***** WARNING ***** Progressive rock reference ahead.
Three great philosophers of our time – Emerson, Lake, and Palmer – once said “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside.”
And so a new chapter begins.
So much to blog about! What a busy month August has been. By the end of July, Alex and I found ourselves in Rochester, MN. Alex’s mom was diagnosed with a very rare blood disease called TTP-HUS (Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura and Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome). So rare that they see it in four people per million per year. It was a bumpy road, but we are pleased to report that she is doing leaps and bounds better and is well on her way to a full recovery. The doctors at Mayo are a miraculous team of skilled know-it-alls. Nothing gets past them.
Then it was back to Mississippi for Alex’s track select. He had finished training in the T-6 (see Figures 1-3…oh, why yes, I am an engineer, how did you ever guess?) and was about to find out amidst a roast what he would fly next. His aunt Janice, uncle Mike and cousins Jack and Hannah from Texas came for the big day, as well as his sister Shelby and her boyfriend Anders.
Figure 1: Alex and T-6 Texan II
Figure 2: Shelby and Anders and the T-6
Figure 3: Alex and his cousins Jack and Hannah and the T-6
It was a really fun day, we got to see some of what Alex was doing during his T-6 training (a rough version, that is) and we even got to fly the simulator. Which I think I can speak for the group in saying that it was a little more difficult than we expected. I felt it would be worthwhile for Alex to show us what he’s been up to the past few months so I asked him to hop in the sim for us. When the instructor pilot in the simulator asked what conditions we wanted him to fly in, I listed just about everything I could come up with…and he did very well. The IP even said so.
After a decent roast…not that Alex has any flaws or anything (ha!), Alex, aka Stu (have you seen the movie The Hangover? I need not say more…) found out that the next plane he would train in would be the twin engine, supersonic T-38 (see Figures 4, 5). Thrilled so say the very least. AND, he also was top in his T-6 class. Props to Alex (get it? “Props”…tee hee). Needless to say, I am so proud and so very happy he got T-38s!
Figure 4: Alex and I and the T-38 Talon
Figure 5: Alex and his bigger and badder T-38
The following week, I realized that my Pink Floyd theme for the summer was over before I could even ensure that my school did not burn down.
As a refresher, I’m working with EADS-IW (European Aeronautic Defense and Space – Innovation Works) through Mississippi State University studying aircraft icing (or rather, anti-icing). Currently, I am using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program called Ansys Fluent to simulate a sessile water droplet impacting a surface. There are a lot of variables in this get-up to be cautious of, and for the time being I am hunting down experimental data that I can attempt to replicate with a numerical method and simulate. The next step will be to supercool the water droplet and analyze the solidification of it as it is whisked away into an icing tunnel. Goodbye summer, hello books!
Not quite as cool as the T-38, I know. It’s all a part of that “plan” that will lead me to my dream job. I just know it. After all,
“If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?”
So, that’s an update of life as we know it in Mississippi.
Have a great day and y’all come back!