Issue 3 Summer 2010

Tuesday June 22, 2010

Weekly

Weather Tuesday

High

90

76 Low 20% Chance Rain

Wednesday High

77

89

Low

30% Chance Rain

Thursday High

76

90

Low

40% Chance Rain

Friday High

89

77 Low 30% Chance Rain

No more bubbles on student timesheets After much anticipation, student employees will no longer have to fill in those bubbles on their timesheets! Student employment has announced that they will be implementing the new online timecard system starting with the Summer B 2010 pay periods.

Training for the new online system will occur on July 7th and 8th in the IC auditorium. Student employees and their supervisors are encouraged to attend. There will be representatives from Student Employment there to answer questions. Student Employment will also be holding a hands on training session in the C building on July 12, a time will be announced later this month!

The first online timecard will be due on July 14.

Save your soda bottles to benefit science and math students The office of the Diversity and Women’s Center is holding a plastic soda bottle drive. The drive will go to benefit a group of female students who are looking into the fields of science and math. The GEMS (Girls Exploring Math and Science) camp will be on campus to further their interest in these fields.

By collecting these bottles, it will raise money to allow the girls to engage in many different experiments.

The drop-off box is located in the Diversity and Women’s Center in room 404 of the C-building.

For more information contact Cindy Oakley-Paulik at oaklece3@erau.edu.

Student health 101 magazine debuts online Embry-Riddle’s Health Services is offering a new interactive health magazine to students. This new online service, Student Health 101 is designed exclusively for ERAU students and provides many features.

Each month the issue of Student Health 101 will be delivered directly to your student email and will provide information on student health and wellness, issues facing today’s college students, and links to campus resources, events and opportunities. For more information on this program please stop by the Embry-Riddle Health Services office.

Student Life . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Student Government . . . . . . . . . . A3 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . A5 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6

Volume CXXVIII Issue 3

First Falcon 9 launch a success Richard Weakley

Staff Photographer On June 4 at 2:45 p.m. EDT, SpaceX successfully launched their Falcon 9 vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station propelling commercial space flight to new heights.

The Friday afternoon flight was the first flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The launch window for this flight extended from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

EDT. Early in the window, the countdown reached zero and the engines began their firing sequence but were stopped abruptly due to an issue detected. Throughout the earlier parts of the launch window, there were no-go conditions due to range weather and telemetry issues. All of these issues were resolved towards the end of the launch window allowing for a spectacular liftoff into a patch of blue sky on a rather cloudy afternoon.

The Falcon 9 rocket stands 154 feet tall and is 12 feet in diameter. The first stage is powered by nine SpaceX Merlin engines producing 1.11 million pound-feet of thrust. This and the payload capability of the vehicle places the Falcon 9 in direct competition with the ULA Atlas V and Delta IV. The nine engines also offer greater redundancy for engine-out capability

in order to reach orbit without all engines functioning nominally. The upper stage of the vehicle is powered by a single Merlin engine.

The payload of Friday’s flight was a structural test article of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX to fulfill NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program requirement. The capsule is designed to take cargo and/ or astronauts to the International Space Station. COTS is a NASA program aimed to use commercial services to transport crews and cargo to the International Space Station.

The Falcon 9 launch took place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 south of the Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center.

Launch Complex 40 served as one of the two Titan launch complexes on the Air Force Station from 1965 to 2005. The other former Titan launch complex was Launch Complex 41 which is currently used for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V. SpaceX took control of Complex 40 in April 2007 and began converting the pad area for use with the Falcon 9 vehicle including the construction of a horizontal integration facility at the pad. .

SpaceX manufactures the components for their rockets at

Spirit Airlines pilots strike, shutting down airline The first strike in five years at a major airline leaves hundreds stranded Amy Treutel

Editor-in-Chief On the morning of Saturday, June 12, 2010, Spirit Airlines pilots walked away from their flight decks and out of the airplanes, shutting down the operations of the entire airline.

Spirit Airlines left hundreds of passengers stranded throughout their 40 destinations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean as they do not have many agreements with other airlines.

And even if the stranded passengers were able to get a flight on another airline, they were only able to fly if there were empty seats.

