Bought a New Class A RV today

[speeder]

The signs are cool.

[Hugh R]

Denis, see my post on the Vegas thread about surge protectors, it may be more than you need, but information is good...

[Hugh R]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Where are you going to be say, around September 27th?

I have a test near Salt Lake (Dugway Proving Grounds) I need to drive some assets to.

I am going to try and see Speeder on the way back.

I think I’m in LA, if you need a driver, I might be able to help.

40 years ago, the company I worked for had a DOD contract at Dugway to do air pollution emissions testing at some experimental nerve gas destruction facility.

They suited us up in positive pressure suits and set us up to drive 5 miles to a nerve gas incinerator, the concept was they would remotely grab a nerve gas shell, not A& B binary, but single gas, and dunk it in liquid nitrogen and freeze it and then have a remote cleaver split it and drop it in a fluidized bed incinerator. Sort of like a nerve gas slushy.

We went through training where they said, when you feel any twitching take this spike of an atropine injection and jam it into your thigh. A few minutes after they suited us up and said “remember, when you feel twitching use the injection, I said “you said when again, not if”.


They fired up the incinerator and from five miles away, we could see it backfire, and belch black smoke. My Boss called our boss and said Eff you, the Boss threatened to fire us, And said we have a contract and we both said “fine”, we didn’t get fired.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I think I’m in LA, if you need a driver, I might be able to help.

Thanks for the offer but I'll be driving out from the East Coast. As a former flight test guy and someone who has shipped small unmanned aircraft all over the place, I simply will not rely on shipping companies to get our test stuff where it needs to be on time and un-dicked with for a time critical, expensive, test period.

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Snip...They fired up the incinerator and from five miles away, we could see it backfire, and belch black smoke. My Boss called our boss and said Eff you, the Boss threatened to fire us, And said we have a contract and we both said “fine”, we didn’t get fired.

Cool story. The below is a link to the Trials we are participating in. The pictures should bring back memories:

https://www.dugway.army.mil/TECFT/index.html

We are flying two HAZMAT versions of our ducted fan VTOL UAS.



Lots of reasons why they love it for HAZMAT.

I am not staying for the two weeks of testing: The tests all take place at night - all night

[flipper35]

Careful out there. Several years ago there was a test and several people had some serious injuries and there were deaths as the test was much more efficient than what they calculated. That was UTTR.

[flipper35]

Oh, and that is a near identical trip to what we took as a family a few years ago. Finny seeing the same places.

[MBAtarga]

Sounds like fun! NOT!

Multiple chemical and biological simulant threat relevant releases are planned, with an estimated 40 releases during the course of two weeks. The simulants include: Bacillus subtilis var niger (B.g.), Erwinia herbicola (E.h.), Ovalbumin (OV), Methyl Salicylate (MeS), Triethyl Phosphate (TEP), Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6), and C-4.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Sounds like fun! NOT!

Multiple chemical and biological simulant threat relevant releases are planned, with an estimated 40 releases during the course of two weeks. The simulants include: Bacillus subtilis var niger (B.g.), Erwinia herbicola (E.h.), Ovalbumin (OV), Methyl Salicylate (MeS), Triethyl Phosphate (TEP), Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6), and C-4.

Like I said, I'm not staying for the tests

Big market for us. Unlike quad rotors and other VTOLs, the air around the duct nd HAZMAT sensors is quiescent - all moving parts are inside.

[tevake]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Thanks for the offer but I'll be driving out from the East Coast. As a former flight test guy and someone who has shipped small unmanned aircraft all over the place, I simply will not rely on shipping companies to get our test stuff where it needs to be on time and un-dicked with for a time critical, expensive, test period.



Cool story. The below is a link to the Trials we are participating in. The pictures should bring back memories:

https://www.dugway.army.mil/TECFT/index.html

We are flying two HAZMAT versions of our ducted fan VTOL UAS.



Lots of reasons why they love it for HAZMAT.

I am not staying for the two weeks of testing: The tests all take place at night - all night

Interesting UAS there Seahawk! Are there counter rotating sets of blades in there?
Is there some sort of gyro stabilizers in the top of the unit?

Are the three units connected with a joining structure and flown as a single unit?

Cheers Richard

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by tevake

Are the three units connected with a joining structure and flown as a single unit?

Maybe join them all together and make a giant floating aircraft carrier?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by tevake

Interesting UAS there Seahawk! Are there counter rotating sets of blades in there?
Is there some sort of gyro stabilizers in the top of the unit?

No, just a three blade prop. If you look carefully on the left one, you can see what we call "stators". The electric motor fits in the middle with the prop. The stators direct the air in a specific manor and the aircraft is controlled by movable control vanes on the bottom of the duct.

It is really ingenious. The designer is my partner - I met him many years go when I deployed a larger, gas powered version call the T-Hawk. Here is a picture:



We flew, with EOD folks many thousands of missions. We also flew during the Fukashima (sp) Nuke Reactor troubles. One of them still on top of the reactor.

Originally Posted by tevake

Is there some sort of gyro stabilizers in the top of the unit?

We are electric powered - the top of the unit is where the battery, GPS antenna and few electronics go. There has been a real revolution is multiple six axis gyros that fit on a card no bigger than half a credit card. That and the autopilot do the work.

Originally Posted by Noah930

Maybe join them all together and make a giant floating aircraft carrier?

I wish!

We are working on a tethered version that gets all power, sensor data up and down, control from a fiber optic cable on a ground unit. We are teamed with WL Gore on the cable and another company on the winch to control the cable. We will be able to launch and recover "Watchman" while static or underway on a ground vehicle or ship.

Lots of interest from DoD and commercial operators with all kinds of different sensors. Demos this fall. Fingers crossed.

[Hugh R]

Seahawk,

Revisited my post, if you find yourself in the Valencia, CA area, let me know.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Seahawk,

Revisited my post, if you find yourself in the Valencia, CA area, let me know.

I will. Sorry for the hijack!

Any more pics from your trip?

[Hugh R]

Been out two weeks, forgot to take pics, shaver lake, Reno, Tahoe,

Pics of:

Lake Tahoe from the CA side, lots of smoke from the fires.

A winery near Auburn, CA in the “Harvest Host” program, stay for free, dry camping, and buy a bottle of wine or something from their store. Good deal, 1000s of these wineries and farms across the country.

[speeder]

Ok, deleted my post. Don't understand why but glad to do it.

[craigster59]

I thought maybe because it was a "Top Secret" government vehicle....

[Hugh R]

What the fcuk!!

Took it to get a slow tire leak fixed. A car wash employee from next door moves a BMW 650i GT (new) and clips my front end while it’s parked. No busted fiberglass but definitely messed up. He destroys the right side of the bimmer from headlight to tail light. All aluminum body I think. Car wash insurance issue.

[Baz]

Dollars to doughnuts he was looking at his smart phone when it happened.

Sheesh......that sucks, Hugh.....

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I hope your luck changes Hugh!

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Yep, but had to go to three stores in Provo until I found the ammo I wanted.

Yes, I have been having trouble finding 10mm, but I have a Masonic Brother who does competition ammo making me up some now.