Welcome back to my final blog for my Pinhead Internship – currently being typed in Montrose, Colorado.
The Omar Abouzahr holding our fixed wing, showcasing the ailerons and servos.
My final week was definitely the most fruitful week of all. Since Alex Booker and myself were going to have our last day on Friday, the whole group kicked it into high speed and we attempted to finish both our rectangular fixed wing and our swept “delta” wing. We planned to fly them at the airfield on Friday and began patching holes on the delta wings. They had SO many. In order to see where the leaks were located, we dunked them into a trash bin full of water and the air leaks would create bubbles. While some people did that and patched the wings with flex tape, flex seal, and hot glue, others began attaching ailerons and servos to be able to control our wings. This was a prime solution for our initial rectangular fixed wing. We simply did not have enough wind/air manipulation from just the rudder and elevators on the tail to keep the plane stable, so these additions to our wings would certainly get us into the air. After spending the week modifying and patching, Friday came around and we had a finished fixed-wing. Our delta wing unfortunately wasn’t completely reliable for flying. We would run the risk of throwing it into the air and having it plummet and destroy itself so we had to postpone it to next week – which I wouldn’t be there for.
Dr. Jacob and I chillin in front of The Hideaway pizza place. Very good pizza.
We did what we could though and made our way to the airfield. But before that we actually had pizza with THE Dr. Jamey Jacob. He invited us to The Hideaway where we talked about the project itself and a few other things. I don’t think I ever gave a dedicated description of him which does not serve him justice. Dr. Jamey D. Jacob, Professor, John Hendrix Chair and Director of the USRI, leads the Unmanned Systems Research Institute. He is the man responsible for the research and work that goes on in the entirety of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Jacob is also a major contributor to the Cloud-Map collaborative organization and many, many numerous projects. He allowed me to come in and take part in the inflatable wings project, observe engineers, and get hands on experience with this field of study and I’m immensely grateful for it. Before we left the pizza place, I did get this cool photo of him and I which I will certainly show off at my future presentations. 8) But overall, I really enjoyed my experience at the USRI. I’m glad to have taken part in a very small fraction of his research which greatly expanded my understanding of aerospace.
Both wings, captured on Friday, after patching and fixing.
The Phantom 4 Pro capturing video feed of the fixed-wing aircraft.
We finished up eating and took the half hour drive to the airfield after. It was a great day to test our aircraft. A slight breeze to keep us cool but not enough to steal our plane. We did our regular pre-check before flying and then put our plane on the runway. It flew! Our pilot Mark Hartman commented that it was a bit hard to control at times but nonetheless, ended up doing air tricks with our wing. It was extremely satisfying being able to see our work actually work. After knowing the aircraft was functional, we sent up a Phantom Pro 4 sUAS (drone) up to record and get a closer look at the plane in action. We captured what we needed to capture and packed everything and went back to the lab. Then it was time to say goodbye. It was saddening. Over my 40 day internship, I had gotten so close to this great group of people. But when the time came, we all said our goodbyes and Meghana, one of my coworkers, gave me a ride to the airport. And that was the end of my journey.
I want to give a very very big thank you to Sarah Holbrooke and the Pinhead Institute for giving me the opportunity to go to Oklahoma and study aerospace engineering. It’s been really insightful for me, considering I am deciding what kind of field I’d like to major in and where I’d like to work someday. I want to thank Dr. Jacob for allowing me to intern at his lab and study alongside such a bright team of workers. I’d like to thank the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship and Adam Dyess who gave me a place to stay for 40 days. A thank you to Andrew Cole, who supervised the high school team and kept us in line. And thanks to Alex Booker, Meghana Fathepure, Omar Abouzahr, Nicco Wang, Tim Nelson, and Daniel Tikalsky who made up the high school team and made me feel welcomed.
Couldn’t have done it without all of you. 🙂
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