Spirit Airlines was offering a flight credit for the full amount of the unflown part of the passenger’s reservation and an additional $100 extra for future flight credit. Passengers who wished to receive a refund had to directly contact Spirit’s

RICHARD WEAKLEY/AVION

their half-million square foot design and manufacturing facility near Los Angeles, California.

This particular vehicle was assembled at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in late 2008.

Prior to the June 4 flight of the Falcon 9, SpaceX has launched their Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean a total of five times to date. The Falcon 1 is a smaller launch vehicle that uses one Merlin engine on the first stage. The first three flights

were unsuccessful. The fourth flight successfully delivered a dummy payload mass simulator to orbit. The fifth Falcon 1 flight placed a satellite for the Malaysian government into a low Earth orbit.

SpaceX was founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2002. Musk’s vision for his company is to provide access to space in a much more costeffective manner than current launch service providers do.

Based on the performance of

Delta Air Lines hires 240 pilots

customer service.

The cause of such a massive strike was a three-year long pay disagreement between the pilots’ union and management. On May 12, the pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Inc. (ALPA) received confirmation of a 30-day cooling off period from the National Mediation Board.

This gave each party until June 12 to agree on a new pilot contract, and then after that, pilots were able to call a lawful strike.

According to a Spirit Airlines press release, “ALPA turned down a compounded average 29 percent pay increase costing the company an additional $70 million over five years, net of productivity improvements agreed to by the pilots.

This 29 percent pay increase when combined with annual step increases totals a 47 percent increase in annual compensation over five years, prior to any overtime pay, signing bonus and 401K matching contribution increases.”

something that no other union under ALPA has. ALPA though, was more concerned about

Another unique feature of the pilots’ contracts was a four-day off break between each trip,

the pilots having a comparable salary to other low cost carriers.

TONG XIAN/AVION

ATLANTA BASED DELTA AIR Lines plans to begin the hiring process for 240 pilots later this year. The news come amidst signs of an improving economy. Delta’s Senior vice president, Steve Dickson, wrote in a memo to pilots that, “the company will begin hiring pilots after this summer.”

In a press release, ALPA countered, “In the context of this strong profitability, management’s proposal would not bring Spirit pilot’ salaries up to industry standards for at least five years.

The pilots’ pay has been frozen for almost four years, which would mean the pilots would wait a total of nearly nine years under management’s proposal before their salaries would match those of other pilots who fly similar aircraft elsewhere in the industry.”

Of Spirit’s 2300 employees, there are 440 active pilots who

Cindy Oakley-Paulik becomes new director of Diversity and Women’s Center

Student Life A2

the Falcon 9 First Flight and the cost-effective services provided

by SpaceX, Iridium signed a contract this month with SpaceX for their next constellation of communication satellites to be placed into orbit on Falcon 9 launch vehicles.

The next Falcon 9 flight is tentatively scheduled for late August. The payload for this flight will be the first active Dragon capsule aimed to perform an on-orbit systems check out.

resumed work on June 18, 2010 after negotiations and a tentative agreement.

Spirit Airlines is the largest ultra-low cost carrier in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. They have the youngest all Airbus fleet in the United States and are based in Miramar, Fla. The last strike at a major United States carrier was in 2005 when Northwest Airlines mechanics walked away from their jobs instead of accepting drastic pay cuts. The airline replaced the mechanics, ending the strike.

‘The Killers’ creates comedy on the big screen PHOTO COURTESY LIONSGATE

Entertainment A3

Student Life A2 Women and Diversity Center Satellite being placed in orbit presents new director Page

The Avion, June 22, 2010

PHOTO COURTESY OAKLEY-PAULIK

THE POSITION OF DIRECTOR of the Women and Diversity was awarded to Oakley-Paulik. For years, Oakley-Paulik held numerous jobs to improve student life at ERAU. Alena Thompson

Student Life Editor Embry-Riddle would like to congratulate Mrs. Cindy Oakley-Paulik on her new position, starting July 1, as the Director of the Women and Diversity Center. Oakley-Paulik has been working for numerous years improving EmbryRiddle life for all students. A few of her previous positions at Riddle were the director of the Women’s Center, Composition and Literature Instructor and a first year advisor.

