Paper Authors on Tour - Larry Rinek
BIOGRAPHY
Larry Rinek began his lengthy career in the Southern California aerospace industry, and worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Menasco's Burbank aircraft landing gear plant, and the USAF in El Segundo. Later, at SRI International (the former Stanford Research Institute) and on behalf of the Stanford Transportation Group consultancy in Northern California, he performed many business and technology studies for aerospace clients over a 25+ year period. Since 1998, Larry has been Frost & Sullivan's Director of Consulting in Northern California, working with a variety of industries.
Larry has an MBA in Marketing, and a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from the UCLA. He is an active member of AIAA, SAE, SAE's Historical Committee, the American Aviation Historical Society (AAHS), and the Aircraft Engine Historical Society (AEHS). He was former Chair of the SAE Mid-California Section. Mr. Rinek is a well-recognized aviation historian, author, and speaker. He places research emphasis on U.S. technology innovation, particularly in aero-propulsion. He has authored 15 scholarly publications (many concerning the early development of American aviation), including 6 published by the SAE.
Boeing's Magnificent B-52 Stratofortress Bomber
The impressive USAF Boeing B-52 Stratofortress jet bomber, was considered quite advanced when entering SAC wing service in June 1955, and amazingly continues in front-line combat service to this day--almost 50 years later. The B-52 is expected by the Air Force to be able to serve until 2045 (90 years), easily the best longevity of any jet warbird ever built. Affectionately known to its aircrews as the "BUFF", the B-52 has made legendary contributions to military aviation history. Conceived as a replacement for the huge and relatively slow Convair B-36, the B-52 originally served on alert as our front-line intercontinental strategic nuclear heavyweight bomber. In the early 1960s, The high-altitude B-52 nuclear mission profile was changed to low-altitude penetration (with upgraded electronic countermeasures and instruments), in response to better Soviet missile defenses.
Later, the B-52 served America well in conventional combat bombing roles in Southeast Asia, Gulf War I, southern Iraq, Yugoslavia (Serbia/Kosovo), Afghanistan, and Gulf War II (Iraq) campaigns. A key to the B-52's continuing useful service has been its multirole flexibility in delivering a wide variety of modern offensive weapons, including GPS/precision-guided "smart bombs" (JDAMs), and air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) for stand-off attacks, with both conventional and nuclear warheads.
Relatively large with a 185 ft. wing span, the B-52 is the heaviest (488,000 lb. GTOW) of the 3 remaining dedicated bomber aircraft in the dwindling USAF active bomber inventory. Many of the technology innovations pioneered by Boeing in the B-47 Stratojet swept-wing jet bomber program carried over to the Stratofortress, with further improvements. Altogether, 744 B-52 airframes were built, including the prototypes and production models A through H. Today, just the H models (approximately 76 out of the surviving fleet of 94) remain active in the USAF, divided between Barksdale AFB (Louisiana) and Minot AFB (North Dakota).
Larry Rinek (published aviation historian, former USAF officer, Director of Consulting at Frost & Sullivan, member of AIAA & SAE, and a veteran of the U.S. aerospace industry) will outline program development, highlight B-52 technology features, show the prototypes, discuss the production models, display special-mission derivatives, and recap the BUFF's exemplary combat record. Larry will also show dramatic short video clips of the B-52 in action. You will not want to miss the action.
Defects in Aircraft Design & Materials: Engineering Lessons Learned
Why have preventable mishaps in aircraft occurred (which are not the fault of pilots), resulting in loss of life and property? How are aircraft put into service with potentially fatal control and stability issues? Many of these incidents are directly attributed to human error and negligence in aircraft design as well as processing of materials (manufacturing issues). How can engineers prevent or at least minimize such unpleasant events, thus improving aircraft safety? What lessons can we learn from historical mishaps, so that they might be avoided in the future?
Answers to these questions will be addressed, in the course of exploring a series of famous case studies, involving both civil and military aircraft. We will see in these cases how engineers recovered from hidden defects (discovered downstream via aircraft mishaps), and developed workable solutions.
Larry Rinek, a Senior Consultant in the Automotive & Transportation practice at Frost & Sullivan in Palo Alto (as well as an aviation historian, former USAF officer, former student pilot, trained engineer, veteran of the U.S. aerospace industry, active member of both AIAA and SAE technical societies) will present an interesting and educational PowerPoint slide show on this topic.
Despite lessons learned (presumably) and continual upgrades of engineering methods/tools as well as manufacturing processes over time, unfortunate things still manage to happen to aircraft that are avoidable. Views on future solutions for this challenge will be discussed. Larry will include a dramatic video clip of a defective aircraft suffering the consequences.
