1

A FORUM FOR ENGINEERING CONCEPTS

JULY 1984
Freedom of Unpowered Flight
Have you ever had the urge
to get your feet off the ground?
Many people have, but why do it
in a powe red aircraft. I am both
a glider pllot and a power pilot
and I find the challenge of soar-
ing much more exciting than
pushing the throttle.
Soaring is an amazing sport
which can give you a day long
high! I learned how to glide
three years ago and since then
I've spent most of my weekends
at the glider field.
Very few people are knowl -
edgeable about this sport, and
man questions have been asked
of me over the years. For those
who are seriously interested, I
ha ve collected some answer s t o
se questions most commonly
asked.
How do you drive a
glider?
Although I've seen a few
students attempt to "drive"
gliders, the vast majority of
pilots "fly" them. A glider has a
full set of controls just like a
powered aircraft. The joy-stick
causes the plane to pitch (up,
down) and bank \left, and your
other left). The rudder of an
aircraft causes a plane to yaw
horizontally or pivot around a
vertical axis. To help a glider
descend faster, a pilot can open
a set of spoilers which will spoil \
some of the lift created by the
wings. This allows a pilot to
'accurately control hi.s speed and
altitude on the final approach
for landing. There is also a set
of instruments in the cockpit
that inform a pilot about his
altitude, speed, rate of ascent or
descent, and
How does a glider get
off the ground?
Actually there are a variety
of ways to get it up (glider, that
is). The most common metbod
is by towing it up at the end of a
rope with a power aircraft. At
about 2000 feet, the glider pilot
releases the rope and starts
searching for the thermals (lift).
Another common method is
caned winching. The winch has
a long metal cable which
extends from the glider to the
end of the runway. As the cable
is pulled in around an engine
driven drum, the glider is pulled
up like a kite on a 45 degree
angle.
How does a glider stay
up?
On a sunny day, different
landforms will heat the air
above them at different rates.
Hot air bubbles form and if they
are triggered to break away
from the ground, a glider can
circle in this rising air to gain
altitude. These rising bubbles
often carry a certain amount of
moisture which eventually turns
into a cloud at the top of the
thermal. A few days ago, I was
able to climb to 5000 feet
before I flew into the cloud
base! By flying from one cloud
(or thermal) to another. a glider
can go cross-country or stay up
all day.
You will never become
bored of soaring. Obtaining a
license is only a start. After
this, you will be challenged to
obtain different award levels.
The first level is for a half
hour duration flight followed hv
an hour duration flight. Once
these are accomplished, thE:" nC"xt
goal is the silver badge. This
consists of a 50 Km cross-coun
try flight, a 1000 malt! tud':!
gain, and a 5 hour dura t j')11
fligh t. I presen tly ha'l-' m -)
hour and altitude ga il'l "nrj am
hoping for my cross cou:,try this
summer. Next \-nur gold
badge and finally the sacr ed
diamond awards. To give you a
feel for what is required for the
diamond a 'A"-'1rd, the altitude gain
will put VI)U highe r than passe n-
ger-carrywg jets:
How safe is gliding?
Gliders are subject to
inspection regulations just as are
powered aircraft. In addition,
every morning before a glider
can take off, every nut, boIt and
surface must be checked by the
pilot. Personally, I feel much
safer in a glider than in a pow-
ered aircraft. Instea'! of having
an engine that could die in the
middle of nowhere, a glider usu-
ally stays within safe gliding
distance of the airport.
Secondlv, since club mem-
bers are on 'the field all day, any
error made by a pilot is bound to
be noticed and quickly pointed
out to him before an unsafe
habit delfelops. In general, I
feel that if you drive a car, you
are probably taking a grea tel"
risk than you would ever
encounter in a glider.
INSIDE:
How much: $$ ?
Soaring is no more expensi ve
than many other hobbi es or
sports. A yearly membership
fee in a soaring club is about
$2.00. After that, each flight
costs between $8 and $20
.depending on how long you stay
up. For first timers, my club
offers an introductory flight to
non-members for S18 a shot.
The first st et-- in checking
Ollt thlS s port woul1 be to take
an introd uctor y fl1-;:1t at a soar -
ing cl ub, Once 3.ddicted, you
'Nill want to ' pr ;>s5 vn and learn
how to fly yourself.
Learning how to fly is not
difficult but it requires dedica-
tion and per severance. Init ial
training should consist of some
ground study in preparation for
the written Ministry of Trans-
port exam. This exam covers a
fundamental knowledge of
meteorology, navigation, princi-
ples of flight, airmanship, and
air regulations. You must also
visit a doctor and get an MOT
medical that says you are alive,
can see, and won't pass out when
you fly solo.
Now for the fun part, flight
training. You will be taught the
basics by instructors that dedi-
cate their time free of charge.
Once the chief flying instructor
feels that you are safe and
competent, you will be allowed
to solo the t >yo- sea t glider in
which you were tra ined.
All there is to do now is
build up solo experience.
Twenty solo flights will give you
your license, but it will take you
the rest of your life before you
will get close to mastering thE'
sport. If you givE' me a phone
call. I would bE' morf> than happy
to direct you to local clubs or
answer any fUr>ther
My numbN ic.: 388 7-197.
A.V.Roe Canadian Engineering Tragedy 12
Canadian Astronaut Selection Procedure 8
Bovey Commission: A Waste of Time? 4
Power Flying as a Hobby 15
2 IRON WARRIOR
THE EDITORS' PAGE
Information Overload
Everyone who goes to U of
W, and expeciaUy those in the
co-op program, must aware
of how rapidly the office envi-
ronment is being computerized.
The- computer is an excellent
tool for storing and manipulating
informa t ion, and has become
essential in many industries for
a company to remain competi-
tive. But is this vastly increased
access to information necessar-
ily a good thing?
With an increase in storage
capacity comes an increase in
demand; in many cases the
demand is e re-l ted by the capa-
bility. Anyol :p who's worked I
with computers knows that
they're always being used at the
limit of their storage ability.
The amount of data that some-
one will store on a computer
seems to be limited only by the
amount of memory available. If
there does happen to be some
extra capacity, the solution used
will be to increase the detail of
the information being stored: if
a company didn't need to know
the hair colour, eye colour, and
sexual preferences of job appli-
cants thirty years ago, why do
they need it now?
I
The huge amounts of data
stored on computer tapes and
the speed with which it can be
retrieved and transmitted is
accelerating our lives; with
more' and more crossing an exe-
cutive's desk each day, he is
able to give each required deci-
sion less attention. Lower
quality decisions arp a direct
result; in the goverument or
military, mistakes ca n be criti-
cal to the whole eOlli1try.
Execut ives. he' ause they
are being asked to .10 more, feel
under more pres.-"re and many
volun tari1 y ex tend their work
day to try to get everything
done. For those who don't stay
at thE" off ice beyond 5:00, they
can simply the office
PBX to perform "Call Forward
i i.e. any phone calls
that go to his desk are automat-
ically rerouted to his home
instead). Personally, I'd rather
let the phone on the desk ring;
I'll leave the headaches and
ulcers to the aggressive upward-
ly-mobile types.
EngSoc Financial Situation a Mystery
Ha ving just assumed the
roles as co-editors of the IRON
W ARfUOR there were many
things we had to learn as prepa-
rations for the third ,md final
issue of this term began. The
thing which became apparent
quite quickly was the fact that
EngSoc is under 30me sort of
financial strain, much more than
is obvious from the perspective
of the average engineering stu-
dent.
One of the things requested
of us from EngSoc was that we
do all of our own typesetting.
This was a reasonable request
since the facilities to do it were
all available on CMS, the arti-
cles needed only to be typed in.
Having collected enough man-
power to do about half of the
work we requt=>sttd that the
EngSoc de the rest on
an overtime Our request
was turned down and when we
questioned why, we were told
that there was no money.
Surely doing our own typesetting
was saving us enough money to
afford an expense well under
$50.
If EngSoc was that strapped
for money, especially on a tra-
ditionally high priority item such
as IRON WARRIOR, then it
seemed to us that the situation
could not have been very good in
general. We made a few inquir-
ies to gain a little more insight.
Consider the following. In
the past term EngSoc' s
membership fees have increased
by over 50%, from $5.50 to
$8.50 per term. Surely there
must be more money available,
not less. At the beginning of
this term the space expansion
project (ESSE) was announced,
intended to give us a larger
office and a better POETS pub.
Work was slated to start the
beginning of June but as of yet
no progress has been made. In
the nl' h0IA.ever it has
helped to consumE the so-called
'slush funci' whkh has been
accumula ted over the years
from C& 0 profit:;. This fund
usually acts as a buffer and
allows EngSoc to support less
profitable events, and to recover
unforeseen losses. An example
of this is the unusually slow side
of Argos the purchase of
which was EngSoc's largest
JULY 1984
expense of the term at just over
$10,000. On a smaller scale was
the theft of the profits from the
last engineering pub from the
orifice, amounting to about
$500. A further indicator of
EngSoc's situation was the
recent, midterm price rise in
C&D goods. -
The object of this editorial
is not necessarily to berate the
members of the EngSoc execu-
tive. These are hard working
people who volunteer their time
for the benefit . of other stu-
dents. On the other hand, if
there has been bad budgeting it
should not be kept a secret from
the rest of the student body.
The best way to quell is
to keep things out in the open.
Even though we're
approaching the end of the term,
we must remember that if there
are any monetary problems at
the present time, they will be
transferred to future EngSocs.
Maybe this is a sign that it is
time for our new government.
eds. note: Regarding the
aforementioned slow sale of
Argo's tickets it was announced
on Tuesday that each person
who buys a ticket and goes to
the game will receive 7 P**5
points for his/her class. This is
an astounding amount consider-
ing partidpating in the blood
donor clinic was worth only l
points/person.
IRON WARRIOR
3
JULY 1984
President's Farewell
The last chapter in the
Van Decker Administration.
The last 16 months have
been the ~ o s t challenging of my
short life. We tried new events
and services for the students.
As with any attempt at new
things there is a risk element.
This 'risk' was is in how you, the
students, would receive the
ideas. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank all the stu-
dents and class reps who partic-
ipated over the last 16 months,
for making all the risk and
effort seem worthwhile.
But before any of these
activities could go off there
were many hours spent by the
executive and directors planning
and organizing these events and
services. I would like to thank
the sixty plus people who served
as directors over this period.