Oakley-Paulik received this position gladly because she loves her work. She enjoys being with students and helping them obtain their goals.

She also loves bringing every-

one together to help the greater good by doing service projects.

The specific job OakleyPaulik will have is running the entire Women’s Diversity center, including its outreach program. Only through the assistance of hardworking EmbryRiddle students will she be able to accomplish this daunting task.

“The hardest task will be prioritizing,” Oakley-Paulik noted after thinking about the challenges before her. In order for her to make time for her new responsibilities, Oakley-Paulik had to sacrifice and resign from the position of advisor of First Generation. However, even with all the work OakleyPaulik has laid before her, she is committed to arrange time for herself and her husband in her

busy schedule.

When not working at Riddle, Oakley-Paulik enjoys spending time with her husband, Peter Paulik, or pursuing one of her several hobbies. One of her favorite hobbies is traveling.

She has backpacked through Europe, traveled to New Zealand and countless other exotic places. Oakley-Paulik is also very interested in Florida memorabilia, especially that around Daytona and Ormond Beach. She collects items such as historical posters, stamps and postcards which she displays and shares with others.

One of Oakley-Paulik’s goals and challenges is to bring more women to the Embry-Riddle campus. During the first few weeks of school, Oakley-Paulik feels that freshmen girls are intimidated on exactly how few of their gender are in the classrooms and in the dorms.

Oakley-Paulik wishes to help reassure the females at EmbryRiddle that they can still be successful despite the ratio.

One of the ways OakleyPaulik is planning to assist the upcoming female freshmen is to participate in the “For Women Only” Orientation in the ICI on August 27. Oakley-Paulik would like to recruit females in any clubs and organizations to come to the freshmen orientation to encourage the new upcoming girls on campus to get involved and to start off on the right foot.

The Women and Diversity

“ Oakley-Paulik received this position gladl because she loves her work.

”

-ALENA THOMPSON

Center will also participate in the Girl Scout Mall Lock In on October 11. During this time,

over 1000 girl scouts are going to stay overnight in the Volusia Mall. Oakley-Paulik would like to get female Embry-Riddle students to get involved and share their love for Engineering, Piloting etcetera to encourage young females to participate in their favorite subjects.

Keeping the upcoming fall semester in mind, Oakley-Paulik would like to remind females of the Women’s Mentor Program.

The participants in this program will help upcoming freshmen

“

There is no doubt OakleyPaulik has a lot on her plate...

”

-ALENA THOMPSON

adjust to the Embry-Riddle life.

Active mentors and mentees also have the potential to win one of six $1200 scholarships.

The Women and Diversity Center is not only interested in female volunteers but any volunteers for certain events. For the upcoming fall semester, the Women and Diversity Center is looking for tutors to help Campbell Middle School students (grades, 6, 7 and 8) in numerous subject areas but with the primary focus being math. Also, the Women and Diversity Center is currently having a back to school drive to aid under-privileged children to prepare for the upcoming school year by donating backpacks, notebooks and other school related items.

With all these events, there is no doubt that Oakley-Paulik has a lot on her plate but she is optimistic that she will be able to accomplish this challenge.

However, if any students would like to assist or volunteer for any of these activities, please contact Oakley-Paulik by email, oaklece3@erau.edu, or by phone 386.226.7004.

Ravi Gondaliya

Guest Reporter Swedish Space Corps is going to take a huge leap in satellite technology by placing Prisma satellite in its orbit. The satellite is planned to be launched on 15 June 2010 from Yasny, Russia. The Ukrainian “Denpr” rocket is selected as a carrier for Prisma . French wheather satellite would be accompanying Prisma aboard the Denpr rocket. Both the satellites were encapsulated by Denpr nose cone on 4th June, ending most of the pre launch preparations.

Prisma mission carries variety of payload from across Europe, including GPS system from Germany, autonomous rendezvous technology from Sweden, a radio frequency instrument from France and a vision based navigation system from Denmark.

Out of all these payloads, entire concentration is given to Prisma satellite due to its unique technology. The mission will cost Sweden about $50 million.

Prisma satellite is the combination of the two small satellites namely “Mango” and “Tango”.

