THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 23A
NASA selects students' design for unpiloted planes
Commuters will travel the country in comfort and style in team's unmanned airplane
Mike Carman, Newton senior; Thomas Brantman, Overland Park alumnus; Greg Groener, St. Charles, Ill. alumnus; and Mike Klodginski, San Antonio alumnus created this conception for the interior of a autonomous commuter plane. The group's design goal was to help passengers feel comfortable in a plane that is flown from a ground-based controller.The students recently presented their project to NASA employees in Oshkosh, Wisc., after winning third place in NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation System competition.
by Amber Bylaray
abyarkay@kansan.com
kansan staff writer
Flying to Oshkosh, Wis., can be a bunny ride. Just ask Mike Carman.
Carman, Newton senior, along with three University of Kansas graduates, flew to Oshkosh to give a presentation about small planes to NASA officials. The trip on a small commuter plane was not the most comfortable, but it did provide some inspiration.
"It was a good experience being tossed around on a small plane on the way back," Carman said. "It gives you some idea what you're designing for."
Carman was in Oshkosh from Aug. 2 to 5 to present a class project to members of NASA's Langley Research Center, which does work in space and aviation technology. Carman and team members Thomas Brantman, Overland Park alumnus; Greg Groener, St. Charles, Ill. alumnus; and Mike Klodginski, San Antonio alumnus, won third place in a Small Aircraft Transportation System competition created by NASA.
created by NAIS.
The team produced a concept for the interior of autonomous commuter airplanes that would be flown by a land-based controller rather than a pilot. The team's design was created to make passengers more relaxed with the idea of flying in a plane that does not have a pilot.
The competition was created by NASA and has college and high school levels. Projects had to be submitted by May 1, but the
"Technology is great and very useful, but if people are afraid of it, they won't use it."
Thomas Brantman project team member
groups had a year to work on their designs.
The University's team spent only two-and-a-half months on its design because it did not know about the competition until it began the Spring 2003 semester. The group was the only non-engineering team that entered the contest.
Group members were told in July they had placed third and would be presenting their design to NASA employees. There were 10 contest entries and 10 members of the Langley Research Center critiqued the projects.
Center critiqued the project. The team did research on how people are affected physically, physiologically and psychologically by flying in small aircraft, then tried to design a plane interior that would comfort passengers when they flew and encourage them to fly on autonomous planes again.
To make people more comfortable in the planes the team looked at such things as what colors should be used in the interior and how chairs should feel when passengers sit in them. They also tried to think of ways to distract passengers so they would not focus on flying in a pilotless plane.
nane. "Technology is great and very
useful but if people are afraid of it they won't use it," Brantman said.
they won't use, Brantman. The team also developed a timeline that suggested NASA should begin using the planes for its SATS program with both a pilot and stewardess. After a short amount of time the pilot could be removed and the plane could be flown from ground-based control towers with a flight attendant on board. Finally, the planes could be flown without a pilot or stewardess.
Brantman said the group created the timeline because its members believed that gradually introducing the autonomous planes to the public would increase the likelihood that people would fly on them.
Working with NASA can be difficult, though. Critique's of the group's effort weren't easy to understand.
"When you work at NASA you forget how to speak English," Brantman said. A lot of technical
jargon was thrown out by NASA's employees, Brantman said.
employees, Brantham said. The competition is done to create ideas for NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation System program. The SATS program is designed to promote connectivity in rural America. The program will use the 5,000 regional airports that are found throughout the country to move people from one place to another.
The focus of the SATS program is to help people move throughout the nation quickly and costefficiently. The planes that the program will use will be commuter planes that will hold four to eight passengers.
NASA wants to have the SATS planes in local airports by 2007. Brantman said the last stage of the program was scheduled to be finished in 2025 and that elements of his group's designs could be used in the final product.
Edited by Scott Christie