In particular I would like to
give recognition to the recipi-
ents of awards in the last two
terms. The President's Award is
presented to persons who have
done an outstanding job
throughout one term. The
recipients are selected by con
sensus of the elected executive.
The Paul Plumber Award is the
highest award given out which is
presented to students, staff or
members of the community for
LETTERS
SPF.C1Alo RADICAl ISStE
IBOI W.l.BRIOB
or
., --------"... - .. .. o:_ ~ .
COCAINE
rHE 'HIGH' IN HIGH- TECH
Dear Editor:
In my opinion the most
valuable part of the Masters
experience is the opportunity for
self education. In the under-
graduate program the learning is,
confined to a fairly rigid
framework outlined by the cur-
riculum, and I found that there
was usually insufficient time to
explore beyond the essential
material.
It was especially frustrating
by the time I reached 3rd year
because, by then, I began to
realize that the whole purpose
of my education at university
was to learn how to learn. (ie:
self educa tion)
Yet, there was seldom time
to learn about the things which
interested me. I think it was at
least partially in response to this
frustration that I decided to go
on for a Masters degree.
In the Masters program I
found that I had much more
control over the areas that I
explored and the depth to whicb
I . explored them. There were
opportunities to fill in the gaps
created during the mad rush of
the undergraduate years. Also,
there was time to get to know
the professors and other stu-
dents and thereby get an inter-
esting new perspective on the
undergradua te experience.
There is, however, a kind of
paradox to the Masters program
,which results if a student
becomes too obsessed with the
formal part of the program. As
a consequence the course work
and thesis receive exe.. essive
emphasis and fhe whc:e experi-
ence can become mer.ly a glo-
rified undergraduate degree.
One must nO,t get cau:;ht in the
vicious circle of working only
for high marks and finishing in
record time.
I find it odd that some stu-
dents work as hard as they can
30 that they can leave an intel-
lectually stimulating environ-
ment as quickly as possible; An
environment which may not be
duplicated for the rest of their
lives.
The Masters program should
be looked at as a valuable
experience, not a means to get
an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper.
To use an old cliche, "you get
out of it what you put into it",
and anything that you look for
can be found.
Jim A. Jonkman,BASc.,MASc.
'84 UW Etymooic Design Inc.
---------------------------------
Paul Plumber Awards
Fall 1983.
James Etienne CE84 Special Events
Bri.an Kenmir EE8? Garage/Movies
Judy Runnals ME84 Secretary/Misc
Summer 1984
Richard Drdul ME8S Enginews/Sec.
LIZ Fritsch Office Secretary
Don Ingram ME8S POETS/1st VP
Denis Van Decker CH85 Semi's/PREZ
President's Award
Fall 1983
Joe Correia
Murray Gamble
Mike Urlocker
ME8S POETS/ESSE
CE8S POETS/Nautkal
EE86 Iron Warrior
Summer 1984
Paul Lum CE87 Publicitv/ Office
John Occhipinti CH85 Advertising
Frank Steblaj ME8S C & D
~ ~ outstanding dedication and ser-
vice to the Engineering Society
over an extended period of time.
This award is decided by a vote
of council or by secret ballot.
Dear Mr. Warrior,
Having been personally in
charge of the headline on page S
of last issue of the IRON
W ARRlOR, I'd like to say some-
thing about the fact that what I
was in charge of wasn't there.
There are two points I'd like .to
consider:
A) rd like to apologize to
the two authors, and all the
people who normally would have
read the article (which happens
. to be the same couple) had it
had the headline that it didn't
have, which r've already
explained about above.
Thank you for allowing me
to implement my 'visions'. Now
bring on the McGowan Adminis-
tration!
2) I'd also like to say that
this headline tha t wasn't there
(see above) which was missing
does nof reflect on the Jack of
competence of both editors and
all three people who proof-read
the page. If they say its my
fawt, its my fawt.
Thirdly, I'd like to point out
that there were less typo's last
isue which is because of me
aslo.
In sincerely,
Hom r Watson 3A EE
The IRON WARRIOR is published by the Engineering Society
at the University of Waterloo. Its purpose is to promote
professional awareness throughout the campus.
EDITORS: Mike Thomas, Lars Wilke, and Frank van Biesen
TYPESETTING: Bill Stefanuk and Nancy Burgers
STAFF: Rob Graham, Dave Cole, Joe Wigglesworth, Francis
Chow, Steve Anderson, Wendy Fletcher, Rob Tasker, and the
layout crew.
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Ginger Moorey, Amanda Lovatt
SECRETARY: Maria Akot.
ADVERTISING: John Occhipinti 885-2563, 885-1211 ext. 2323
Special thanks to Bill Stefanuk and Nancg Burgers
for helping out at the last moment
Letters and Submissions welcome from all faculties. Address to:
Engineering Society B
Car 1 Pollock Hall
University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
4 IRON WARRIOR JULY 1984
BOVEY COMMISSION:
A WASTE OF TIME?
Wend} Fletcher
On June 27, 1984, copies of
the Bove\! Commission's report
appeared on camp'lS. From the
heights of the piles that were
still around the next week, it
seemed tha t not a lot of people
were overly interested in what
the commission had to say.
Strange, how something which
could quite drastically affect us
and our children-to-be, could
arouse such little interest; and
even stranger how all these peo-
ple who didn't bother to read it
really didn't miss anything at all.
The Bovey Commission.
alias The Commission on the
Future Development of the Uoi-
versities of Ontario, was estab-
lished Jan. 20, 1984 to
" .. present to the government a
plan of action to better enable
the universities of Ontario to
adjust to changing social and
economic conditions." Specifi-
cally, the commission is looking
at things such as specialized
universities, university training
examinations, tuition fees, gov-
ernment funding, and faculty
renewal and replacement. The
complete list is in the ,appendix
of the report.
Obviously, the Commission
is considering some drastic
changes to the university struc-
ture. The report, however, does
not give and clues as to which
way the members of the Com-
mission are leaning. Instead, it
states that ..... the Commission
has identified some concerns but
has not reached any cone lu
sions." It then ?,oes on to a sl<' 50
specific questions of any insti -
tution or indi"'idual who has the
time and energy to decipher
them. Overall the questions
seeme::! 10n):1, wordy. and often
confu5:ing.
Of tht-> 50 questions, one
stands out for a reasons, the
main reason beillg that the
Commissiun requ':"!:;ts an answer
to it from Ontario univer-
sity as well as Ryerson Poly-
technical Institute, The Ontario
College of Art, and the Ontario
Institute for Studies in Educa-
tion. The Question reads as fol-
lows: "What does gour uni-
versitg (or institution)
consider to be its dis-
tinctive character and
role among the range of
Ontario universi-
t ies? .. Wha t do gou env is-
age as the appropriate
areas of act iv i tg upon
which to focus develop-
ment and expansion within
gour institution? Which
areas might be contracted
or eliminated over the
next decade or so?" A mar-
velously worded question if
there \-er was one. but to what
avail? it would be extremely
interesting to ,discover exactly
what types of responses the
Commission is expecting to this
question. It is very hard to
believe that Dr. Wright, as pres-
ident of our university, would
recommend the elimination of
one 01' mOre of the faculties or
programs which presently exist.
This can probably be said of the
governing bodies of most
Ontario universities and institu-
tions.
It is somewhat distressing to
see that after five months of
work, the commission could not
come up with any recommenda-
tions or ideas. It (the commis-
sion) has simply' put forth a set
of questions of which the answer
to the most important one could
probably be predicted by the
average student.
Nevertheless, the deadline
for the final report to the Min-
ister of Colleges and Universi-
ties is ' November 15, 1984. This
leaves five months for the com-
mission to collect answers and
make the required decisions.
Let us hope that they receive
some good input and weigh it
carefully. The final report of
the Bovey Commission will no
doubt affect us a lot more than
this one has.
For more information about the Foundation
or any of its programmes, please contact:
The Sandford Fleming,Foundation '
Room 4332,
Carl Pollock
885.()910 or 1 ext. 3440
Registered ChariJabie Organization (no,0462275-
21-15)
At the Engineering Convocation on May 26,1984 the Foundation presented eleven silver
medals for excellence in either Co-operative Programme Proficiency of Academic
Achievement to the following students:-
CO-OPERATIVE PROGRAMME PROFICIENCY MEDAL
Steven Hsin-Liu Chemical Engineering
Michael Hugh VAN Civil ,Engineering
Amrik Singh Electrical Engineering
, Ross Nyal TOMAN, Mechanical Engineering
,Steven F. SHEVELL, Systems Design Engineering
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL
Stephen L. Chemical Engineering
Gary Joseph Edward KRAMER, Civil Engineering
Matthew Albert HURAS, Electrical 'Engineering
Paul Frederick GALPIN, Mechanical Engineering
Kurt Kieter Systems Design Engineering
Gregory Lionel SMITH, Electrical Engineering
Managment Science 0 tion
JULY 1984 IRON WARRIOR 5
Battle of the Computer Network Stars
Eric J. Dormer
Did anyone ever actually use
punch cards? Yes! Waterloo's
first student computer system
was implemented with a cafete-
ria style card reader/printer
service. But times changed, and
programs held together with
elastic bands were absorbed by
the infamous WIDJET system,
where many terminals were
connected to a minicomputer.
In the late 70's, low cost micro-
processors became available,
and terminals which used" them
were called "smart" because
they were able to do tasks on
their own without needing the
host computer's resources.
JANET with contented operators
JANET
Other microcomputers were The JANET network was
developed which were com- developed by Adrian W eerhei m
pletely independent and didn't of the Department of Computing
need a host computer for any- Services (DCS) in the wintt'r of
thing. To make use of inexpen- '82. The name could stand for
sive microcomputers in an edu- the "Jerry and Adrian NET-
cational environment, several work", or perhaps its "Just
features needed to be added... Another NETwork". In any case,
the ability to protect files from it is now marketed by W A TCOM,
unauthorized reading or altera- an offshoot of the Computer
tion, the ability to distribute and Systems Group.
share files between users, the JANET uses an IBM-PC as
ability to reliably save files the central unit which saves
(archive them), and the ability files on a 30 megabyte hard disk
to share expensive peripherals and operates a printer. (In the
printers and plotters). JANET systems I have seen, the
fhe curre.J)t ideas JoJ:. IDlllJu::._ -.u="nters we . ckety, unreliable
ach
fl. a
om-
uni-
"mit
mE
Irk-
:ion
an
,ice
. red
The
.oes
Ilne
ted
lxi-
l30
_Uy
30)
: of
! a
the
ork
the
the
. ms
out
ges
the
to
illy
irst
the
ing
:Jan
Ital
er-
ide
.N-
off
has
.ies
the
in
Lsn't
:! 01'1
the wall tells users that the sys
tern crash:>5 for at 4 rea '
sons:
1. Adjusting the room thermos -
tat (no kidding)
2. Loosening the rEEF 488 cab1,:-
tha t connects a workst a t ion to
the central unit
3. Piling paper over the l'oe' ng
vents of the video SLreens
4. Playing with the> -entral unit
(controller). The bla( kboard and
sheets on the wall are littered
with remarks about various
occasions when thp system went
down. .
