Introduction:
For my final half of senior engineering instead of working on a capstone project I instead opted to work on the multi-year Pegasus project. The project as you might have guest is to have a selection of students from the senior engineering class, through multiple years construct an RV-12 kit air plane. At the time of me working on the plane prior groups had completed the tail cone and the main structure of fuselage, and had started to work on the wings. Out team when we started to working we were assigned the flaperons, after finishing we then worked on the landing gear and assembled a white board-stand for the new work space in the auto shop.
Terms:
Flaperon: The flaps at the end of the wings, they are moved up and down to change the lift properties of the wing, it is also the main piece that my group completed. If a flaperon is in the downward position it is creating more lift, if it is in the upward position it reduces the lift. This can be used to both bank the plane allowing for turning, it can also be used to increase or decrease the elevation of the plane.
Wing: The part of the plane that generates lift, it does this by creating a high and low pressure zone which causes the plane to be pushed upward. For more information look at the freshmen do it better project which goes in-depth about flight mechanics.
Fuselage: The main body of the plane is used to house the pilot and rider, as well as holding the wings and engine of the plane.
Tail cone: The tail end of the plane body, it holds the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. It is conic to improve aerodynamics.
Wing: The part of the plane that generates lift, it does this by creating a high and low pressure zone which causes the plane to be pushed upward. For more information look at the freshmen do it better project which goes in-depth about flight mechanics.
Fuselage: The main body of the plane is used to house the pilot and rider, as well as holding the wings and engine of the plane.
Tail cone: The tail end of the plane body, it holds the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. It is conic to improve aerodynamics.
conclusion
As a whole I feel the project was fun and very educating and the engineering process. It did this by giving us an example on how to go about constructing large projects, as well as insights into the order of construction for parts. Both of which will be useful later on in our career. For areas I did well on this project, I did a really good job at catching mistakes. For example on the flaperon there was a section for reinforcement that we were drilling wrong that I stopped before to much damage was done. Another area I did well on was communication. This was prevalent throughout all the project where me and my group mates would bounce ideas off each other to try to figure out certain steps. There are also areas that I could improve on. One main area I could do better on next time would be staying focused on a task. Many times during the project I zoned out and became less productive than I could be. Another area I could improve is being more organized many times while working we would need to hunt down parts for farther steps and succeeded in being very poor at the task.