Fairfax Police land helicopter on campus to explain the rotorcraft’s mechanics to engineering students

Martha Bushong — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 12:35:32 +0000

Fairfax Police land helicopter on campus to explain the rotorcraft’s mechanics to engineering students Martha Bushong Mon, 03/08/2021 - 07:35

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Volgenau School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

aeronautics

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Gregory Washington

Kenneth Ball

Leigh McCue-Weil

Find Out About Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering students get a close-up look at the Bell 429 helicopter.

Students studying aeronautics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering got an up-close look at how a helicopter works when the Fairfax Police landed one on campus recently and explained its functionality.

Mason Engineering’s second-semester senior aeronautics class (ME 499) focuses on rotary-wing flight vehicle performance, stability/control, and unmanned aircraft systems.

To bring some of the ideas of the class to life, adjunct professor Robert Gallo asked Captain Michael Shamblin, Helicopter Division Commander of the Fairfax County Police Department, to provide a practical demonstration of vertical lift with their Bell 429 helicopter.

The helicopter landed on the lawn outside Merten Hall one afternoon in late February, and the police flight crew demonstrated how the cyclic and collective flight systems affect motion and control of the rotor blades.

Among those attending the class with the aeronautics students were: Mason president Gregory Washington, Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Ginsberg, Volgenau School of Engineering Dean Ken Ball, and Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Leigh McCue.

“YouTube videos and PowerPoints only go so far in explaining the complexities of vertical lift,” Gallo says, “so having the Fairfax Police here helped our students understand how the helicopter rotor generates lift and allows it to fly in all directions.”

Mechanical engineering senior Mason Chee agrees. “We were able to look inside at the controls that they use to pilot a helicopter, and we learned about some of the effects the helicopter encounters during its flight. You can read about the theories and watch videos about them, but nothing comes as close as seeing it live.”

Vanessa Barth, a mechanical engineering senior, adds, “They were teaching us about the mechanical components and systems that control a helicopter. It was all information we talked about in class, but to see it in person was helpful.”

Gallo says the Fairfax Police were highly engaging and did an outstanding job answering questions, not only from our students but also from the faculty and staff in attendance.

Mason Engineering students and faculty compete at 99 Luftballoons competition

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 17:02:30 +0000

Mason Engineering students and faculty compete at 99 Luftballoons competition Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/08/2021 - 12:02

Left to right: Dinesh Karri, Robert Hooks, and Joseph Matthew Prince getting ready to compete at the Luftballoons competition at Indiana University.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) robotic shark blimp, which is what a team of George Mason University students and faculty used to participate in the 99++ Luftballoons Competition at Indiana University on November 9 through 13.

The competition took place at the Indiana University Bloomington campus where people from Mason, the University of California Los Angeles, Indiana University at Bloomington, Pennsylvania State University, the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division, and the Army Research Laboratory competed in an aerial soccer match using remote-controlled LTA robots.

“LTA robots don’t need any support to hold them in the air. Helicopters need propellers, but all LTA robots can stay in the air on their own. Instead, they need controls to move them about in the air,” says Mason graduate student and competition teammate Joseph Prince Mathew.

Each team had defenders and seekers to protect their goal and score points against the other team. “It got pretty competitive,” says Dinesh Karri, another team member. “But it was so much fun.”

Every team played each other, and the teams with the most points faced off at the end of the five-day event. “Unfortunately, we lost, but we had the most points overall throughout the week,” says Mathew.

Mathew and Karri were working with Assistant Professor Feitian Zhang to develop an underwater glider as part of their PhD studies when they found out about the opportunity to bring their skills to the air. “It was a change of medium, from underwater to air. The dynamics are pretty similar,” says Mathew.

Robert Hooks, a junior undergraduate electrical engineering major, jumped on the project because of his interest in robotics and autonomous systems. “When I heard about it from one of my professors, I was very intrigued. It was a valuable and fun experience to learn hands-on,” says Hooks.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

swarm robotics

Robots

aeronautics

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Cameron Nowzari