JANET also holds a grudge.
When the central unit crashes,
users who are in the midst of
editing a file are unaffected
until they try to save their lat -
est changes. Even after the
central unit has been brought up
after a crash, it doesn't recog-
nize workstations unless 'they
are first turned off, then on.
The bot tom line is tha t the us r
can continue editing to his
heart's content. He just can't
possibly save anything .
WATSTAR
W A TST AR was developed by
the Faculty of Engineering to
replace WIDJET because nothing
on the market was available to
meet the demands of the educa-
tional environment.
The first version,
*WATSTAR I, is a network for
an 8-bit CP/M-based environ-
ment. It ideally supports 30 to
60 workstations but can support
up to 255
*WATSTAR
INTERTEC
I uses
SUPERBRAlN
micro-computers as
workstations, and has a dedi-
cated single-board computer as
the central unit. Files are saved
on an 80 megabyte hard disk and
a high-speed 300 line per minute
printer handles output.
As the name implies,
WATSTAR is a star-shaped net -
work with a token passing ring.
The station that has the token
gets a chance to talk to the
central unit, and the token gets
passed around amongst the
workstations. The ,network bus
is a parallel system using simple
twisted-pair cables for each bit
on short runs. The maximum
transfer rate is about 200
kbytes/second.
*W A TST AR II is the second
version, and it uses bottom-of-
the-line IBM-PCs for its, work-
stations. It interfaces naturally
to the IBM- PC's native MS-DOS
and hence can run any software
available for the PC. The cen-
tral unit is a dedicated IBM-PC
which handles network commu-
nications, hard disk drives, and
print spooling. Fiber optic
cables can be used to increase
the distance between work-
stations up to several kilometres
with data transfer rates exceed-
ing 1000 kbytes/second.
Several *W A TST AR II sys-
tems can be linked together to
form rings of rings of work-
stations. This might be used in
a university where each faculty
would have its own ring, and
each of those central units
would be linked into a ring of
their own.
*W ATST AR I currently sup-
ports most common languages
like APL, BASIC, FORTRAN,
Pascal and application tools such
as word processors
(WORDST AR), spread sheets,
data base managers. and graph-
ics packages.
In E2-1308, ' a *WATSTAR I
network is set up with 32 work-
stations. The system has proven
so popular that it is now loaded
far beyond ideal user
The stations which will comfor-
tably suport about 150 students
now have over 350. W ATSTAR
is sometimes in use 24 hours a
day with a full complim nt of
us rs ev nat 3:00 AM. Ev ry
morning at 4:30 AM, ar hiving is
susp nd d for half an hour
while the syst m automati ally
backs up its hard disk. When th
system was fir st introduced in
1982, it fr qu ntly crashed but
now that th early bugs have
been worked out it has become
very reliable.
Although *W ATSTAR I is
currently available, it is not
being actively marketed.
*WATSTAR II is due to be
available in the fall of '84 and it
is likely that McMaster Univer-
sity will be the first off-campus
installation. On the horizon is
yet another W A TST AR to be
created using DEC equipment.
Some enltineering schools
force their students to buy
equipment which will quickly
become obsolete, and they are
left without any of the benefits
that networking provides.
Thankfully, the administration
here at U of W didn't choose this
short-sighted solution. Instead,
they channeled their efforts into
improving the basic system
already in place. This has
resulted in several marketable
products and a place in the front
lines of one aspect of computer
technology. The question is:
Who will win? JANET or
W A TST AR ? or do they both
have their own market? Time
will tell.
6 IRON WARRIOR
A Refreshing View on Drinking
by Joe Wigglesworth
between 85 and
95 of university students
drink alcoholic beverages. This
in itself is not a problem, how-
ever, the approximately 10 per-
cent of university students who
abuse alcohol is a problem. On
the campus of Wilfred Laurier
University there is a student
group that supports each student
in his or her choice to drink or
not to drink and at the same
time wants to help those stu-
dents who misuse alcohol to
drink responsibly.
BACCHUS, the name of the
Greek god of wine, is an acro-
nym for Boost Alcohol Con-
sciousness Concerning the
Health of University Students.
BACCHlS is not in favour of
prohibit ioo. BACCHUS is not a
temperance movement. It is a
network of more than 150 stu-
dent groups on university cam-
puses throughout the United
States based at the University of
Florida where the organization
began.
Currently, the group at
Laurier is the only BACCHUS
group on any university campus
in Canada. By the end of this
summer this is not likely to be
the case. Thanks to a generous
donation of $15,500 from the
Association of Canadian Distill-
ers, a Canadian network of
BACCHUS campus groups is
being established. Doug Smith,
a third year business student at
Laurier, has been hired for the
summer by BACCHUS to travel
to all the university campuses in
Ontario. He will meet with stu
dent and administration repre-
sentatives to distribute an
information kit that will help
them to begin a BACCHUS
group on their own campus.
The Laurier BACCHUS
group '.vas founded in the fall of
1981 and has grown slowly .and
steadily since that time. To
rein for e e their philosophy of
reasonable drinking and the
social acceptibility of choosing
not to drink, BACCHUS organ-
izes several events throughout
the year. In the past they have
sponsored wine- tasting evenings,
an Ale-ohol Awareness Week, a
beer "Trivial Pursuit" night
which saw several teams com-
pete in their knowledge of beer
trivia and ability to recognize
various brands of beer, a student
survey examining attitudes
toward drinking and a selection
of alternative non-alcoholic
cocktails available at the cam-
pus pub "Wilfs". The group has
even invited the regional. police
to set up a breathalyser outside
the pub so tha t st uden ts could
voluntarily check the alcohol
content of their blood after a
visit there.
The group plans to continue
these events and to also sponsor
other events such as outdoor
barbeques and concerts in thp.
I :ENG SOC B I
Q} A FO'UM FOR """"".G C,,""PT'
After this issue we go into cold storage, but you don't have to.
WANTED FOR JANUARY-
APRIL TERM:
Editors (5) for Iron Warrior and humourous publications.
Ad salesmen (3) Photographers (4) Production Managers (3)
Be ready for the January thaw. Apply now at EngSoc;
Mike Urlocker Director of Publications.
Drinking in moderation; a better alternative
future. During frosh week at
Laurier this fall. senior
clearly identified as "BACCHUS
BOOSTERS" will be visible on
campus to answer any questions
about the group. Vicki Krotz, a
Laurier student who is also the
group's current director, feels
that it is very important that
students, especially new stu-
dents. know that they have a
choice of whether or not they
wish to drinlc. They shollid also
know that choosing not to drink
is soci ally a cceptable and that
there ,;1'(' non alcoholic alterna-
lives.
Acc0rding to Doug Smith,
one of BACCHUS' strengths is
that it is a peer-based group
where responsible drinking is
promoted by friends, not
authority figures. "We want to
. develop 1. responsible attitude to
alcohol. It is important to
respect a person's choice to
drink or not to drink, to know
one's limits and to realize that
having a good time ' is not
dependent on alcohol. We
stress, not abstinence, but
responsibili t y."
JULY 1984 IRON WARRIOR
7
Engineer in the Fast Lane
Phil Brearton
This is the true story of
Randy MacDonald, a 3rd year
Mechanical Engineering student
whose main interest is some-
thing most of us only briefly
dream about: auto racing.
Randy is one of a new genera-
tion of race car drivers. Wi: h
an engineering degree in the
works, he wants to understand
automobiles, refine the science
of car racing, and win! This
aggressive and unconventional
approach to auto racing (and
engineering) has raised eyebrows
both on the campus and on the
track. \
Randy unofficially started
his stock car racing career at
the age of fifteen managing a
2nd place in his first race. Not
a bad showing considering the
average compt-.titor was 40 years
of age with 15 years experience.
Over the next few years he
raced mainly in street stock {i.e.
production vehicles}. There was
always some concern over the
viability of the profession and he
did not at that time seriously
consider racing as a career.
Good marks in high school
gained him entrance into U of
W. He figured mechanical engi-
neering would be by far the
most useful to him in his auto
racing endeavours.
On his 2A work term, Randy
realized that car racing can be
an exciting, rewarding profes-
sion which requires engineering
expertise and a natural talent.
The engineering side is being
improved hPrl? at school while
the talent is already there. To
date he is the rookie points
leader at the Delaware race
track, and rar ..... ly finishes out of
the top 10. Statistics aside,
Randy has had an eventful sea-
son. Twice he was spun out
intentionally passing on a
corner, <!-nd once he was rammed
off the track by an irate com-
petitor. The other drivers did
not approve of his aggressive
pa,ssing techniques. Says Randy,
"It's a selfish man's sport.
You've got to take every oppor-
tunity and forget about man-
ners. "
The type of racing Randy is
involved in is known as Late
Model stock car racing. To- see
whet'e this fits in the hierarchy
of racing consider tha t the high-
est level of closed wheel (stock
car) racing is called Gt'and
National. Late Model racing is
to Grand National roughly what
Junior 'A' hockey is to the NHL:
a training grlJund for gaining
experience. This class of racing
is almost identical to Grand
National racing except that reg-
ulations have been designed to
lower costs.
Unfortunately money is
always a problem. Nevertheless,
with support from his family, he
has bousht the best cat' he could
Randg MacDonald in the cockpit
: afford. The aluminum head pro-
totype engine is valued at
$15,000. The car was built by
Hanley, one of the top four cus-
tom car builders in North Amer-
ica. Overall value: $40,000.
. Randy estimates that each
race costs him $500, and he
manages 2 to 3 races per week.
Even on this budget, Randy is
often handicapped before the
race begins. Tires, which cost
Crew member
Pete Fitzgerald
5150 each, should be replaced
after a maximum of two races.
