Georgia Wing Aerospace Education

Director of Aerospace Education - Major Thomas Owens

Aerospace Education Officer (External) - Major Deborah Huffman

Welcome to Georgia Wing Aerospace, where your applied imagination moves you faster and takes you higher!

Your highly energetic Georgia Wing Aerospace Education Officer is Captain Tom Owens. He is an Engineer, SCUBA Rescue Diver, and Certified Flight Instructor. Capt Owens instructs in his glass Diamond Star and provides training to motivate members toward STEM fields and to achieve higher aeronautical ratings.

Your External Aerospace Education Officer is Major Debi Huffman, a pilot with an incredible AE Laboratory at Fernbank Science Center and the Jim Cherry Planetarium. She instructed astronaut Eric Boe in the Dekalb County School System! We encourage cadets to visit and ask lots of questions. Major Huffman is also president of EAA-690.

This website provides a central repository for current dialogue and documents in support of CAP's Aerospace Education Mission. It also houses research materials and media assets for Aerospace Engineering and RC aircraft projects.

The volume of information may seem overwhelming at first. Fear not! We have an optimal path for you to follow given your present level of experience and interest. We also advise you keep current with visits to our Aerospace Forum, which will have immediate ideas and blog thoughts not yet polished for the formal newsletters. These pages seamlessly interlink with key parts of the CAP National Aerospace Education website as well as the Group and Squadron websites from around Georgia Wing.

You are volunteer professionals with backgrounds in aviation, education, technology and engineering and you seek to help young people explore possibilities. We thank you for your service.

What Exactly Can An Aerospace Education Officer ("AEO") Do?

While it is true that some AEOs are also pilots, it is not a requirement of the position. In fact many great Aerospace Education Officers have more time to explore, design and build amazing things specifically because they are not flying highbird missions. What are they exploring? What are they building? A picture paints 1000 words, so lets take a tour.

Problem 1. "Build a water rocket to film troop movements on the other side of a mountain."

Figure 1 (left): A Double 2-Litre Pop Bottle Water Rocket Soaks the Launch Pad on Lift-Off

While the image may look impressive, this particular design is not going to get a camera up above 2000' AGL. Review these short videos to confirm that with some understanding of fluid mechanics, the stated goal is achievable.

Video 1.1: Water Rocket Variable Nozzle

Video 1.2: US Water Rockets Set a Record in 2007

Here's the photo from a camera onboard a water rocket at 2,020 feet!

Figure 2 (right): "Earth Below Us" shows a still photograph taken from a water rocket at the world record of 2020 feet taken on June 14, 2007 at 7:31 pm.

Q. "What if I don't have the time for in-depth study of materials and fluids? Can I still be an AEO?"

Problem 2. Guide a cadet through the Saturn Phase of the CAP Model Rocketry Program.

Figure 3 (left): A commercially-packaged Estes Model rocket. Does not require extensive knowledge or expertise to build and launch.

Q. "That rocket above looks pricey and I need something for tonight's demonstration. I don't have time to wait for a budget to be approved. What can I do with something out of my own pocket for just a couple of dollars."

A. Glad you asked. Coming right up...

Problem 3. Design and fly a Walk-Along Glider using some phonebook paper and scrap cardboard.

Figure 4 (right): Man guides a walk-along glider (photo: Peter Hewitt)

Video 3.1: The Walk Along Glider

Video 3.2: Jog/Trip Along Glider

Video 3.3: Walk Along Glider Dog Fight

Q. I'm only available on weeknights during the wintertime. What can I do?

Well, if you have a pair of binoculars, then you could be a CAP Night Sky Orientation Officer.

Problem 4. Prepare roster of all Messier Objects viewable in one night with binocs from your latitude & longitude.

Star Clusters, like the Pleiades shown on the right, can really entertain cadets grown weary of Powerpoint. Ahhh, fresh winter air! Plus, you can ask them which Japanese Automaker uses "The Seven Sisters" as their logo... (Answer: Subaru.)

Figure 5 (above right): The Pleiades, or "Seven Sisters" (M45) is an open star cluster in Taurus.

Once they've seen this and other night objects, the excitement builds as they seek to understand the vast distances traveled by photons of light arriving from other galaxies.

For example, in the image (left) you are looking back in time 2.5 Million years, because M31 is 2.5 Million light years away.

