We were able to go inside one of the C-130s in the hanger. Yes, there were 2 of these beasts in the hanger PLUS helicopters. The hanger was kind of BIG! With no power on the plane and a black interior, the cockpit area was very dark. I shot these photos using some crazy settings (ISO16000 and 1/3 to 1/25 sec shutter) without a tripod. They came out much better than expected. You see in the first shot that the cockpit is heavy in electronics. The pilot seat is on the left and copilot on the right. You see very minimal non-electronic flight-critical instrumentation just to the right of the pilot yoke. The dials in the lower area are indicators for the trim/position of the flight surfaces. I'm betting this plane is not much fun to fly if the electronics go out. As a fan of flight simulators, I can identify a lot of the controls and can make pretty good guesses on the operation of those screens. With this much going on, both pilots are probably pretty busy as they approach their missio...
Click on Read More to view the video. A view of my "office" at the university. It is a privilege to have an experiment like this to teach the real-world aspects of chemical engineering. I need an updated photo that does not show the construction mess! This is a 20 foot distillation column separating methanol and water. It is controlled using a state-of-the-art DCS (distributed control system) and industrial instruments and valves. The system is indoors and spans about 50 feet in height accessed using industrial grating. It is a world-class experiment where students start up the process, bring it to steady-state, and shut it down inside a 3 hour lab period. I do not touch the controls - it is all them (with a little coaching)!
Click on READ MORE for the full post. Click on the blog photo to see full size and detail. If leaving a comment, please provide a hint who you are. This is the old ferry landing in Bridge City to cross the Neches River. It was replaced with the Rainbow Bridge in 1936 (designed to never interfere with river traffic to Beaumont with a clearance of 177 feet - height of the US Navy's USS Patoka - though it never did pass here). That height was used by Bethlehem Steel in Beaumont to build many offshore drilling rigs. The bridge is a narrow, two-lane truss bridge with a steep approach and decent. For much of my 32 year career at DuPont - Orange, I crossed this bridge twice a day - often with delays due to terrible wrecks. The Veterans Memorial Bridge, a cable-stayed 143 foot high bridge, was opened in 1990 and the Rainbow Bridge was refurbished. Both bridges are now in full service (since 1997) with traffic to Bridge City crossing the Veterans and traffic to Port...
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