Often Randy will be forced to
run three races on the same set
of tires. The tire t'ubber quickly
loses its gripping qualities,
meaning that the driver has to
slow down excessi vely around
corners. Money is a handicap
which he feels is slowing his
progress. He estimates that to
t'emain competitive by keeping
the car in good running ot'der
would cost approx.. $67,000 per
year.
S onsors are the source
money that make the tires go
round. Everyone has heard of
STP; the fame of this company
is attributed largely to the suc-
cess of Richard Pet ty as a race
car driver. For a company to be
associated with a winner is a
million dollar business (ask John
"Bic" M.cEnrol'?). Randy's spon-
sors are Fran., Champion, and
most import.lntly, Mr. Hanley
(builder of th - car). Although
the free filters and spark plugs
at'e much appreciated, Mr.
Hanley's experience is iuvaluable
to Randy's young <.:rew. As crew
member Peter Fitzgerald (2B
Meehl stated, "If we have prob-
lems we can't handle, we go to
Mr. Hanley". Peter noted situ-
ations where Mr. Hanley
straightened a bent front axle
and a bent frame.
The four man MacDonald
team is young with an average
age of 22 years. Genet'ally, race
crews range bet ween 35 and 40
years. Mr. Hanley has recog-
nized potential in the crew and
wishes to help them break into
the racing field. As Randy
improves, his Hanley-built car
will become well known. Han-
ley's time and money spent on
Randy is not charity, but rather
an investment.
Concern has been expressed
by professors at Waterloo
regarding Randy's priorities.
Every weekend is spent either
racinSS or repall'mg cars and
often weeknights are encroached
upon. :-.Jeed]pss to say, Randy's
marks do not reflect his full
potential even though, as he
maintains. "I have more interest
in than do most guys
in my class". Already he has
appl id his engineering knowl-
to '.: ar design; it seems a
tau h ridkulous to, assume that
time not spent reading engi-
neering textbooks is time
wasted.
As an example, Randy was
told that because of the oval
track the outside ti.res should be
larger in diameter than ' the
inside tires. This would provide
better handling around corners.
Trial and error indicatpd that
between 3 and 7 inches was the
correct difference. Every crew
had their own opinion. However,
Randy was able to calculate
using geometry and dynamics
that one-half inch was the maxi-
mum diffet'ence in diameter
necessary. He decided that the
large discrepancy between cal-
culated and experimental results
was caused by neglected front
wheel alignment, a factor rarely
considered by most drivers.
Randy is quick to point out
that the racing profession is in
the foreft'ont of automotive
design and technology. Rack
and pinion steering, turbo-
charging, and independent sus-
pension are a few of the race
car developments which have
been adopted in pt'oduction
vehicles. Randy wants to play
an active role in engineering
developments, howevet' racing
the cars must be a part of his
career.
There is a great potential
for professional engineers in
race car driving. Randy wishes
to exploit the opportunity. With
a Waterloo engineering educa-
tion, practical racing experi-
ence, and hard work. Rand... has
the best cha nee of mak his
dream come true.
/
,
./
8 IRON WARRIOR
JULY 1984
The
Canadian
G.E. Schneider Mechanical Engineering
As an avid flyer, I have a
keen interest in those machines
which overcome gravity and
carry significant loads through
the air at varying speeds. These
machines represent the combi-
nation of many aspects of engi-
neering, all of which have been
integrated together to form a
technological creation of revo-
lutionary impact. The many
aspects, indudillg fluid flow,
heat transfer . af>rodynamics,
vibration analysIs. control
theory, st.:shility ana:ysis, elec-
tronic communication' and navi-
gation, manufacturing, reliabil-
ity, and optimization, are
usually taken for granted by the
user in totl.:lYs hir;h technology
society. Neve rtheless, it
remains a challenge to master
control of these machines calleo
airplanes. As a holder of a
commercial Pilot License with
Class I Instrument Rating, I
enjoy the challenge and fly as
often as my busy schedule, and
my bank account, will permit.
It is therefore not surprising,
perhaps, that I would be keenly
interested in experiencing the
ultimate flight, that of flight in
, space, aboard the revolutionary
machine of today's era, the
Space Shuttle. With my frame
of mind thereby established, it
was , not difficult for me to
notice the very brief mention of
a need for volunteers to partici-
pate in a Canadian Astronaut
Program in a short article in
the Globe and Mail on June 8,
1983. Although this was not an
ivitation for appliLations, I
immediately called the Ministry
of Sta te for Science and Tech-
nology and submittpd a copy of
my curriculum vItae. Thus
began my participation in the
Canadian Astronaut Selection
Pro' , dure. Since I made it to
the final 68', I ha ';2 heen asked
to write this artiL le to describe
the selection )ro,: edure. How-
ever, I must "" mphasize that in
my boo: s, 'fina I 68' is not final

The formal lll\ ;Iation for
applications to the Canadian
Astronaut Program !i\\3.l1y came
on July 14, 1983. 1" this rather
large advertisement, the duties
of the successful candidates as
well as th relevant qualifica-
tions were -'utl ined. The duties
would be to. undertake neces-
sary trainiI1P as a Payload Spe-
cialist - spend up to 3 y ars with
National Research , Council
develop (with other engineering
and design staff) one of the two
Canadian candidate experiments
- assist in disse minating infor-
mation about manned space
flight and Canadian space activ-
ites to the Canadian general
public - if selected for flight,
carry out and assess one of the
experiments
The qualifications for the
Canadian 'Astronauts' were
stated as; - a university degree,
and experience in system devel -
opment, integration and opera-
tion, or in vestibular physiology
and/or motion sickness - satis-
faction of appropriate medical
requirements - practical flying
experience (as an asset)
knowledge of both official lan-
guages (as an asset)
fhe second experiment, tha t
in which I felt I would be able to
contribute more substantially,
was designated as the Space
Vision Experiment. Contrary to
what the name suggests, how-
ever, this experiment does not
involve vision in its biological
form, bU,t rather involves a sys-
tem designed to provide opera-
tors of the Remo te Manipulator
System (Canadarm) with greater
information pedaining to the
instantaneous position and
motion of the 'arm'. Indeed,
such a system would be also
used to interface this informa-
ticn with computers and
electronic controllers to render
processes, such as the 'capture'
of satellites, automatic and
independent of human operator
intervention. , One of the pri-
mary motivations for such a
system is the protection of the
arm itself. The Canadarm is a
very fragile device, designed for
operation in a gravity-free envi-
ronment, and consequently it
cannot withstand significant
loads. In the capture of a satel-
lite, or other orbiting object, it
is therefore necessary to avoid
substantial velocities of
approach of the arm to the
object in order to prevent
excessive inertial loads on the
arm's structural components.
The primary measur t:' ment SV5
tern to be used in , he determi -
nation of positional information,
from whose history velocities
can be determined, is a system
which is essentiallv a geodirne
ter. Civil engineers will recog-
nize this as a deli ice used in
surveying for distanl e measure-
ments.
After the initial invi-
tation for applications, more
than 4400 applications were
received for the 6 positions.
(One person to actually 'fly',
with a dual backup, for each of
the 2 experiments.) I'm 'sure
that this large num bel' of appli-
cants exceeded even the most
pessimistic estimates of the
officials invoLed in administer-
ing the program. Since it was
expected that resumes would be
submitted with the applications,
an initial cut was performed on
the basis of the infor-
mation. I was informed in a
letter dated August q, 1983, that
further consideration was being
given to my candidacy. I was
now one of approximately 1800
remaining candidates for the 6
positions. At this time, the fol-
lowing actions were required to
Astronaut Selec
Space Shut tie Coiul!1bia
permit further elimination to be
effected; - completion of an
application for employment with
the National Research Council
of Canada, including personal
background, academic perform-
ance, work experience, and
research activities - preparation
of a 'Statement of Interest' in
which the reasons why I was
interested in the ' program and
why the program should be
interested in me were to be
outlined - completion of a pre-
liminary medical questionaire,
which, although both preliminary
and based on self-evaluation,
was quite extensive - submission
of the names and addresses of
persons who are familiar with
my activities and performance -
submission of appropriate tran-
scripts and diplomas.
With regard to the required
references, a standard fOrm was
employed, a ' blank version of
which I have seen, which is quite
extensive. In this regard, I am
indebted to those who acted as a
reference for me, for it must
have been a laborious task to
provide responses to all of the
contained questions. After sup-
plying the requested informa-
tion, another period of anticipa-
tion and waiting began.
I was informed on Septem-
ber 30, 1983. tha t the list of
candidates had beetl culled to 68
and that [ was still in contention
for one of the 6 positions. This
next phase of elimination was to
involve the following activities;
submission of a completed
security clearance form a
comprehensive medical exami-
nation at the Downsview Cana-
dian Forces Base. Toronto
participation in a briefing ses-
sion, a media session, and an
interview with a screening com-
mittee, all to be held at the
Constellation Hotel in Toronto
Ha"ing previou.:,ly completed
the security clearance form, and
having successfl.i11y qualified for
the clearance at that
time, this task was ' easily per-
formed
shown atop a Boeing 747
The medical examination
required a trip to the Canadian
Forces Base in Downsview (after
the requested pre-examination
fast), and resulted in a half-day
of examination and tests. The
following tests were conducted
as part of this examination; -
blood pressure and pulse rate
measurement visual acuity
measurement - colour blindness
complete audiogram
testing height and weight
meaSUrf,L -nl - chest measure-
( ll'ha 1<:> and exhale)
extraction of numerous vials of
blood samples - reflex testing -
thorough examination by the
Base Surgeon
Having been exposed to
almost all of the above testing
as a routine requirement for
maintenance of a Commercial
Pilot License, I felt confident in
satisfying the necessary
requirements. [n discussions
with the Base Surgeon. Major
Huxter. I discovered that the
requirements to be met were
those of a Jet Figh ter Pilot in
the Canadian Forces. and fur-
ther that he felt that I met
those more than adequately. I
also discovered that he had been
instructed not to discuss the
medical condition of the candi-
dates with the candidates,
themselves, an instruction to
which he refused to comply.
The next phase of the pro-
cess involved the briefing ses-
sions and thE' interview. itself,
with the s< committee.