Q. I'm not a tekkie, I research history and write books about leaders. Still want me?

A. If you can identify any of the people in the photos right and below, then you can use aviation history to help cadets better understand why the world is laid out as it is today.

Problem 5. Have the cadets research a pilot or aeronautical engineer from history. Who was Quentin Roosevelt?

(Answer: The youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt, he was killed in aerial combat over France on Bastille Day, July 14, 1918. His loss was greatly mourned by America.)

Who is the aviator on the left?

(Answer: Eddie Rickenbacker, America's greatest ace and Medal of Honor recipient during World War I. A race car driver, automotive designer and pioneer in commercial air travel, he founded Eastern Air Lines, an Atlanta-based air carrier.)

Our good friend, Narayan Sengupta, has prepared a beautiful website about American Aviators in World War I. He knows cadets and so he has a Video Collection prepared as well.

World War I may be "ancient history" to our cadets and even our seniors, but it was an interesting and pivotal time during early aviation.

Problem 6. Hey, I actually am a pilot! What about us? Shouldn't we be teaching Aerospace to CAP cadets?

Not just the cadets, but we should be helping fellow Aerospace Officers earn their Mission Observer wings and learn the Technically Advanced Aircraft cockpits that provide more situational awareness. More importantly, we should do much of this training on the ground using available simulation packages. This will save our students significant money. If we are not CFIs, we can earn FAA Advanced Ground Instructor Certificates and help cadets and seniors pass the Private Pilot Written Exam.

DA-40 Departs Oshkosh Via the Only Route Home to Georgia To Avoid Thunderstorms

Problem 7. Take cadets to a local Aerospace Museum and build a Treasure Hunt Question List.

Many squadrons make trips to the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall of Washington DC. Leaders in Middle Georgia will take their cadets to Warner Robins Museum of Aviation. If you are in Northern Georgia, in say the Atlanta or Dunwoody Area, you can easily get to Fernbank Science Center and visit Maj Huffman's Aerospace Education Laboratory mentioned above.

Wilbur and Orville Wright Peer into the Wind Tunnel at Maj Huffman's AEL Photo: Tom Owens

Please, take a look around at the projects we have under development. If you would like to help, just let us know with an email to ae@gawg.cap.gov .

Problem 8. "Captain Owens, you ignored the CD Hovercraft & Ground Effect Vehicles"

Wow...you're right! I've slighted all the engineers who have ever worked on such projects. Allow me to remedy that now and thank you for keeping me alert.

Here's a picture and a video of the CD Hovercraft. Why is this important? Because right after you demonstrate the flight controls and retractable landing gear of your $800 radio controlled, red-tailed P-51 Mustang, the students are going to ask "Can I have that?" So knowing how to create a few giveaways will certainly increase your effectiveness and keep your marriage in working order.

Youtube Video: CD Hovercraft

So, we learn from hunting around on the web that a hovercraft is a vehicle that glides over a smooth surface by generating a cushion of air underneath. This explains why hovercrafts are also known as Air-Cushion Vehicles or ACVs. The hovercraft creates vents of air, which are trapped beneath the vehicle by a curtain surrounding the base (called the skirt) above any smooth surface, which could be land or water. A hovercraft can actually pass from land to water and this allows it to be designated as an amphibious vehicle.

Here's a photo of a US Navy Hovercraft. What do you think this is used to achieve?

Q: Also, I noticed that you lumped hovercraft and GEVs or WIGs together, but they are different. Ground Effect Vehicles, also known as Wing in Ground Effect, actually fly tens of feet from the ground at higher speeds.

Answer: Unfortunately, while a craft operating close to the ground experiences a reduction in induced drag, other forms of drag are increased. WIG vehicles experience greater skin friction drag simply because the air is denser at sea level than it is at high altitude. You learn all about density altitude when working on your CAP Solo Wings and your private pilot license or PPL.

This performance penalty is less significant for a large WIG cargo transporting craft since speed can be sacrificed for lower cost. Human passengers would be less likely to accept longer travel times than are currently possible with modern airliners.

The Boeing Pelican hasn't been discussed since the US Army received the results of a study on alternative transport vehicles. Still, we offer the following link so that aficionados can read more.

The WIG Page and we provide the following videos of model WIGs. Learning about why something doesn't work or isn't cost effective is a valuable engineering exercise.

Video: Ground Effect Vehicles [YouTube]

Video: Ekranoplan - The Caspian Sea Monster [YouTube]