I have to say over all I’m a very lucky guy. But sometimes, I swear, things can really go south quickly.
I joined this forum only a couple of weeks ago and in that time I’ve been completely immersed in aircraft design. Never would I have thought I could get the enjoyment I do from studying and learning from you folks. I can’t begin to tell you guys how much I enjoy reading what you write. What you guys have taught me so far is unbelievable.
It has been difficult for me as I’m sure many of you have noticed. Math doesn’t come easy for me, I have to spend probable two to three times more than an average person until I finally get it. But that’s nothing new, in high school guidance counselors pretty much wrote me off because of my learning disabilities, but I went to college and graduated despite what any of them thought, it just took me longer.
Aviation has been a passion of mine since I was a child but until recently the design part never entered my mind. What really peaked my interest was the composite threads. I never realized how neat this type of construction was until reading about what you guys are doing. All my aviation experience has been with old school tail draggers so you can imagine how exciting it must be for me to discover composites.
You’re probable wondering what this post is all about so I’ll explain.
When studying composites and reading all your threads I began to have trouble understanding the design math involved. Between going to the library and buying math books to get me re-acquainted with the formulas it became apparent that I needed more help than I was able to study on my own. So I got in touch with a professor at Marquette University and asked him if he would mind sitting down with me and helping me understand all the formulas involved. That was the plan for this morning. Then to make out for an even better day, tonight I had plans to go visit a fella building a composite Cozy aircraft and we were going to work on wings together and he had planned to show me what it takes to lay-up fiberglass. You can imagine how excited I was for today to start. The whole week so far was a countdown for today. Today was the day I would get a jump start on understanding the formulas I need for design and also to get hands on experience with composite construction.
Well, what happened was interesting. Because of owning my own business I was able to move all my service calls off the schedule today. Not knowing how long I would be with the professor I figured it best to take the whole day off. So this morning I went downtown and we meet. I brought along with me printed out copies of different threads here on the forum, a notebook, and two books “Marks standard handbook for mechanical engineers” and “The theory of wing sections”. He seemed arrogant so I figured right off the bat he was one of the smart ones. We sat down with some coffee and I explained to him what it was I’m trying to do and figure out. Right out of the gate he assured me that all this stuff was simple, but after two hours it occurred to me he had no clue. Well I shouldn’t say that I mean the guy was pretty smart but to put all this stuff together he was confused as hell.
I explained to him about the different forces involved in a wing and the guy was flat out confused as to how to handle it. At this point I just wanted to scream.
It’s amazing how arrogant and confident he was on the phone. He figured this airplane stuff was nothing and he was going to show this dumb plumber how the big boys do it. I’ll tell you one thing, if these are the folks who are teaching our future leaders were all in trouble. I can understand being humble and just telling me I need to seek counsel elsewhere but the fact that he was struggling made him angree and even more arrogant. When I left his office I had learned a few things but his last words for me was “I would leave this stuff for the professionals”. I was pretty upset on the way home but in my world I just keep on trucking! After all tonight was going to be awesome so I still had a chance.
I joined this forum only a couple of weeks ago and in that time I’ve been completely immersed in aircraft design. Never would I have thought I could get the enjoyment I do from studying and learning from you folks. I can’t begin to tell you guys how much I enjoy reading what you write. What you guys have taught me so far is unbelievable.
It has been difficult for me as I’m sure many of you have noticed. Math doesn’t come easy for me, I have to spend probable two to three times more than an average person until I finally get it. But that’s nothing new, in high school guidance counselors pretty much wrote me off because of my learning disabilities, but I went to college and graduated despite what any of them thought, it just took me longer.
Aviation has been a passion of mine since I was a child but until recently the design part never entered my mind. What really peaked my interest was the composite threads. I never realized how neat this type of construction was until reading about what you guys are doing. All my aviation experience has been with old school tail draggers so you can imagine how exciting it must be for me to discover composites.
You’re probable wondering what this post is all about so I’ll explain.
When studying composites and reading all your threads I began to have trouble understanding the design math involved. Between going to the library and buying math books to get me re-acquainted with the formulas it became apparent that I needed more help than I was able to study on my own. So I got in touch with a professor at Marquette University and asked him if he would mind sitting down with me and helping me understand all the formulas involved. That was the plan for this morning. Then to make out for an even better day, tonight I had plans to go visit a fella building a composite Cozy aircraft and we were going to work on wings together and he had planned to show me what it takes to lay-up fiberglass. You can imagine how excited I was for today to start. The whole week so far was a countdown for today. Today was the day I would get a jump start on understanding the formulas I need for design and also to get hands on experience with composite construction.
Well, what happened was interesting. Because of owning my own business I was able to move all my service calls off the schedule today. Not knowing how long I would be with the professor I figured it best to take the whole day off. So this morning I went downtown and we meet. I brought along with me printed out copies of different threads here on the forum, a notebook, and two books “Marks standard handbook for mechanical engineers” and “The theory of wing sections”. He seemed arrogant so I figured right off the bat he was one of the smart ones. We sat down with some coffee and I explained to him what it was I’m trying to do and figure out. Right out of the gate he assured me that all this stuff was simple, but after two hours it occurred to me he had no clue. Well I shouldn’t say that I mean the guy was pretty smart but to put all this stuff together he was confused as hell.
I explained to him about the different forces involved in a wing and the guy was flat out confused as to how to handle it. At this point I just wanted to scream.
It’s amazing how arrogant and confident he was on the phone. He figured this airplane stuff was nothing and he was going to show this dumb plumber how the big boys do it. I’ll tell you one thing, if these are the folks who are teaching our future leaders were all in trouble. I can understand being humble and just telling me I need to seek counsel elsewhere but the fact that he was struggling made him angree and even more arrogant. When I left his office I had learned a few things but his last words for me was “I would leave this stuff for the professionals”. I was pretty upset on the way home but in my world I just keep on trucking! After all tonight was going to be awesome so I still had a chance.