“Mango” weighs around 331 lbs while “Tango” is of 88 lbs.

Once reach its orbit, Prisma satellite will split into two satellites “Mango” and “Tango”.

“The satellites will perform a sort of dance up in space”, Staffan Persson, project manager from Sweden Space Corps

added. Swedish and German GPS payloads, radio frequency sensor from French Space Agency and optical sensor from Danish Technical University will be activated chronologically. Two satellites will be performing close rendezvous formation around each other without ground control by the use of all the above mentioned payload. This type of close formation by two satellites is never tried by any other space agency before. Thus, Prisma would receive the honor of performing these complex close rendezvous formation in space for the first time. The sensor from Danish University will be activated at the end since officials are not sure about vision based sensor’s range. “One would regard that as a bit dangerous because they will be getting close, and hopefully, really closed to each other”, Persson added. Officials are planning to record all the rendezvous activity by both the satellites. .

The Italian video system aboard“Mango” will be used to record the activity of the satellites. Besides that, “Mango” features two thruster which burns green fuel based on ammonium dinitramide. Officials believe these fuel would be non-toxic and would be more environmentally friendly. Overall, information obtained by the Prisma mission would help European satellites to be more efficient while shoestring budget.

PHOTO COURTESY SSC

SWEDISH SPACE CORPS IS going to place Prisma Satellite in orbit with a planed launch 15 June 2010. Above, the nose cone assembly is being lifted onto Platform B with Prisma.

Student Forum “How did you spend your Memorial Day?”

Bashir Haliru

Freshmen Aeronautical Science

“Flying and playing soccer.”

Muhammad Abdullahi

Senion Aviation Maintenance

“Sleeping and playing soccer.”

Executive Board Editor-in-Chief ....................... Amy Treutel News Editor ....................... Joey Jaworski Business Manager ............... Matt Stevens Photography Editor .......... Andrew Zaback Advertising Manager .......... Darick Alvarez Editorial Staff Chief Copy Editor .............. Joey Jaworski Comics Editor ................ Tilford Mansfield Entertainment Editor ........... Matt Stevens Front Page Editor ................. Amy Treutel Student Life Editor ........ Alena Thompson

Ronald Stephen Palma

Sophomore Human Factors and Psychology “WAIT! When was the Memorial Day!?”

Staff Advisor Karl Koeppel, Assistant Director of Student Activities Programming and Leadership Contact Information Main Phone........................(386) 226-6049 Advertising Manager..........(386) 226-7697 Fax Number.......................(386) 226-6727 E-mail.......................theavion@gmail.com Website....................avionnewspaper.com

The Avion is produced weekly during the fall and spring term, and bi-weekly during summer terms. The Avion is produced by a volunteer student staff. Student editors make all content, business and editorial decisions. The editorial opinions expressed in The Avion are solely the opinion of the undersigned writer(s), and not those of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Student Government Association, the staff of The Avion, or the student body. Letters appearing in The Avion are those of the writer, identified at the end of the letter. Opinions expressed in the “Student Government” and “Student Life” sections are those of the identified writer. Letters may be submitted to The Avion for publication, provided they are not lewd, obscene or libelous. Letter writers must confine themselves to less than 800 words. Letters may be edited for brevity and formatted to newspaper guidelines. All letters must be signed. Names may be withheld at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The Avion is an open forum for student expression. The Avion is a division of the Student Government Association. The Avion is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The costs of this publication are paid by the Student Government Association and through advertising fees. The Avion distributes one free copy per person. Additional copies are $0.75. Theft of newspapers is a crime, and is subject to prosecution and Embry-Riddle judicial action. This newspaper and its contents are protected by United States copyright law. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in print or electronically, without the expressed written consent of The Avion. Correspondence may be addressed to: The Avion Newspaper, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach, Florida 32114. Physical office: John Paul Riddle Student Center, Room 110. Phone: (386) 226-6049. Fax: (386) 226-6727. E-mail: theavion@gmail.com.

Christian Castillo

Senior Aerospace Engineering

“Doing homework.“

Shawn Polke

Senior Civil Engineering “Grilling and Barbecuing.”

