On 24 June 1994 at Fairchild Air Force Base, during practice for an air show, a low-flying B-52H aircraft banked its wings vertically and crashed. Emphasizing the activity of modeling drag and gravity, these notes examine the possibility of recovery with several models. First, with algebra, historical data lead to a model where in a free fall near…

The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, are often depicted as lone geniuses, secretly assembling the first successful powered aircraft far from civilization at Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There is a germ of truth in the popular story, but only a germ. The brothers succeeded while so many other experimenters failed not because…

The winter storm of late 2022 caused difficulties for many US-based airlines, but none more so than Southwest Airlines. Like other airlines, Southwest canceled flights in the early stages of the storm. Their attempted recoveries failed due to procedural and technology issues. The airline was unable to cope with the magnitude of canceled flights,…

Universities worldwide have come to embrace the rhetoric of environmental sustainability and a commitment to climate action while simultaneously seeking to internationalize themselves within the context of the global economy. In seeking to internationalize, universities are highly dependent on air travel, for both their academic staff and…

During every moment of our lives, we are surrounded by radiation from natural and manmade sources. Our bodies contain radionuclides from which we receive radiation. Radionuclides are found in the foods we eat and in the ground we walk on. We receive cosmic radiation from space. Radionuclides are also found in the airborne particles we breathe. The…

This case study focuses on modeling and analyzing the practices concerning the staffing of the immigration agency at the Island of Tropical Paradise International Airport (ITPIA), which is responsible for processing arriving passengers into the country. Immigration at ITPIA has engaged you to understand the trade-offs between the number of…

This May marks the 80th anniversary of the "Hindenburg" disaster. On May 6, 1937, the German passenger zeppelin "Hindenburg," hovering 300 feet in the air and held aloft by seven million cubic feet of hydrogen gas, burst into flames while preparing to dock at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, NJ (Fig. 1). Amazingly, the…

Students have been taught that atmospheric temperature drops linearly with altitude, up to approximately 15 km. However, even after completing an undergraduate degree program, most students have only memorized such information and have never had the experience of measuring it. Students often assume that experimental tasks must involve the use of…

This paper discusses a post-conference experience involving attendees who utilized airport space to debrief through face-to-face (FtF) communication. Their temporary spatial proximity led to an idea generation process of recalling, rethinking, and getting ready for what's next. Literature about learning spaces, knowledge management, and the…

Employee empowerment yields positive outcomes for employees, managers, and organizations. Yet, too many employees feel disempowered at work, and managers, while wanting to empower employees, often do not know how. Contributing to this state of affairs is the lack of published, high-fidelity exercises explicitly designed to instruct students on how…

This case study focuses on modeling and analyzing the practices concerning the staffing of the immigration agency at the Island of Tropical Paradise International Airport, which is responsible for processing arriving passengers into the country. Students are challenged to model the status quo of immigration employee scheduling and analyze various…

What better way to engage fifth-grade students in science and engineering practices than to use paper airplanes to encourage them to question, explore, create, and test designs! This multi-day unit draws from a fourth-grade curriculum (Pearson 2012) aligned with the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) used in…

This paper presents recommendations for faculty mentors interested in conducting a study abroad program in the social sciences. The recommendations discussed in this paper aim to support faculty in pre-departure planning, during the study abroad experience, and after the study abroad experience concludes. The strategies presented in this paper aim…

This case describes a real-world scenario based on a fictional new commuter airline seeking to develop a database to support their operations. Students are asked to design and develop a database to allow the airline to track flights, passengers, bookings, and more, based on a set of business rules, default data, and other requirements. The case…

"How does an aircraft fly?" is one of the most frequently asked science questions by young pupils. The lift on airplane wings also makes a great example of the application of the Bernoulli principle while teaching fluid mechanics in introductory physics and engineering courses. The topic is of great interest and is therefore covered in…