossed by crossed by 5 white bars, getting narrower

 as runway approaches. Obviously, not as important at major airports except for emergency

 landings - with some much redundancy in aircraft, pilots might not be need to manage emergency

 landing in the future.

       Pilot doesn't feel resistance and pressure on joystick. Pilots want the mechanical feedback.

It's bone of contention between pilots and designers (physicists and engineers) who often don't

see things alike, including, the nature of flight. One airline manufacturer, will others follow, has

 developed springs which are controlled by the computer system and give pilots the same

 feel - though artificial - of the old mechanical linkages. This means that the  stick force and

 balance can be tuned by software. The designer argues: this is extra hardware and thus weight

 (which means more fuel which is expensive) just to make the pilot more comfortable. The pilot

contends: his having this capability makes flight safer. We doubt that other manufactures will follow

suite. It's all about the bottom line and with airliners struggling to stay in business, it would be

cheaper, in the short or long run, to make pilot obsolete

     There is less and less for the pilot to do --- and more and more avionics and computer systems.

 It has began to infiltrate private piloting - zapping out much of the fun!

     Major airliners  have a flight management  computer for commercial transports with which a

pilot can preprogram the flight from take-off to landing and never  have to touch the controls!

     "Understanding Flight by Anderson & Eberharft (McGraw Hill, 2010): "There is a joke that a pilot and

 a dog will fly the airplanes of tomorrow. The dog's job will be to bite the pilot's hand if he touches

 the controls, and the pilot's job will be to feed the dog."

     What will happen to the glamour of being a pilot? Pilots are well-known for picking up a lot of girls,

 especially, in bars after he reveals his occupation. Some non-pilot-guys use the line "I'm a pilot" to

get tail and we don't mean the tail of an airplane!

You're in a plane now --- you too Hermes, rest your shoes!...To be Continued - Not.

Hermes: "I produced the first version and expanded the second. I don't wish to speak ill of the dead -

my friends - but, this version is far better."

*The first pure electronic aircraft with no mechanical back-up system was the Apollo Lunar Landing

Research Vehicle which was first flown in '64.

Connections: www.rickcmtsite.blogspot.com www.pan-multiverse.blogspot.com

Read one or two --- why not three, after all, you're a winner. Trifecta.

                        In MEMORY of RICHARD DEPERSIO and CITIZEN JOURNALIST

 

                                                                   MORE

   (for those of you who can't get enough and are worried about the test on 8/7  aboard comsat

    www.quasarpolitical.blogspot.com promptly at 9:17 A.M. eastern; don't be late as hatches will be

    locked).

       Avionics concerns that electrical systems aboard aircraft, satellites and spacecraft but not the

mechanical or electromechanical systems, immobile surfaces, luggage and people belonging to the

luggage. It also includes the fly-by-wire system and the autopilot.

       First developed in 1912, the autopilot connected a gyroscopic heading indicator to hydraulically-

operated elevators and rudders leaving the ailerons on dihedral (the upward angle of the wing along

the span against the horizon) wings for roll control. Prior to WW2, not many planes had autopilot (early

version was electromechanical) and/ or dihedral. Modern versions developed during and since the war.

      Understanding Flight: "Small general-aviation aircraft and commercial transports (airliners) all have

dihedral. These airplanes tend to return to level flight after gusts or accidental control inputs (Hermes: "By

the pilot."). Today airplanes are so stable that cross-country trips can be quite boring."

      Anhedral has the wings slope down. Di (forgive our laziness!) is stabilizing while An is destabilizing.

 It is found on fighter jets and aerobatic airplanes. Stable aircraft are less maneuverable than the unstable.

It rolls (turns) more easily and quickly when commanded.

      A private general aviation propeller plane requires the pilot to be very hands on, as well as, some WW2

planes and older which are still flying; less so the private jet. Military craft less hands on than private jet

 while commercial pilot is pretty much there for the ride. (The Cessna company -the biggest seller of private

planes - no longer builds double props (two propellers to reach altitudes above 12,000).

      Most military and all major airliners have autopilots that take-off, ascend, cruise, descend, approach

and land. On the rare occasions when a change in altitude is dictated, it is still done by the pilot. This

will no longer be the case in the not-to-distant future. Presently, the pilot taxis from terminal to runway and

from to parking position --- but not much longer.

      By the '70s, there were over 100 instruments and displays (electromechanical monitors, gauges and

analog displays) and getting worse. In '85, Gulfstream, a private jet, had the first digital computer displays;

it took up much less cockpit space and as time passed left less and less for the pilot to do. It's the

reason that the flight engineer (his job was to monitor electrical systems) on commercial transports and

most military crafts phased out. Pilot could monitor; nowadays, monitor is pretty much all that they do.

     A wing with a sharp leading edge will go abruptly into a stall than a blunt leading edge. The former is

used for jet fighters which go fast; the latter for slower propeller planes and trainers. With today's fly-by-wire

systems, the computer monitors the angle of attack and won't let craft reach critical angle of attack

and stall. Thus, no matter how hard pilot pulls back on yoke, he can't override computer. This can

be useful in fighters where the pilot is preoccupied with the fight. Also, the computer can turn a

sloppy pilot-controlled landing into a smooth landing.

     Swept wings (don't come straight put of fuselage but are angled back) stabilize quickly if plane yaws.

Swept wings became operational during the Korean War. They are needed for fast subsonic and

supersonic aircraft. Commercial transports and newer business jets fly at 70 to 90 % of the speed of

sound. Most slower jets aren't swept. Sweep reduces drag and, therefore, saves fuel which is expensive.

     The autopilots' stability augmentation system has components mounted in aircraft to sense

movement in pitch, roll and yaw. Any movement away from straight and level flight results in signals

being sent to the computer which activates fly-by-wire system.

     Drone types; A) Preprogrammed flight path and target; B) Preprogrammed flight path and target but

on-board computer can 'decide' to change path and target (Can't fire without human permission); C)

'Flown' from the ground - most flexible system - usually by non-pilots!