Bruce Ekelund

Materials List

John Marcy

A preliminary appraisal of the problem of frictional sparking i8gnition in aviation.

F. Edwards Ehlers

Method for computing a shock wave and also a free streamline dividing two regions of isoenergetic supersonic flow are explained with computed examples of both two-dimensional and axially-symmetric flows. The subroutines as coded in FORTRAN language for the IBM 7094 are listed and the procedures for their use are described.

Paul M. Rich

The performance of a standard flight recorder, mounted aft of the pressurized bulkhead in the tail section of an air carrier transport aircraft was compared with that of a recorder as presently installed during flight.

Flight tests were conducted in conjunction with the FAA-NASA project TAPER (Turbulent Air Pilot Environmental Research) utilizing the FAA's Boeing 720. Two flight recorders and associated accelerometers were mounted in the aircraft; one in the cabin area near the center of gravity and one in the tail of the aircraft outside the pressurized bulkhead. The two recorders were modified to record altitude and airspeed as obtained from an altitude/airspeed transducer located near the pitotstatic source. The standard airspeed and altitude channels were supplied by specially installed pitot-static lines running from the nose to the tail of the aircraft.

There was no difference between the recordi.ngs of the flight recorder located at the e.g. and the recording of an identical recorder located in the tail for the parameters of airspeed, altitude, and heading. However, there was a difference between the acceleration readings of these recorders. Although there was no difference between the altitude and airspeed obtained from the pitot and static lines and the altitude obtained via an altitude/airspeed transducer, the altitude/airspeed transducer proved more practical.

Don W. Conley

Information was obtained on the effectiveness of helicopter downwash and ground foam equipment in extending the escape time for aircraft occupants in a post-crash fire environment by burning five C-97 aircraft under similar conditions. Additional tests, not involving C-97 aircraft, were conducted relative to rescue path studies.

Test data indicated that helicopter downwash extended the escape time when fire existed solely on the upwind side of a C-97 fuselage, but the escape time when fire was on both sides or solely on the downwind side of the fuselage. It was also found that helicopter downwash provided a considerable reduction in the radiant heat and air temperature in a simulated rescue path.

For the standard fire condition used and the equipment employed, the ability of ground crews to extend the escape time was found to be dependent upon the preburn time and the fuselage integrity with respect to emergency doors open or closed. An escape time of 50 seconds was computed for C-97 with emergency doors open as compared to 138 seconds or a C-97 with emergency doors closed. Test results amplify the need for a quick arrival of extinguishing equipment and a capability for a quick “knockdown” and control of the fire.