The candi .. latf> briefing entailed
a presPlltati',Hl by members of
the screenll,'S commit tee of
some t s of the program of
an overvie ... Ilature, a presenta-
tion of somp specific aspects of
the program relating to the two
planned experiments, and a
social hour in which the candi-
dates had the opportunity to
meet the other candidates and
the members of the screening
committee, themselves. The
presentations were ,
brief and hence they did not
suggest questions of a detailed
JULY 1984
IRON WARRIOR 9
tion Procedure
nature. In a more general
framework, therefore, I inquired
what the long-range plans of the
Canadian Astronaut Program
were. The surprising response I
received was that there were
NO long range plans beyond the
immediate two experiments!
(This might actually not be so
surprising, but, rather, be con-
sidered typically Canadian. ) The
only consolation orovidp.o was
that if the current program was
sufficiently successful, strong
arguments could then be made
for continued participation in
space exploration and develop-
ment in a mannE' d program
capacity. I also inquired, in
personal conversation with one
of the screening committee
members, if all supplied refer-
ences would be consulted irre-
spective of their nationality and
location of residence. The
assured response was that, defi-
nitely yes, all supplied refer-
ences would be consul ted. I
have subsequently learned that
two of my supplied references
from south of the border have
never been contacted regarding
the program. In view of the
very definitive response to my
question. this seems somewhat
surprising.
My actual interview with
the committee occurred on
October 26, 1983 at 11:30 a.m.
In a precious mailing, I had
received "as a possible aid in
preparation for the interview" a
copy of the Detailed Job
Description/ Candida te
Requirements for each experi-
ment. . For the Space Vision
Experiment, this document con-
tained the items shown in the
inset on this page.
The meeting wlth the com-
mittee was held in a comforta-
bly sized room with all members
of the screening committee
were; 1\ Madelel:1E' Hinchey,
Secretary-Gener;:j 1 of NRC
(chairman), 2,1 Karl Doetsch,
Director of the Canadian Astro-
naut Program, 3) Lorne Kuehn,
Manager of the Space Adapta-
tion Experiment, 4) Ray Marc-
hand, Interdepartmenta l Com-
mittee on Space, 5) Clive Willis,
Director of Public Relations,
NRC, 6) Ray Dolan, Chief of
Personnel Se r vices, P C
Of considerable surprise, but
only in hindsight, is the make-up
of the committee. Of the 6
committee me mbers whose Job
it was to select indi viduals for
participation in a presumably
highly technical mission, only 2
of the membNs had any direct
experien< e in thf' subject areas
involved in the experiments,
these belllg Karl Doetsch for the
space Vision Experiment and
Lorne Kuehn for the Space
Adaption Experiment. Indeed,
these are the only 2 members
with a technical involvement at
all! However, hindsight being
what it is (usually better that
ZO/20), this doesn't do much
good now. Perhaps next time,
should there be one(?)
The interview, I felt, went
very well. The atmosphere was
very open and friendly and I
thought that I answered very
well those questions that I
deemed to be important to suc-
cessful achieveme nt of the mis-
sion objectives. Many of the
questions, however, seemed to
be somewhat unrelated to
achieveme nt of the specific
technical objectives. . Indeed,
there were few (actually, I can't
remember any) questions whi ch
were specifically technical.
Rather, emphasis seemed to be
placed on less tangible, more
public relations related, issues.
BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE - experience in system devel-
opment integration and assessment in man- machine systems - in
particular with r c :ard to display and control aspects - experience
in engineering sy!'> , em development, and real-time system adjust -
ment - experiencE' as an operator of complex systems - experi-
ence in working as part of an engineering development team -
experience as flight crew TASKS PREFUGlIT - participation in
system development and assessment - interfacing with engineer-
ing devisions and flight operations directorate at NASA, NRC,
and the Canadian contractor - specialist training in system oper-
ation - training with NASA - public relations IN ORBIT - system
set-up for various tasks - assessment of and accommodation to
on-orbit environmental conditions - assessment of system and its
adjustments to off-nominal operating conditions - support of RMS
operator and orbiter pilot to best use machine vision information
during RMS/Payload track and capture, payload berthing and
orbiter to payload rendez-vous - eKperimental leadership in
metrology task POST FUGlIT - on- orbit flight assessment engi-
neering report - system development for space qualification -
continued interfacing with user and engineering teams - public
relations
Armed with this information, I prepared a document which
outlined to various ways in which I felt that I met the indicated
requirements. This document was formatted in a point by point
fashion, each of the above-mentioned points in
sequence. \
'"
Prof. G.B. Schneider says he'd do it again
One of the relatively unrelated
questions was "how many space
shuttle flights have there been?
While the above example
question is an extreme case, the
other major issues, in terms of
time spent in discussion,
included a fake interview in
which one of the mem be rs
grilled me on the evils of our
involvement in a space program
directed at weapons develop-
ment, a discussion of how I
might adjust my long work hour
schedule to accommodate an
emergency in the ground bas d
development and prepar tion
program, a discussion of th
time that might be required to
becom= fully fluent in the oth r
official language, and a discus
sion of how the Canadian Space
Program offers benefit to Can-
ada. There bei ng no writt en
material allowed during the
interview it would a ear that
picion mounted that the news,
when it came, would not be
what I had hoped. This indeed
was the case. I was informed in
late afternoon that I was not
one of the final ZO remaining in
contention for the envied 6
positions. Slightly stunn<?d, I
thanked Mr. Dolan, and placed
the telephoof' reI . \\ e r 01 its
cradle, dejpc ! ,,,d.
Being a curious person,
however. I called him back to
determine the reasons that I had
not make the cut to 20. He
informed th t tht'r w re thl."e
factor in th decision. Th se
were 1) linguistic skills, 2.)
app arancE', nd 3) a lack of
awareness of curl' nt activi ties
of the Canadia n Space Program.
Regardin\5 the la tter, I asked
how on' might have resourced
information on t hE" Canadian
Space Program act lvltles. He
informed me that th committee
....
10
Rob Graham:
"Why is learning
not a primary goal?"
The recent state of the
economy has led to fierce com-
petition for dominance in one's
field of study fuelled by the
need for achievement and
acceptance. All very well and
good. Isn't competition what the
game of life is all about? But,
we must examine the facts more
closely. How are we going
about the business of establish-
ing ourselves as potential candi-
dates for a successful career?
What is our main target for
working at our studies? Is it
truly the pursuit or excellence
or the pursuit of higher marks?
Are the two directly related?
After spending s":eral years
at this institution lA"e all ;;;row to
love and hate, the tends
to fade, and we realize that this
is where we are planning our
future. Then why is it that we
all strive for those inanimate
little symbols known as marks?
Why is learning not our primary
goal? Why are we not striving
to become bet tel' human beings
so as to better serve our fellow
man? Is that not what we are
IRON WARRIOR JULY 1984
,
The Learning Experience
- A Personal
taught is right? Are we in fact
achieving these goals inadl.:er -
tantly, or is there a fla ..... in the
system? Is therE" a bet ter sys -
tern? Many qu'!:>tion:. and few
anSWf'rs.
Wt. hE-ar comments about
tht:? quality of engi -
neE'ring gradua tE'S. The APEO is
trying to ,make adm ission
requirements stiffer. Perhaps
the present engineering curricu-
lum cannot keep up with the
massive volume of knowledge
required in a fast growing tech-
nological age. Perhaps we are
overly concerned with marks
since from a student's point of
view, this is how we compete in
a shrinking job market. Possibly
the curriculum should place less
emphasis on ' marks and allow
more emphasis on learning. An
idealistic dream if ever there
was one.
Let us exa 01 ine several
observations tha t rna y provide
some food for thought into the
role of the learning environment
as it pertains to the engineering
student.
Let us first consider the
classroom as a learning environ-
ment. There are many impor-
tant contributing factors that
make or break a positive atmos-
phere conducive to learning.
Factors such as the physical
layout, the professor's presenta -
tion and attitude. the course
content, the classes attitude,
etc. are all important to the
promotion of the learning envi-
ronment.
Comment
From a physical poin t of
view factors such as classroom
size, layout, visibility, air con-
di tioning, etc. can playa large
role in - the attention span of
students. For example, we all
know bow hard it is to conCE'n-
trate when we're freezing to
death or sweating so much that
all we can think about is that
cold root beer waiting at home
in the fridge. It is frustrating
when we can't hear what is
going on or can't see the board
because of poor lighting or many
heads in the way. How easy is it
to sit ancl pay .ttention when
you are cramped into a seat
where the only way to take
notes is to prop your feet up on
the back of th*= seat in front of
you? Does anyone enjoy the
"dungeon - likell' atmosphere of
the Engineeering Lecture Hall
where there are no windows to
supply us with that vital contact
with the outside world and that
valuable vitamin D we get from
the sun's radiation?
The professor's presentation
is very important in making a
course interesting. We all can
appreciate the fact that we
learn far more when we are
interested. Although this aspect
is monitored through course cri-
tiques, often it is personality
traits and a teaching ability
which simply can't be taught
that has a large impact. How
many people can recall suffering
from a short attention span sim-
ply because they have no con-
cept of what is being discussed?
Often the treatment of the
material seems trivial but com-
pleting a single problem on the
homework assignment seems
grounds for genius status. This
can lead to an extra hour of
much-needed during a lec-
ture or a chance to catch up on
the latest gossip or a jam ses-
sion on this week's assignment.
To keep 95 people's attention for
a whole hour seems to require a
good sense of humour or simply
incredibly interesting material.
The course material is
something which must be con-
tinua lIv altered to suit the
tel.. hnology. This is not
a simple and often it seems
that too much matel"ial is
jammed into too shol"t time
span. Frequently there is very
little time to spend on problems
of intel"est unless dil"ectly
related to marks, and that is a
shame.
One observation I have
noted right from day one is the
. impact of attitude on
class-prot essor re la t ions. When
I hear comments ,to the effect
that a class has a poor attitude,
I find this difficult to rational-
ize. A class is mad;:. up of sc
many different in,j I', iduals, it
seems hard to imagtllt:- them all
rolled up into a attitude.
While there are always individu-
als in a class who may have a
different perspec ti\',., and like
to raise a little hell, surely we
realize that this is something we
must live with wherever we go.
However, when a professor
comes in on the first day and
lectures to a class on the
parent-to-child level, a problem
is born. As we are taught in our
Management Sciences, this more
often than not illicits a response
from the child state. Once a
bad relation starts,. it is difficult
to repair. Not impossible, but
difficult. It seems that pro-
fessors who relate on the adult-
to-adult level gain respect and
develop much more congenial
relationships with the class. In
these cases, peer pressure usu-
ally checks any negative influ-
ences.
