Model Airplanes

The nearly catastrophic explosion of an engine that caused a fire on an American Airlines Boeing 767 just short of takeoff in Chicago on Oct. 28 occurred when a specific part that had never before failed broke into pieces.

The breakup of a heavy metal disk that rotates in the engine core reveals a new risk to airline passengers that, however rare, has already spurred a scramble by engine-maker General Electric and government safety agencies to find and fix the vulnerability.

“The risk will be eliminated,” said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member with more than 40 years’ experience in the aviation-safety industry. “Will it be eliminated before the next one? That’s the real question. Everything relies upon the timeliness of the system to correct itself.”

American Airlines Flight 383 to Miami was speeding down the runway at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago when the second-stage disk of the high-pressure turbine broke apart inside the right engine with a loud explosion that blew metal shrapnel out through the engine casing.

On any given day at GE Aviation, there are thousands of engine parts in circulation. Finding used parts has often meant calling up facility managers and asking them to physically search for material, sometimes to the point of walking to the shelves to see what was on hand. When a replacement request came in, there was no efficient way to sort through the materials available, stalling our process to get that plane back in the air.

This didn’t sit well with me. In a past life, I flew B-1s for the U.S. Air Force, where I provided Close Air Support for friendly troops in enemy contact. My training and experience helped me learn to diagnose a problem quickly, consider the possible solutions, and take action.

When I tried to do something similar at GE, my goal was simply to make the lives of my team members a little easier. Instead—and to my surprise—the simple workflow tool I created has changed the way the our aviation division operates.

Seeing Problems Through Others’ Eyes

If you’ve flown in the last year, chances are good that you were on a plane powered by one of GE’s engines—which are real labors of love. Hundreds of hours of work go into each one, from creating parts to assembly to testing. At the same time, we’re taking calls from customers and fielding requests for servicing and maintenance. Every second lost and every unfulfilled request impacts the level of service we’re able to provide. With so many things going

Article source: https://www.fastcompany.com/3065588/lessons-learned/this-project-managers-workflow-hack-transformed-how-ge-builds-airplane-engin?partner=rss

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Article source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/nasas-new-super-efficient-airplane-wing-comes-twist-180961069/

It has a hand in just about every major economic development project the area has seen in the last two decades, yet few outside of the world of government and business know much about Mohawk Valley EDGE.

Philip A. Vanno @OD_Vanno

Mohawk Valley EDGE.

It has a hand in just about every major economic development project the area has seen in the last two decades, yet few outside of the world of government and business know much about it. 

Its name once again was brought to the forefront after the scandal surrounding so-called “nano czar” Alain Kaloyeros wrested the Marcy nanocenter project from the hands of SUNY Polytechnic Institute and it turned control over to the state-run Empire State Development under EDGE’s increased guidance.

So, what exactly is this entity that remains unknown to so many and how is it shaping the future of our region?

The begining

The origin of EDGE can be traced back to 1963 and the formation of the Oneida County Industrial Development Corp.

When that organization began to atrophy, a decision was made in 1997 to dissolve it and transform the newly formed Griffiss Local Development Corp. into an all-inclusive entity that would promote economic development region-wide.

Mohawk Valley Economic Development Growth Enterprises Corp. was founded as a means of combining the efforts of entities such as the GLDC, the Oneida County Industrial Development Agency, and the Utica and Rome industrial development corporations to be managed under one central staff.

While EDGE serves as the overseer, each affiliated

Article source: http://www.timestelegram.com/news/20161113/edge-regions-economic-engine-operates-on-many-levels

C. Mitchell Boulton hopes to bring jobs to the area by building redesigned radial engines that will be used in a variety of equipment.

By Edd Pritchard 
Repository staff writer

CANTON  Over the past 15 years C. Mitchell Boulton has been working to make something old new again.

Doing what he described as a retirement hobby, Boulton began reverse engineering a radial aircraft engine, where the cylinders are arranged radially like the spokes of a wheel. That led to creation of a company called Radial Engine Innovations in 2012.

The company has reached the point where prototypes of its Radia M92 or RA-92 redesigned engines are being built by Fredon Corp. in Mentor. Boulton hopes that early next year the company can have working models powering trucks, motorcycle and generators.

If progress continues, Radial Engine Innovations could be manufacturing engines for customers within two years. Production could mean more than 250 jobs at a new factory in the area.

Everything hinges on the research and development process. Boulton and a team of enthusiastic technicians are working on models and processes in space off Camden Avenue SW.

Boulton and his team are confident that they’ve developed an engine that will be more fuel efficient and have significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions. As the world debates global warming and looks for ways to clean the environment, the crew at Radial Engine Innovations is chasing a solution.

Airplane engine

The radial engine evolved from rotary engines. An American engineer named Charles M. Manly is credited with developing the first radial engine,

Article source: http://www.cantonrep.com/news/20161113/radical-idea-behind-cantons-radial-engine