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A review of 1547 accidents in general aviation was completed to determine whether structural safety is responsible for a significant portion of these accidents. IFR and turbulent weather conditions existed in more than half these accidents. In fleets with the greatest structural strength, this same result occurred. We concluded that the inability to negotiate severe weather suggests aerodynamic improvement may deserve special emphasis. Certain general aviation models were relatively free of one or the other of the two major in-flight failure modes.

A comprehensive computer simulation has been developed to predict the transient performance of a rotary engine. An adiabatic throttling process has been assumed to account for crevice leakage. The simulation has been tuned to fit experimental data obtained from tests upon a NORTON NR 601 engine. The potential of the model as an aid to engine design and development is illustrated by means of predictions of the effects of changes in some of the design parameters.

A comprehensive computer simulation has been developed to predict the transient performance of a spark ignition engine. The model has been tuned to fit experimental data obtained from tests upon a FORD SIERRA engine. The potential of the model as an aid to engine design and development is illustrated by means of predictions of the effects of changes in moment of inertia and ignition advance.

Recent Leonid meteor showers have rekindled general awareness that meteoroid/orbital debris (M/OD) will impact the International Space Station (ISS) hardware and may cause damage and disruption of service. Large surface areas, photovoltaic (PV) arrays and PV radiators, have a higher probability of such an impact. The power generation, storage, and distribution system on the ISS is a channelized system, such that a malfunction affects only one channel. At assembly complete configuration, the ISS consists of eight power channels, and a temporary loss of one channel can be easily accommodated. However, during early stages, the ISS consists of only one PV module, which has two power channels, and a loss of one channel results in a significant loss of capability. Each PV module is supported by a photovoltaic thermal control system (PV TCS), which consists of two independent recirculating cooling loops.