Another interesting obser-
vation is the engineering stu-
dents themselves. It is
interesting to note that the
engineering faculty has one of
the highest concentrations of
unique individuals and very bril-
liant minds. These are usually
individuals who are used to being
leaders frQm their bighschools
and have never really experi-
enced the "follower" role. Some
are social leaders and others
intellectual leaders. This cre-
ates a drastic adjustment pE'riod
for many students as thE' P('( Iring
order is rearranged. Some stu-
dents never fully adjust 'to thE'ir
new role and this leads to high
stress. The fear of losing social
contact by missing social events
to is a very real pressure
for many students. These inter-
nal stresses can be another
important factor affecting the
learning environment.
While I am not proposing any
miracle solution, I think it is
important to realize the many
factors involved and not be too
quick to point the finger at any
one person, place or thing. We
are, after all, one of the finest
engineering learning centl"es in
the country, and must therefol"e
be doing many things right. This
is a far from perfect world we
live in, howevel", and as long as
we realize some of the problems
we face, we can work together
to impl"ove the learning environ-
ment
JULY 1984
IRON WARRIOR 1 1
The Social Impact of Computerization
Doug MacKinlay, WPIRG Staff
With t he computer revolu-
tion inroads into main
aspects of our daily lives, it is
important to know how Canadi-
ans are reacting to it. A recent
survey report by Bell Northern
indica tes t ha t Canadians are
generally optimistic about the
overall effects of computeriza-
tion, but that they are at the
same time wary of the social
impacts.
The survey report, called
Canadians and the Chip, was
compiled by Brian Milton of
Bell's Social and Environmental
A,ffairs Dept. ' The report ana-
lyzes two comparable surveys
(1981 and 1982) that polled
attutudes of Canadians all
across the coun t ry.
The seven chapters of the
focus on new micro-elec-
tronic technology. The first
chapter briefly lists results from
very general questions about
attitudes to changes. About
three- quarters of Canadians feel
that recent change has been for
the better, although ove!." half
feel that new technology is
destroying many of our tradi-
tional ways.
The second chapter identi-
fies which Canadians use new
technology. It shows that mal e s
have more access then females,
and that most users are between
18 and 44 years old. The report
is somewhat more specific than
this article. Also, Brian Milton
asserts that the findings from
the surveys are simila!." to other
research findings from other
corporate, government, and
Gallup polls.
The next two chaptt"'t's f II';
on how people feel about thp
relationship between micro- chLp
technology and emploVlnpnt.
The affluent are more confident
about new jobs; other than that
there are few other attitudinal
differences along class lines.
Provincially, however, Quebe -
cers are much more concerned
about unemployment and new
jobs than other Canadians. Half
of those who believe that new
jobs won't be created for dis-
placed workers advocate keeping
them employed instead of using
'efficiency enhancing' technol-
ogy. 'Self-achievers' are much
more optimistic about all the
impacts. Women are, in general,
more concerned about potential
health hazards than are men.
The survey indicates that
most Canadians may be becom-
ing more pessimistic about the
impact on jobs. Figure 1 com-
pares attitudinal responses to
the surveys in 1981 and 1982. It
does show that most Canadians
feel that micro-chips improve
prosperity, and that most, if
given the choice, would choose
efficient technology over job
preservation. But, those num-
bers decreased substantially in
only one year. As well, the
..
other three categories in Figure
2 show an increasing wariness of
some of the nega ti ve social
impacts.
The graph only meas:,res
changing Canadian attitudes
about micro- chip technology; it
does not measure the actual
relationship of chips with pro-
ductivity and employment. The
increasing pessim ism maybe a
reflection of the recession. and
of growing skepticism of new job
creation programmes. We will
have to wait for later survey
reports to see if growing pessi-
mism is a long-term trend.
Chapter Five is entitled
"Limits and Responsibilities",
and providps results from nor -
mative questions about how
mino-chlp tE'chnC'logy should be
regulated. Sevellty -five percent
of Canadians in 1981 felt that
governm" ot should control
workp1a ':e technology changes to
ensure that their effects
wouldn't be too severe on any
part of the public. The 1982
survey indicated a drop to 60%
of Canadians who feel this way.
This drop is quite interesting,
given the parallel increase in
pessimism.
By far, most Canadians feel
that the wOt'ke rs a nd the public
should have a fair and informed
role in determining the comput-
erization of the wOt'kplace.
Eighty-three perLent in both
1981 and 1982 asse t' t ed that
automa t ic renegot ia tion of
existing contracts should occur
if a major change involving new
technology is being introduced in
the wo!."kplace. Even mOt'e (90%)
agreed that research on the
effects of new technologies
should be jointly conducted
between employers and
employee representatives and
that the results should be made
public.
A question about who should
be responsible for retraining or
finding alternate employment
for chip-displaced workers
reveals a surprising difference
between 1981 and 1982 surveys.
There is a notable shift toward
government and employee rather
than employer responsibility.
Almost all believe that
micro-chip technology will give
us more leisure time and more
information. Three of every
four Canadians believe that liv-
ing standards will be raised.
The outstanding negative effects
are the concerns that fewer
people will control information,
and that personal privacy is
jeopardized. The concern about
personal privacy intensified sig-
nificantly between 1981 and
1982.
It is worthwhile adding that
the survey reports that even
those Canadians well
with micro-technology are very
concerned about the threat to
privacy. Th;!; finding counters
IMPROVES PRODUC
TlVITY AND
PROSPERITY
CHOOSE EFFICIENT
TECH OVER JOB
PRESERVATION
BUT.. .
INCREASES
UNEMPLOYMENT
ENDANGERS
COMMUNITIES
AND",
JOB LOSSES
NOT OFFSET
b

I
0
- -
-
-
J39'.
10 20 30 40
- . - -
J87%
8Z".
1m.
6:r".
163',

J46",
67" .
01981 Su,vey
.1982 Survey
47%
50 60 70 80 90 100
Figure 1
QUESTION' "In the future how do you expect
technology will effect the fol/owing?"
MORE LEISURE TIME
86%
INFORMATION MORE
AVAILABLE
86'1'.
HIGHER LIVING
75%
STANDARO
EASIER ACCESS
6:r'/.
TO ORGS,
BEnER QUALITY
55'1'.
DECISIONS
PRODUCE FEWER
54%
MIS TAKEsrCONFUSION
MORE PERSONAL
53%
OPPORTUNITY
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
' On t ar lo/ Quebec onlV (1982 Survey)
the assntio'l that only those
who know lit tIe ..:>r nothing about
micro ar e ske pti cal
of its sod I impac t s. It is true ,
howe ver, that tho. with r c ady
access to mil..ro- tC<..hnology ar
less conce rn,d about other
social impact questions such as
social stratification or jot> dis-
placement.
The report conL'ludcs that
current micro-chip technology is
elitist but that there is high and
growing popular interest. There
is widespread acceptance of
technological efficiency, but
this acceptance is "contin-
gent on (the) creation of new
opportunities, either jobs or
personal advancement ... "
A primary reason tha t Bell
sponsored the surveys was to
analyze the relationship between
attitudes to new technology and
the "fear (created by) economic,
Figure 2
social, political and personal
uncertainties." Also, Bell senses
that t 'hnological c hang is
b coming top i ssu' in th
country.
To incr asp. aw.]t' pnt.'ss h 1' ''
t UW, a new prog ramlTl P called
Society, TeChnology and Valu s
is bing initi vrl by several
deans and prof ( s:;ors. Also,
W P[RG will b sponsoring a con-
f erence in Mar t: to. 1985, tha t will
be about technology and sustai-
nable community development,
to whllh Brian Milton will be
in\:ited. The report can be bor-
rowed frum th WprRG library,
room 217, Campus Centre. Also
available is the text Social
of Comput eriza:ti'O'n,
which is a report from a confer-
ence held here;' in UW in 1982.
'."."""""
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12 IRON WARRIOR .
JULY 1984
A.V. Roe
CANADIAN ENGINEERING TRAGEDY
Lars Wilke
A.V. Roe had its birth in
late wartime Canada as a sub-
sidiary of Hawker Siddeley of
Grea t Britain. From a small
aircraft company it blossomed
into one of Canada's largest
corporations, owning interests in
many diverse companies i'om
coal production to aerospace
development. ' At its peak in
1958 it employed 41,000 people
and had net sales of $380 million
dollars. More notable than its
meteoric rise was its even more
sudden disappearance as an
industrial power, leaving behind
it a fiery history and many
unanswered questions.
Two of the most notable
creations of A.V. Roe were the
C-IOl Jetliner and the CF-I05
Arrow. With these and other
developments. Canada was
pushed into the forefront of avi-
ation technology giving us one of
the largest and most competi-
"tive of such industries in North
America. Despite the high aspi-
rations held for these products,
both the Jetliner and the Arrow
suffered the same ignoble death.
The end of the second World
War brought with it many inno-
vations, one of more revolution-
ary of which was the gas turbine
or jet engine. Civilian aviation,
unlike their military counter-
parts were slow to capitalize on
the new technology and more
than ten years passed before jet
transport became common-
place. This was not any fault of
the designers who proposed such
concepts soon after the incep-
tion of the
Leading the pack at that
time was A.V. Roe. In 1945,
Trans Canada Airlines (precursor
of Air Canada) outlined a set of
specifications for Avro engi -
neers, calling for a thirty-six
seat aircraft capable of speeds
of 425 mph and distances of
1200 miles. The solution arrived
at was a twin jet aircraft having
the distin<. tion of being the first
of its Idnd in North America.
The airl1ne agrrt:', : to underwrite
mULh of the de ... , lopment costs,
proviQ. ,[ A.V. Hoe could guaran-
tee a prke of 5350,000 per air-
craft once pr<idu<. tion started.
Eager to produce such a plane
the company executive decided,
perhaps rashly, to accept the
offer and go ahead with the
C-IOl, better known as the
" Jetliner" .
Very soon after development
started it became clear that the
low price tag of the Jetliner was
unattainable. Many unexpected
problems arose as is typical with
the development of any new
technology. As a result, the
cost of the project crept even
higher. Of all the setbacks,
however, the largest was the
delay in the release of the pl'O-
The CF-105 Arrow; shown with the Sabre
posed Rolls Royce "Avon"
engines. This required pal'tial
l'edesign of the aircraft to acco-
modate foul' less powerful
engines already available in the
market.
Trans Canada Airlines were
adamant about their initial pro-
posal and made it known in no
uncertain terms that , the air-
craft would not be purchased
unless it met the price limits.
