Books I've recently acquired... 4

[vooter]

"Rising Tide" by John Berry
"Dams and Other Disasters" by Arthur Morgen
"History of Strength of Materials" by Stephen Timoshenko

 

[IRstuff]

As you may recall, one DC-10 crashed because the failed rear turbine sliced through the one spot on the plane that did not have redundant hydraulic lines.

It was a basic flaw in the design; nothing to do with deregulation.

TTFN

 

[zeitghost]

It's your basic "life's a bitch & then you die" thing really.

Can't remember if it was the DC10 that had the fan failure due to an inclusion.

 

[rmw]

I have standing instructions with my travel agent never to seat me near the engines. I hear things that I just don't want to hear. Better off just not knowing. I had just completed an intensive Gas Turbine engineer training course in upstate NY, and took an Allegheny Airlines flight seated between the engines in the rear. I said 'never again.'

Then there was the case of the passenger who was killed in Pensacola or Panama City (one of those "P" cities) a few years ago when the engine compressor shelled itself and a blade penetrated the cabin and killed a passenger seated alongside the engine in the last row. (It was a model that had the engines mounted on the side of the plane at the rear.)

My business partner and I flew back from Los Angeles just today and had this very discussion. (Engines were OK on this trip.)

rmw

 

[notnats]

About 10 years ago I read a book called, I think "DC 10"

From memory the cargo door problem started with the design being rushed into manufacture to meet the competition from the 747. The locking mechanism was difficult to engage properly, the "door locked" sensor was near the locking drive motor, and the linkage was flexible enough that the sensor could be actuated when the lock was not engaged. A series of quick fixes including a small inspection window requiring the baggage handler to use a flashlight while bending forward on hands and knees did not prevent further disasters.

The structure may have been weak, but the doors weren't locked.

Jeff

 

[zeitghost]

Wasn't the real killer that the floor collapsed when the door opened & took out all the control lines to the tail?

 

[plasgears]

It was one of the long string of failures that led to disaster:
engine wagging the tail...shear deformation....door failure...floor failure...control failure...etc

In failure analysis it is the root cause that sometimes is elusive. In this case it was the wagging engine in a flexible tail cone. Perhaps others can speak of deeper roots.

 

[plasgears]

I had the experience of riding in a Delta DC-9 many years ago on a trip to Boston. We had just taken off from Wash, DC, and I heard a rather loud vibe from the left engine. I was sitting near the rear. Apparently the pilots had indications of something going on with that engine. They kept cycling the engine up and down, and at low speed you could hear "clunk -clunk-clunk." They shut it down. That was the first time I experienced single engine operation in a DC-9. The crew didn't say a word, and I didn't ask.

As we taxied to the terminal I turned to my neighbor and said "Not bad for a single engine flight." He was not aware of the left engine problem.

 

[drawoh]

My latest technical book is Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly, Second Edition, Geoffrey Boothroyd, Peter Dewhurst and Winston Knight. Our manufacturing department is starting to get interested in DFMA. This is a good read if you are a designer.

There is nothing in it about DCs and engine failures.

JHG

 

[BelspringKen]

"Hydraulics" by Daughtery

I think its out of print, but its a classic.

 

[tgeorge]

Real wimpy book by you guys' standards.

Green Belt 6 Sigma
Black Belt 6 Sigma
Lean 6 Sigma

 

[Ashereng]

Da Vinci Code. Engineers need to be more well rounded!

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[quark]

Da Vinci Code is good for managers, in my opinion. If kindergarten kids don't raise their voice over the fundamental change, Dan Brown has enough analytical skills to convince us that G = S, O = E and D = X. Though I don't belong to either of the two faiths, I will never buy his idea.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

"Design Fundamentals of Cable Roof Structures" by Scalzi, Podolny and Teng. Published by US Steel in 1969. Nine bucks at a used book store.

"Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan

 

[zeitghost]

"Signor Marconi's Magic Box": all about Marconi's Wireless exploits.

"Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age": all about the development of the semiconductor industry from the cat's whisker through the point contact diode through the point contact transistor to the junction transistor & the ic. Interesting chap to work for, Mr Schockley... )

"A Vertical Empire: The History of the UK Rocket and Space Programme, 1950-1971". by C.N. Hill. Who but the British could design a steam driven satellite launch vehicle? (OK, it was hydrogen peroxide & kerosene, but steam sounds better). Lions led by donkeys as per normal.

 

[zeitghost]

Forgot this one: "Colossus": yet another book about the Ultra Secret...

 

[IRstuff]

re: DaVinci Code, why not?

People LOVE to speculate about conspiracies:
Area 51
Kennedy
Bush1
Bush2
Cold War
National Treasure
Flight 800

TTFN

 

[zeitghost]

"Dark Sun: the making of the Hydrogen Bomb".

 

[plasgears]

"the making of the atomic bomb."

Curiously, it produced a sense of pride in the engineering of the "gadget." It solved the problem of how to bring the war to a quick conclusion.

I lost an uncle in Okinawa, and I am chagrined about the popularity of Japanese cars. I wouldn't accept one as a gift. One associate was brainwashed about his new Honda, and I asked him to truthfully report on any problems in this "problem-free" car. Sure enough, he had a breakdown on the highway, and they came to tow it away. "They didn't charge for towing, and they provided a loaner during the repair." Very consoling!

Incidentally, during a tour of Oak Ridge, TN, I talked to a local at a shopping center, and he gave some insights about living and working there during the war. He said that when certain individuals learned what they were really working on, they ran for the hills. They really got spooked. I had a later job offer to work down there, and somehow I couldn't get too excited about it.

 

[zeitghost]

I worked with a chap who was a POW in Nagasaki in August 1945. He survived the Big Flash... don't have any details of why & how.

When the factory I worked in had Japanese visitors, management had to hide him away... they weren't his favourite people.

What interested me about Dark Sun was the description of the first US device, which was an enormous cryogenic assembly full of liquid deuterium. Worked though... bit undeliverable as built )

And the first dry shot (Mike?) which ran away to 15Mt & scared the crap out of everyone because of an unexpected reaction with Lithium 6 (?).

As someone said, physicists have known sin...

The engineering of these things must have been very challenging & great fun so long as you didn't think about what they could do to the planet...

 

[Timelord]

"The E-bomb: How America's New Directed Energy Weapons Will Change the Way Future Wars Will Be Fought"
by Doug Beason
It was given to me as a gift. A great read and a good history of the development of directed energy weapons. I work in Albuquerque and have meet some of the people mentioned in the book so I know it is factual. I can only add: if this stuff is unclassified, imagine what we have that is still classified.

Timelord