On the 26th April 2018, the Royal Aeronautical Society Heathrow Branch convened the last meeting of the 2017/18 lecture season – the 2018 Annual General Meeting and Film show. In the 2017/18 season, the Branch again delivered greatly-received and eclectic lecture programme. In particular, the February lecture, Formula 1 Aerodynamics by Dr Stephen Liddle achieved one of the highest attendance record in 15 year history. In total, 104 people attended the February lecture and over 30% of them were young members.
The lecture season kicked off in September as usual at the British Airways Waterside Theatre – with a presentation on human powered flying by Sam Penney, a British Airways licensed aircraft engineer proving the old adage that “You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps…”. Sam Perry told the audience about his not-always-successful efforts to built a man-powered aircraft, and of how life as a Licensed Aircraft Engineer wasn’t entirely adequate as preparation. A story of making it up as you go, of trial and error, and above all of absolute, unrelenting determination.
The October lecture, was a very interesting and well received lecture – given by Stuart Lindsey, the Manager of Airspace Regulation from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Audience learned that the basic structure of the UK’s airspace was developed over forty years ago. Since then there have been huge changes, including a hundred-fold increase in demand for aviation and the adoption of the latest technologies by the industry. Stuart provided an overview of the Future Airspace Strategy (FAS), and describe how the UK aviation sector is planning to respond to the many challenges posed by Brexit, specific government policies and important environmental issues.
In November, Andy Garner present to the audience his personal experience at Heathrow for the opening of Terminal 5 and Terminal 2 and the host of London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. Andy was the British Airways’ General Manager for T5 Readiness and the Heathrow Airport’s Director for London 2012 Operations, and the Programme Controls & Airline Readiness Director for T2 Opening. He share his adventures and leave the audience with his thoughts on the lessons learned and the ingredients that lead to an ultimate success.
As an old “Airline IT Guy”, it is not often that we have lectures about subjects in which I had a personal stake, but this was one such. I did not work directly with Andy on T5, but we certainly attended a large number of meetings together, and it was fascinating to hear the story from the ‘other side’, proving that there are always two sides to any story.
– Adrian Constable, Chairman, RAeS Heathrow Branch 2017-2018
December lecture was cancelled due to the Speaker was called away at the last minute and that given the inclement weather at the time. The Branch was pleased to be joined by Stuart Jackson from Renishaw Plc. He took us as close to the leading edge of modern manufacturing as commercial niceties would permit. A very interesting subject on the Metallic Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing).
In February lecture, Dr Stephen Liddle gave us one a lecture with one of the highest attendance record in 15 year history. In total, 104 people attended the lecture and over 30% of them were young members. Dr Liddle presented the audience that the leading edge aerodynamics is not just about making aircraft fly, it’s also about keeping cars on the ground. He addressed the importance of aerodynamics in Formula 1 racing as well as the problems encountered and their solutions. The presentation also covered the modelling technologies and techniques used, such as wind tunnel testing, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and simulation.
In February, the Branch also organised a joint lecture with the IMechE London Southwest Regional Network away from our usual venue at Kingston University’s Roehampton Vale Campus. Philip Rowles, the Vice President of Engineering at Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited, delivered this joint lecture that explained the key technical challenges and the solutions employed in modern aircrew escape systems.
The season’s historical lecture was presented in March by Paul Ross from the Silver City Association. Silver City Airways was best remembered for its cross-channel Air Ferry services. Paul spoke about the origins of Silver City before reviewing its wide-ranging activities over the following sixteen years until the company was absorbed into the British United Airways group in 1962, as well as Silver City’s varied aircraft fleet, particularly their involvement in the use and development of the Bristol 170 Freighter and Super-Freighter.
Finally, in April, the long term friend of the Branch, Dr Guy Gratton, who is currently the Head of Airborne Science & Technology at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) presented us the history of Britain’s national effort on atmospheric research, and explained why it’s as important as it ever has been. He presented to the audience some of the biggest achievements, as well as the future challenges as Britain goes into its second century of atmospheric research flying, in a future of increasingly international science and new challenges such as climate change, urban pollution and the search for ever better weather forecasts – as well as the opportunities created by unmanned aircraft, airships and satellites.
At the end of the Annual General Meeting, Adrian Constable pass the Chairmanship to the Vice-Chairman, Peter Friar and that Peter will be leading the Branch to deliver another successful year of aeronautical activities for the local community supported by the Branch Committee.
For the upcoming lecture season 2018-2019, the Branch has again prepared an excellent lecture programme, which can be browsed on our EVENT page – http://tiny.cc/RAeSLHR. The first lecture of the new season is due to commence on 13th September 2018 at British Airways’ Waterside HQ, and will be given by Rear Admiral Simon Henley, the President of the Royal Aeronautical Society on the topic of “The X-35 vs X-32: The F-35 Competitive Concept Demo”. Simon will provide the audience with interesting insight happened during the Concept Demonstration phase of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme and an overview of the competition between the two aircraft platform, Boeing X-32 and Lockheed Martin X-35.
RAeS Heathrow Branch 