No amount of negotiations could
change this. Despite
recommendations to cancel thp
pl'oject, work was carripd on.
Those involved with the project
wel'e convinced that their ere
ation was a winner.
On the August 10. 1<)49
with the aid of government
funding, the Jetliner made its
maiden flight, missing the
first jet transport to fly b\' h ir
teen short days. For thosp ..... 1.0
flew it, the plane was a hinf'
,of superb design and craft:.milo '
ship which pel'formed likp :10
other plane of its kind.
'Nith the development its
final stages . 1...V. Roe mounted a
ign to sell the aircraft.
Hope was never lost that TCA
would purchase the Jetliner and
at thE' same time the American
aidines were made aware of its
c:t pa bil i ties. The Jetliner was
not without its skeptics and
convincing potential customers
of its merits '.vas no easy task.
Eventually, tne U.S. air force
and companies like TWA were
willing to purchase. Howard
Hughes was convinced enough to
offer to finance the production
of thirtv Jetliners. In the
meantime, however, the Korean
War had broken out and all
available resources were pushed
into the production of the
CF-lOO interceptor to maintain
Canada's show of force as a
NATO Country. A.V. Roe was
denied the right to use any
facilities for anything other than
the production of Canadian war
machinery.
By the time the war was
ended it was too late for the
Jetliner. It served a short time
as Howard Hughes' personal jet
after which it sat unused in A. V
Roe hangal's unt il . March of
1957, when it was uncerimoni-
ously cut into scrap. Not even
the museums were willing to
take the ill-fated Jetliner.
In the late forties and early
fifties, cold war sentiments
The Avro Jetliner taking off
were attaining paranoid propor-
tions. The threa t of a Russian
attack made thE' defence of the
North American cont inents a
high priority with both the Can-
adian and American govern-
ments. This could be seen
through proj r> Lts like the cre-
ation of thp North American Air
Defence Command (NORAD)
and tht' (on."truction of eal'ly
warnin
5
defence radar across
the northern hinterland. At that
time the capabilities of the
ICBM had not yet been fully
develop .. d and con::.e':tuently the
largest threat was. one of large
scale bomber attar: ks on Cana-
dian and Ameri\.an cities. Of
primary importance in the
defence aga inst such attacks
was the presence of fast and
lethal interceptor. squadrons
capable of striking under any
condition.
Out of such a perceived
need was born the project to
develop an interceptor, com-
pletely adapted to Canadian
needs and environment, ready to
supply Canada with supremacy
over its own airspace. The
project was given to Avro, A.V.
Roe's new division of ael'ospace
technologies, formed in July of
1954. The pl'oject was the larg-
est and most prestigious any
Canadian aerospace company
had ever seen and all efforts
were concentrated into develop-
ing the most advanced aircraft
of its kind. Thus began t :le his-
tory of the ill amened CF-105
"Arrow".
After many proposals by
Avl'O and refinements of speci-
fications by the RCAF, the
plane arrived at was a large,
twin-engined, delta-wing inter-
ceptol' with a supersonic combat
radius of 200 nautical miles, a
long l'ange capability of 1500
miles and a maximum speed
approaching Mach l (2 times the
speed of sound). The initial
estimates fol' the cost of devel-
opment and subsequent produc-
tion of 100 aircraft was set at
118 million dollars. Sta te of the
art engines, and
weapon systems were specified
and by 1954 the Arrow was well
under way.
As is symptomatic of all
high-profile, high-budgeted gov-
ernment projects. the Arrow
became bogged down in the pro-
cess of bureaucratic decision-
making. If th",re was a single
word to describe the project it
was "vacilla t ion". Evel'y petty
official or milital'Y
advisor had something to say
about tho:> diroN tion and purpose
of the Arrow project. As a good
example, the de',elopment of the
airframe was well undel' way
before it was decided that a
different weapons system should
'be used. This required' majol'
redesigns and furthermore the
JULY 1984
IRONW ARRIOR 13
A.V. Roe - Canadian Engineering Tragedy
Voodoo. Although the Arrow
also would have het"n replaced
bv now. had it :>urvived we
w'ould have had a n ait'craft
industx.-y capable of ..:rea ting i ts
replacement. The r esult would
have been much more suited for
our own uses.
newly chosen spanow missile
system was c.anc elled in mid-de-
velopment leaving yet more
decision making. The initial
electronics system was also
scrapped in favour of a more
"advanced" one. Spending was
stretching the initial budget well
beyond its intended limits.
On March 25, 1958 amid
growing controversy over the
costs and effectiveness of the
Arrow, Jan Jurkowski guided the
first brilliant white prototype
into the sky. That the plane was
a thoroughbred . was never at
doubt. Streaking high above, it
quickly captured the hearts and
minds of the Canadian public.
As the flight tests progressed it
became apparent that Canadian
knowhow and workmanship had
created the very best in the
world. An achievement all could
be proud of. Even with the
original Pratt and Whitney
engine, which was less powerful
and heavier than the intended
Iroquois engine, the Arrow
reached Mach 1. 97. In top
speed, ceiling, range and other
areas the customer would get
what he wanted and more.
As development continued,
costs soared. The government
began to get cold feet as spend-
ing for the air force approached
50% of the defence budget .
Rumours of cancellation came
early in the life of the project
and employees simply learned to
live with the continual bickering
as they got on with the ir work.
Since the incept ion of the
project, the role of the bomoer
had tal'en a back seat as a stra-
tegic wea pon. With the dimin-
ished usefulness and ever
increasing costs the Arrow
seemed destineri to fail.
Attempts to selJ the illterc;ept or
. to the U.S. (a country with its
own aircraft industry to protect)
were met with emphatic refus-
als. The Americans, on the
other hand, were quite willing to
offer to sell Canada interceptors
should the project be cancelled.
No one was willing to .make
the politically unpopular deci-
sion of scrapping the project.
Incessant debate and indecision
continued and as the project
hung in the balance it continued
to consume funds. By August of
1958, the Diefenbaker govern-
ment had made the decision to
cancel the Arrow project behind
closed doors. It took another six
months, however, for thp project
to be officially cancelleod in par
Hame'lt allowing time for tht>
conservatives to pl'epore for th('
political aftershocks. Another
ten million dollar.. "a pumpt"d
into the ' project in tho ,ntt"r .... t>n
ing time, added to I ne more
than S100 million !open!.
On the day of the announce-
ment, a wave of disbelipf swept
the ranks of the employees of
A.V. Roe. Th@ planE' in which
they had placed !>O much pride
and effort wa!- never to fly
again. Latpr that day, A.V. Roe
laid off 14.000 workers. Hardest
hit was the Malton plant where
most of the development work
had taken place.
About 2 months after the
cancellation came the deepest
cut of all. The order was given,
from a source to this day
unknown, to ruth essly destroy
the 6 prototype Arrows including
all pictures, blueprints and doc-
umentation. It was as if to
obliterate the fa ct that the
Arrow had ever existed and in
doing so to hide the tremendous
bungling associated with the
project.
After the Arrow was
scrapped, 66 F-IOl "Voodoo"
interceptors were purchased to
carry out the role intended for
.the Arrow. It seemed that the
born bel' threa t was not small
enough to ignore completely
after aU.
The performance of the
Voodoo came nowhere near that
of the Arrow and. wot'se still, it
provided jobs and industrial
development for Americans, not
Canadians. With no civilian
contracts to support it, Avro
folded and A. V. Roe beca'me
Hawker Siddeley of Canada and
faded quietly into the woodwork.
Many of the skilled and
engineers, disillusiof'l ' d with
Canada. left for rrtur f' fruitful
compan: in th( Vnit d States.
The loss of milar, power and
human res()urcl-'S v.a. as much a
tragf;:dy as the 19:" of pride and
self-respE-1. t ill Ca :ltidian indus-
try.
Over twenty \ears later, the
Voodoos have replaced by
F 18 fight e r . \to t rceptors.
These planE'S are no 'Tl(o re suited
to Canadian needs than was the
Although the fat e of A. V.
Roe is lamentable, it is more
important to learn from the
events \ of the tragedy. Canada
has many companies with bril-
liant and imaginative people in
their employ. We are capable of
developing the best in the wodd
and must learn to foster the
fruits of our own innovation.
As engineers, most of us will
attain positions where we must
make decisions on whet her to
support our industry or take an
easier foreign alternative. We
will always be relegeted to the
rank of a second-class industrial
nation unless we avoid the
destruction of our own inven-
tions.
Thursday, July 26
Waterloo Inn
$4 advance
$ 5 at the door
at fedsoc engsoc artsoc
14
IRON WARRIOR JULY 1984
CAD / CAM in UW
ENGINEERING
Frank van Biesen
Computer Aided Design /
Manuf cturing (CAD/CAM) is a
term used frequently in a mod-
ern engineering context. In
fact, it is used so often and in so
many different situations that as
a re5.1
1
it ' becomes somewhat
difficult to define. Simply say-
ing, for example, that it is the
process of using some sort of
computer a tool or aid in
design work is far too general.
After all, ever y time we pick up
our calculator (as sophisticated
as they have become), we are
essentially using a computer as
an aid in our work. Computer
Aided Design / Manufacturing is
therefore the use of comput;cs
(micros right up to large scale
.mainframes) along with hard-
ware (plotters,
graphics terminals, manufactur-
ing machinery, machine shop
equipment, robots, etc.) and
specially designed software
packages to do specific design
work.
In the Faculty of Engineer-
ing here at UW, several pro-
fessors in different departments
have a keen interest in develop-
ing and improving CAD/CAM
techniques in their own areas of
research.
Prof. If. I. -Abe- 81masry
head of the V LSI group
The very particular applica-
tions of these packages make
them extremely powerful, but at
the same time extremely limited
in their range of use.
In order to do this, however,
they will need ne", equipment
including mainframe computer
resources, micros, and so on.
With the ret: ent nf ws of the $65
million deal Vwlth , );gital Equip-
ment Co., it .. oks as if these
wiU fulfilled. Already
at l(>ast on\. pr Jessor from each
department has obtained
approval for his research as well
as partial allocation ot Hip.
incoming DEC equipment. To
give an idea of what types of
CAD/CAM are being looked at,
described below are some of the
particular proj!?' t5 in the differ ',
ent department ".
Prof. G. R. Sulli van of
Chemical Engineering is heading
a team of rec;earchers into using
Prof. G. C. Andrews working at Calma des ign
station
CAD techniques in the area of
process design and simulation.
