The 4x5 KAP camera is coming along. Still work to be done, but it's in far better shape now than it's ever been. It's a shame I can't use it right now, though.
I'm in Los Angeles, taking a UCLA Extensions course in Structural Dynamics. I have to say I'm really pleasantly surprised by the contents of the course. I thought it would be an overview of a lot of FEM/FEA software I don't have licenses for. Turns out the engineer presenting the course, Dennis Philpot, had much more useful ideas in mind. It's been a return-to-basics low-level class including materials I saw in my Newtonian Mechanics course, Electromagnetism (believe it or not... an LRC circuit looks a lot like a damped spring/mass system), Stellar Atmospheres (asteroseismology bears an odd resemblance to acoustic vibration), etc. Only difference? Instead of newtons, kilograms, and meters (or in the case of astronomy, grams and centimeters), the whole class is in feet and pounds. I have to laugh.
But the material is outstanding. It's a shame I'm still jet lagged. Focusing is hard, and only by really really shoving everything aside can I stay on top of what's being covered. Even so, at times I get lost and have to go back later to figure out just what the @#$% a particular second derivative is secondly derivating.
Still, it's providing lots and lots of food for thought. Like how to isolate the 6-DOF IMU on a quadracopter so it's not subject to vibration from the rotors. Like how to apply all this, plus the theory of vortex shedding, to the design of KAP rigs. (Yes, even in the class I'm thinking about aerial photography from a kite.) It's fun to think about the time periods involved with KAP, and to realize that most of the other people in the room don't go that low. It's fun!
But the one thing it's not is a grand flying opportunity for me. The wind has largely been dead, and what wind there was yesterday wasn't worth flying in. Here I've been in LA for two days, and I haven't even made it to the beach yet. I'm not sure I will.
For starters, I spend eight hours a day in class. What time I'm not in class I'm spending avoiding traffic. That really doesn't leave a lot of daylight time to fly. Wisely, my wife urged me to leave my KAP gear at home and not risk losing it to the TSA or baggage handlers (who could easily take it for any number of diabolical devices it's not.) So I'm KAPless in LA with barely a brain cell left to my name at the end of the day. Yet I still find the time to dream about flying. Ah well. Once a geek...
I should be back on-island Saturday, all things willing. I can't wait to see my family, and hope they pack my KAP bag and the 4x5 in the trunk. What can I say? Once a geek...
Tom
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