Announcements

Anatomy of an In-Flight Breakup

An AIAA Professional Development Lecture, via Zoom

presented by

Bob Winn

Principal Emeritus of Engineering Systems Inc. 

Wednesday, April 23rd, 12:00-1:00 PM PDT

A number of in-flight breakups occur every year. The fundamentals of in-flight breakups reveal that there are only three root causes: fatigue of a key structural element, flutter, and overload. Each of these causes will be discussed and explained. An example of an in-flight breakup in which the experts disagreed as to the root cause will be discussed in detail. The discussion will include analysis of the aircraft wreckage, fundamental airplane fluid dynamics, trajectory analyses, and airplane performance. The presentation is supported with videos, demonstrations, and high-definition animations.    

Bob Winn is a mechanical/aeronautical engineer and Principal Emeritus of Engineering Systems Inc. (ESI). ESI provides a wide range of technical support capabilities in essentially every engineering, scientific, and medical discipline. He has been with ESI since 1994 and during that time has reconstructed hundreds of aircraft accidents involving ultralights to airliners. Dr. Winn retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1991 after a 22-year career. He was an instructor pilot in four different Air Force aircraft, taught aeronautical engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and served as Chief Scientist of the USAF European Office of Aerospace Research and Development in London, England. He is a Fellow of AIAA and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and has served as a member of the SAE AC-9C Subcommittee on Aircraft Icing Technology. Dr. Winn has directed research; published over 70 technical papers, technical reports, and articles; and has given numerous presentations on a wide variety of technical and educational topics. 

The presentation will be on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM PDT via Zoom. The Zoom link for the meeting is below. Once you connect to it, please follow the subsequent link for "Attendee".