At the present time the depart-
ment uses a type of software
called ,SPEEDUP to do the simu-
lations. Part of the problem
with process simulation is the
fast response time required to
accura tely model the operation
of a certain process. To obtain
this fast response, the modelling
programs must be run on "dedi-
cated" hardware (ie. the com-
puter's sole function is to run
these programs). Eventually,
the goal is to have a plant oper-
ator training centre which will
be able to take someone who
knows virtually nothing about a
process right up to a qualified
plant operator. Here especially
this dedicated hardware is
important since the response
times of the simulations must
accurately resemble those under
opera t ing condi t ions. For this
work, Professor Sullivan has
been allocated access to a DEC
VAX 780 computer as well as
some of the other DEC equip-
ment.
In Electrical Engineering
t
Prof. M.I. Elmasry and 8 other
professors form the Very Large-
Scale Integration (VLSI) group.
According to Prof. Elmasry,
micro-chip integration is getting
so high that within a few years
it will be possible to put the
equivalent of 1 million transis-
tors on a single chip (appx. 1/4"
X 1/4" square). With the pres-
ent design techniques this type
of mind-boggling
ogy would require about 30 - 50
man-years to design and imple-
ment. This amount of time (and
therefore money) makes this
type of technology uneconomi-
cal. The goal of the group's
research, therefore, is to create
and develop CAD techniques and
tools to reduce this time by up
to a factor of 10. For his
research, Prof. Elmasry already
has access to 2/3 of a V AX and
;
he speculates that his group will
require one more each year for
the next few years. In addition,
he is recelvmg a complete
design station as well as an
automatic drip testing station,
together worth about $250 thou-
sand. The VLSI group is sup-
ported financially by the $1.6
million research grant received
from NSERC last year.
Prof. M. Chandrashekar of
the Systems Design department
has also applied for and received
permission to use part of the
new DEC equipment. He and
Prof. K.C.T. Hollands of
Mechanical Engineering are the
co- designers of W A TS UN, a
solar energy sY5tem modelling
and analysis software package.
This package is already quite
popular, being used by consulting
engineers and government agen-
cies all over the country. It is
provided as a service and users
can simply tap into the system
from any location. Prof.
Chandrashekar's research deals
with improving the WATSUN
- program by comparing its sim'u-
lating capabilities to an actual
solar energy facility. The uni-
versity actually has such a
facility located on the north
campus where readings -3.nd
measurements are constantly
made. The goal of this research
team's efforts will be to create
a data acquisition and analysis
system for this solar facility and
to use this information in
improving WATSUN. He would
like to see some dedicated hard-
ware for WATSUN, for more
efficient running of the pro-
gram.
In the department of Man-
agement Science, Prof. J.B.
Moore is looking a little more at
the manufacturing side of
CAD/CAM. His research is
involved with the rather new
technolo!:IT of Flexible Manufac-
turing SY5tp.m;,. These are
machinE' S or set.; of machines
which are capabl.. of making
many different t ype5 of parts, as
opposed to the machine
which may fabricate one item in
differ e nt sizes. These flexible
manufat'turing systems are able
to retool themselves, and supply
themselves with the necessary
materials in order to fabricate
the different parts. Used in
conjunction with the FMS are
automated guided vehicles, a
type of drone or robot which
supplies the machine with . the
necessary tools . and materials.
These systems are completely
automated and numerically con-
trolled, and therefore ext6remely
costly. In order to make them
economical, they must be kept
as busy as possible to gain a high
output rate. One very important
problem which (s therefore a
focus of Prof. Moore's research
is the scheduling of the FMS
resources which must be syn-
chronized perfectly to allow for
smooth operation.
In the del-art ment of
Mechanical Engineering, Prof.
G.C. Andrews is also involved in
computer aided design. An
existing V AX computer supports
software packages for use in
finite-element analysis, kine-
matics, and dynamics of
machinery, as well as two
CALMA CAD/CAM high resolu-
tion graphics stations. The
Calma software has several
capabilities: t,here is a comput -
er-aided drafting package, and a
NC mill tool path analysis pack-
age. Prof. Andrews, as well as
being involved in his own CAD
work, is also a member of a
group of professors headed by
Prof. B.L. Wills of Systems
Design. This group has one rep-
resentative from each depart-
ment and is studying how CAD
and CAL (com puter-aided learn-
ing) can be integrated into the
engineering curriculum. The
culmination of this study could
lead to an Engineering Education
Research Centre (EERC); possi-
bly by 1986.
Irrespective of what this
study's conclusions might be, it
is obvious that some changes are
going to be required in the
undergraduate curriculum. Prof.
Andrews says that he can see
the day when there will be
nothing but computer-aided
design. Jokingly, he adds that
he can also see sometime in the
future, someone will approach a
designer working at a CAD sta-
tion, look at the drawing on the
screen, and say "Did you know
that you can can do tha t using a
pencil and paper? You just take
this T-square like so. and ... ".
So goes moderniza tion.
JULY 1984
Francis Chow
People who fly small planes
begin flying them for the fun of
flying. Later, they comE> to
appreciate the ancUlary pleas-
ures of small plane flight --
things not conn"'-I.-ted with flying
at all. TherE> 3rt" flying clubs to
JOlO, rE>n)ot e pla( es to visit,
things to be seen from different
viewpoints Oike farmland, river
systems, citiE>s, and nuclear
power st at l,ms :, a nd most of all
a never ending supply of chal-
for unlike big planes (of
which there are only a few basic
types), small planes are diverse.
There are a multitude of differ-
ent designs, and each demands
new skills of her pilot.
You would think tha t this
lack of standardization would
make fiying small planes dan-
gerous -- it doesn't. Before
getting your pilot's licence you
must go through a period of
intensive training which equips
you to handle flying safely.
It when you go to
your local airport, find the resi-
dent flying club. and sign up for
their flight training course.
They'll generally enroll you in a
ground school (where you can
learn about the theory of flight
and the la ws governing flying in
Canada), assign you to a flying
instructor, and start you on your
rst Pilot's Log Book.
This Log Book will contain a
record of any flying you do for
the rest of your life. All pilots
have them, and browsing through
one you can often find the
names of exotic places stamped
on the pages as well as (too
brief!) descriptions of interest -
ing events.
The first few pages will of
course contain a record of a
pilot's initial flight training.
Generally you'll - P O t I
like: takeoffs, straight
and level fl i'l"f, steep
turns, sta 11 s, spi ns, c ir-
cuits and landings, and
first solo cirruit! After-
wa rds you'll see a lew pages
uevoted to solo practice sessions
culminating finally in a record
of the government administered
Private Pilot flight exam. Of
course, the number of _entries in
the Log Book. depends on the
number of times a pilot goes
flying, and the number of train-
ing entries depends OD the length
of time he takes to get his
license. Most people take
between 50 and 70 hours of fly-
ing (logging 1 or 2 hours each
week) to obtain their licences,
after which they can fly when-
ever they want and with who-
mever they want (the total cost
is about $2500, but if you're
good you can do it for less).
They can handle an aircraft
safely (even during an emer-
gency), know how to navigate
from the air, how to talk to air
IRON WARRIOR
POWER FLYING AS A HOBBY
Wait a few fligbts before trging tbis
traffic controllers, and are usu-
ally passionately in love with
airplanes and flying in general.
Mind you, things are not as
pre-programmed as they sound.
Every student has an interesting
story to tell from his training
days. 'vElie involved flying into
a cloud on my lrst so 0 cross-
country, panicking, and diving
out of it at 135 knots (definitely
not recommended). Incidents
like that are generally rare
though (and rarer among
licenced pilots-- KAL pi lots
excepted, ed. ); in fact, fly-
ing is one of the safest sports
you caD possibly try. (There was
never any real danger - - my
altitude was over 7000 feet.)
After getting a Pilot's
licence, one usually spends the
first few months taking family
and friends on sightseeing
flights, checking out the various
clubs, airports, and airshows in
the imm ia e a, al ...... .. ,. ..
Dew friends and contacts
local flying club.
When this pales one begin5-
to think. about taking a long trip
somewhere. I've been to mo:.t
places in southern Ontario, as
well as New York and Montrea 1.
but many people go as far away
as the Grand Canyon on a rou
15
tine basis {and this never pales' l.
The flying clubs do their
utmost to accomodate these
cross- country flights. They'll
rent out a plane for a week and
charge onlv for the flight time
used, and cluh parking fees (for
planes) generallv run at less than
$5 a night. So if one rents a
4-sea tel' pIa ne like the Cess-
na - ln and spilts the cost of the
trip with thr E>f- fri e nds, one can
travel to most places for less
than the cost of an equivalent
bus fare and arrive there in
about one quarter of the time
(and see more interesting things
than the sides of highways, too) .
What else? Well if you've
got the money you can always
buy your own plane, and if
you've got the time and patience
you could build one from a -k.it
(and probably get a plane tha t
flies better and costs less than
one available fully assembled);
there's always the "Mile High
Club" ... but we won't go into it
(pun not intended) here (as a
pilot you'll find out what it's all
about, and you may even get an
opportunity to join).
If you're interested in flying
you can find out anything else
you want to know at any flying
is one of each at the Waterloo-
Wellington Airport}. There at'e
several places which offer
introductory flights for about
$20 (vet'y cheap for wha t they'll
give you), and mo<.,t are fre-
quented by vNyda\. run-of the
mill, pilot -ypes. But
only go if you want ' ,) have fun.
GRADUATE JOB INTERVIEWS
ATTENTION 4A STUDENTS
SUBJECT:
Orientation Session for 4A Graduating Engineering Students who will be off
the fall and participating in 1984/85 Graduating Interviews.
campus in
On Tuesday, July 24, 1984, a three hour Orientation Session will be conducted for
4A graduating students (who will be on work term in the fall) in EL 101 from 1 :30 to
4:30 p.m. In this session attendants will:
be registered to participate in 1984/85 graduating interviews
receive their Graduate Interviews Registration Kits
have the graduating interview process explained to them step by
step including the concept of satellite interviewing locations
be shown how to properly complete a University and College
Placement (UCPA) application form
be given a session on successful interviewing skills
An additional orientation session wi1l be conducted in the fall for those graduating
engineering .students who will be on campus for both fall and winter interviews. You
. will be advised as to the date, time, and location of this session at a later date.
16
IRON' WARRIOR
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