Tuesday June 8, 2010
Weekly Weather Tuesday
High
89
78 Low 30% Chance Rain
Volume CXXVIII Issue 2
Wright Flyer monument celebrates 20 years on campus
Wednesday High
76
89
Low
30% Chance Rain
Thursday High
75
88
Low
30% Chance Rain
Friday High
87
75 Low 60% Chance Rain
ALENA THOMPSON/AVION
Anne Stokes
Campus Event Manager
The Avion Newspaper is Going Green! As of the printing of this issue and into the future, The Avion Newspaper will now be printed on 100% recycled paper. The Avion hopes that printing on this paper will help us do our part to support the schools go green initiative. The newspaper is excited to do its part in helping to reduce the millions of pounds of paper thrown away every year that just end up in landfills polluting our earth. You as a reader will not notice a change in the quality of the paper and we hope you enjoy reading your new “recycled” Avion.
Standing on the brink of flight, the Wright Flyer sculpture has been at the center of the Daytona Beach campus for two decades. “It is the focal point of the campus,” said Amy Vaughan, Associate Director -- Student Government & Leadership. “It is one of the first things you see on campus and it is a favorite photo spot for visitors and organizations.” The Wright Flyer Monument has been a part of the EmbryRiddle landscape since 1990, and thousands of students and alumni consider it an integral part of the ERAU experience. Designed with moving parts, the sculpture lost that ability years ago and has recently been restored by ERAU Facilities personnel. “It moves slow,” said a member of the Facilities
staff. “A lot of people have asked about it and I tell them you just have to stand still and pay attention and you will see the propellers and rudder move.” Sculptor Larry Godwin designed the monument in his Brundidge, Ala. Headquarters, ArtWurks, and accompanied it to Florida for installation in July of 1990. The sculpture was dedicated that year during Homecoming in November to commemorate Embry-Riddle’s 25th year in Daytona and to acknowledge the university’s ties to aviation history. Representatives of the EmbryRiddle Class of 1988 which sponsored the project joined Godwin and Wilkinson Wright, great-nephew of Orville and Wilbur Wright, for the dedication. Initially Godwin wanted to create the plane, a 90 percent scale model of the 1903 Wright Kitty Hawk, with wood and
canvas, much like the original, but the Daytona Beach air was considered too corrosive. He used varied textures of stainless steel in a basket-weave pattern over the wings and rudder to catch and reflect light. The figures of the brothers are lost wax castings originally sculpted from clay. The final approved design for the sculpture was constructed in his workshop/warehouse and the ‘work drawings’ were painted actual size on the warehouse floor. He said In a News Journal interview that people often ask him where his original drawings are, and he tells them to look at the floor of his warehouse. The sculptor worked on the project for a period of close to a year with the assistance of his brother, Ronald. The monument depicts the Wright Brothers’ flight at Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903,
as photographed by John T. Daniels. Orville Wright is at the controls of a Wright Brothers’ Model B Flyer and Wilbur Wright stands off to one side. Under the plane there are two extensions that support the plane and recreate the instant of lift-off. A nearby plaque reads: “The Wright Flyer Monument/A Student - Inspired Project ...../ Kitty Hawk, NC/11:35 A.M. on December 17, 1903/FIRST SUCCESSFUL POWERED FLIGHT.” Godwin had previously designed similar monuments for the Air Force’s Air University in Montgomery Ala., a full-scale interpretation of the Wright Brother’s 1910 flier. He has since completed two 1905 models for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and the city of Dayton, Ohio. The cost of the monument in 1990 was about $110,000, but a comparison of similar works suggests that the
sculpture would be worth in the neighborhood of $250,000 in today’s market. The monument is indeed valuable, but its monetary value pales in comparison with the value it has for prospective students, current students and the thousands of ERAU alumni around the world. On almost any day groups pose in front of it for pictures with family and friends, students hurry by it on the way to classes and visitors use it as a central landmark as they navigate the campus. Whether they see the flyer move or not, there is no doubt that people are moved by it, and will continue to look to it as a tangible symbol of Embry-Riddle. “I think it represents what we are all about here,” said Senior Blake Futrell. “It was one of the first things that caught my eye when I first came here, and it’s one of the things I’ll remember when I leave.”
Richard Weakley
on Monday, May 24, resulted in one of the closest holds to main engine ignition in several years. During the final seconds of the countdown, when all events are controlled by the Terminal Countdown Sequencer Rack, the countdown was stopped at 7 seconds due to a bad reading from a solid rocket motor hydraulic steering sensor. The countdown sequence was stopped only 1.5 seconds away from main engine ignition, which occurs at 5.5 seconds for a Delta IV vehicle. Even though this hold was called early in the launch window, another launch attempt could not be made Monday night since the hydrogen burn-off sparklers had been fired. The hydrogen burn-off sparklers combust any excess hydrogen gas near the vehicle on the pad before main engine ignition to prevent any hazardous situations. Finally on the evening of May 27, the Delta IV roared to life, seemingly setting the night sky blaze as it tore through the clouds and up towards the heavens. After a three hour and thirty-three minute flight, the GPS satellite was flawlessly placed into its orbit
11,000 miles above the Earth. The Delta IV Medium-Plus launch vehicle consists of a Common Booster Core first stage powered by a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen burning RS-68 engine, two strap-on solid rocket motors, a cryogenic fueled upper stage and a 4 meter diameter fairing. The vehicle in this configuration stands 165 feet tall, or about as tall as a 15 story building. This is the 349th Delta launch vehicle since 1960. The GPS 2F-1 satellite is the first in a new constellation of GPS satellites aimed to replace the current aging satellites, some of which are thirty years old. The new 2F GPS satellites will offer greater precision, better timing and a longer operational life than the current generation of GPS satellites. This enhanced capability will improve the functionality of the vast array of GPS devices in the world today from car GPS receivers to GPS-guided bombs. The next GPS satellite in this new constellation is set to be launched in July aboard a ULA Atlas V 401 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Delta IV launches new GPS satellite Staff Reporter
Looking for something to do this summer? The Avion Newspaper is still in production throughout the summer! We have meetings every other Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Endeavour conference room. We are looking for anyone interested in writing stories, laying out the newspaper, copy editing, taking pictures, or just wiling to lend a helping hand. The paper is a great asset to the students and you could be a part of helping to provide a quality newspaper to the students of Embry-Riddle. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come!
Student Life . . . . . . . . . . . . A2
Student Government . . . . . . . . . . . . A3
College Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6
RICHARD WEAKLEY/AVION
Read the summer update from your SGA president Justin Fletcher
SGA
A3
On Thursday, May 27, the first in a new generation of Global Positioning Satellites thundered into the night skies aboard a Delta IV Medium-Plus launch vehicle. After three unsuccessful attempts, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Medium-Plus flawlessly took to the skies at 11:00 p.m. The first launch attempt came on Friday, May 21st. The vehicle had just switched to internal power when a problem arose with the telemetry equipment on the vehicle that relays critical data back to controllers. The launch team worked diligently to rectify the issue but could not do so before the end of the launch window. On Sunday, May 23, launch controllers had just started the countdown at 4:47 p.m. when mission managers decided to give the team another day to ensure that the satellite telemetry issues had been properly fixed. The third attempt at launch
Learn how to tackle student debt after graduation and how best to pay back your loans
College Life A4