The lecture is entitled 'The Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander” and will be given by David Stewart, Head of Flight Sciences at Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited.
It starts at 18:15 in the Community Learning Centre, at BA Waterside, UB7 0GA. (This postcode works for most GPS).

Airlines – tackling the Climate Change Challenge

Much has been reported in the media of the alleged effects of aviation on climate change and the resulting impacts on air travel.

Jonathan Counsell, formerly the Head of Environment for British Airways and now Head of Sustainability for International Airlines Group will outline in his lecture the critical importance of addressing climate change if the industry wants to grow, including an update on role of new aircraft and future innovative technology as well as biofuels and improved air traffic control procedures. He will also update on the targets IAG has set for itself and give an insight into how the group is doing on delivering to these targets.

Finally, the talk will cover the importance of the recent Paris Climate Change summit held in Dec 2015.

SAFE EVACUATION FROM AIRCRAFT- THE APPLICATION OF FIRE AND EVACUATION SIMULATION TO AIRCRAFT DESIGN, CERTIFICATION AND ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

The RAeS Heathrow Branch September 2016 lecture will demonstrate the use of fire and evacuation modelling in aircraft design and certification applications. Several example applications will be provided to illustrate the techniques including design analysis for a Blended Wing Body passenger aircraft and certification analysis of a VIP configured B747.

Finally, the techniques will be used in a forensic analysis of the fatal Manchester Airport B737 fire from 1985 which resulted in the loss of 55 lives. Thirty years after the incident, fire and evacuation modelling has advanced to the point where it is possible to reconstruct the accident and examine the factors that contributed to the large loss of life. In this presentation coupled fire and evacuation simulation are used to investigate the impact of door opening times on evacuation and survivability.

The October lecture promises to be a hugely entertaining evening. The guest speaker, Paul Catanach is currently a serious commercial UK pilot with a great sense of humour and a superb story to tell about his earlier life and adventures as a bush pilot in Australia. Bashing around the bush in a series of clapped-out aircraft, he carried freight both night and day the length and breadth of the Northern Territory experiencing the delights and perils of the NT’s two seasons, the Dry and the Wet.

Despite the best efforts of passengers, live freight, other pilots and wildlife he survived several years of being a bush pilot. Paul will come along with some Australian native artefacts to help illustrate the talk, people and places he has encountered - for us a real insight into the Antipodean sense of humour.

The November lecture will take you on a fascinating journey of the origin and developments of a company that for over 67 years has been the undisputed world leader in the design and manufacture of ejection seats: Martin Baker, an international lifesaving synonym. To date, Martin-Baker ejection seats have ensured the safety of 7,497 pilots in 93 Air Forces around the world, of which 3,492 are U.S. Service-members.

Martin-Baker was founded on August 19, 1929, by 37-year-old James Martin. He invented and developed the first ejection seats in 1944-6. Since its inception, the company has recorded details of every emergency ejection. It has notes—some very detailed—on practically every successful ejection to date, as well as on some of the unsuccessful minority. From the outset of the business Sir James Martin urged his designers and craftsmen to learn lessons if possible from every ejection. This ethos helped build a world class company that has kept its preeminent place in the industry throughout the years.

In the RAeS Heathrow Branch December lecture, Captain Hugh Dibley will present the developments of aircraft simulation as an essential part of training and even aircraft design. He will describe the operational capabilities of the latest visual and motion systems, which are today being applied not only to aircraft simulators but to ground vehicles, naval and space ship simulators.

Captain Dibley will use current examples of the technologies involved in delivering high quality FSTD training. Aircraft and their environment are growing ever more complex and the technologies used to simulate them and provide training are constantly evolving. Simulation offers a safe environment for practising system failures, abnormal weather, traffic and terrain avoidance, and virtual operation at any airfield in the world.

Captain Dibley will also talk about the Airbus ‘iron bird’ systems integration and test bench and show a video of the first flight of the A380, ‘Reality on 27 April 2005’, where virtual becomes reality as the simulation is put onto the aircraft itself to carry out the validation and integration of the systems at aircraft level. His talk will conclude with a section on Space Flight Tourism Simulation where prospective passengers can experience up to 4 G during acceleration and deceleration prior to their space flight!