- Compiled by Ravi Gondaliya

Savanna Horan

Senior Aviation Ma

“Visited sister’s graduation ceremony.”

Entertainment A3 ‘Sex and the City ‘Killers’ engages 2’ is back and as audience in action fabulous as ever and humor Page

The Avion, June 22, 2010

Sex and the City 2 Amy Treutel

Editor-In-Chief ‘‘Sex and the City 2’’ portrayed just as much glamour as the first movie. The ladies are back and as sassy as ever after continuing life as left off in the previous film.

Hard times have struck them all though, and all are coping in their o w n ways.

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is lovi n g married life, but when Big puts a television in their bedroom and then suggests that he spend two days away from her every week, she gets worried that their married life is not as spontaneous and fun as when they were just dating.

Charlotte (Kristen Davis) is just about at her breaking point with having two small children. Her youngest cries all of the time, and with a new well-endowed, Irish nanny that has all the men staring, she begins to get ner-

vous.

Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is beyond hating her job as a high-powered attorney and in the meantime, is missing out on her son growing up. Her boss never hears her out, and so one day Miranda stands up to him and ends up quitting the firm.

Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is staying young despite i m p e n d i n g menopause with

enough creams, pills and supplements to fill an entire suitcase.

A vacation for the four friends could not come at a more perfect time. Samantha is offered an all expenses paid

vacation for her and her closest pals to Abu Dhabi in exchange for an interview to become a publicist for a wealthy hotel owner. The girls love the idea, and quickly find themselves on a first-class flight to the Arab nation.

Greeted with their own personal vehicles, butlers and the penthouse, the women find themselves in paradise.

Not able to avoid drama though, they eventually find themselves defying customs of the country by drinking, partying and having Miranda w i t h them.

Carrie randomly meets up with her exb o y friend a n d decides to go h a v e dinner w i t h h i m , despite the fact that her friends warn her that she i s tempting fate.

Of course, the women leave the country with a hilarious bang, to get back to their lives i n the Big Apple.

They all come away from their trip though a little wiser, and a little more in touch with themselves.

The Killers Joey Jaworski News Editor

Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl) is a recently singled woman on vacation with her parents in Nice. After getting her heart broken, she is on the prowl for man with no secrets and who wants to settle down.

Her dreams come true when she meets pretty boy Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher) and immediately falls in love with him. What Jen does not know is that Spencer is an “agent for the blah, blah, blah and they gave him a license to blah.”

While in Nice, Spencer tries to

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walk away from his life as an agent, but as his boss told him, “you can’t just walk away.”

This became all too surreal three years later when he was happily married to Jen and settled into a community.

The morning after his 30th birthday, Spencer finds out there is a 20 million dollar bounty out on his head. He now doesn’t know who is after him and can no longer trust anyone in his life.

The movie from here turns into an awkward and sometimes just downright funny (but in an embarrassing way) film. The storyline is not one in which you would see coming. The movie turns into a hub-and-spoke system when there is the main story of Spencer as an agent but then spokes off into many different stories. The action in the film

is just pathetic and the quirky scenes are almost as pathetic.

However, the one thing I will give the movie is that it kept me laughing throughout the entire film. From the drunken mother to the silly one-liners, it definitely kept the audience laughing.

I feel that Katherine Heigl is bigger than this movie and should be taking on bigger roles. I felt they took two very good looking actors and tried to sell the movie based on their looks; granted, their acting skills are definitely up to par.

The movie will make you laugh, but I feel as if the title is deceiving on what type of movie you are going to get.

It is no Mr. and Mrs. Smith! I definitely think it is worth seeing, but could definitely wait until it came out for rent.

PHOTO COURTESY LIONSGATE

Comics

The Avion, June 22, 2010

Classic Peanuts

Page

A4

Mystery strength Sudoku!

Can you solve them all?

D i l b e r t

Crossword

Sudoku Easy

Medium

Hard

There were no winners of last week’s crossword contest! Luckily here is another chance at the WIN! Before Next Issue: Enter The Avion crossword contest!

Submit your correctly completed crossword to The Avion office in SC 110 before Thursday July 8, at 3 p.m. to be considered.

Only students can enter, please bring the completed crossword and your Student ID.