o   December 4, 1999 -- Find out what's new at Pima Air & Space Museum

o   Last weekend in January 2000 -- Exciting speaker event! (details to come!)

o   February 18-19, 1999 -- SR-71 days at PASM, and talks on stealth by Robert
     Loschke!

Date: December 4, 1999

Time: 1:30 pm

Location: Pima Air and Space Museum
                6000 E. Valencia Road
                Tucson, AZ 85706
                574-9658

Hopefully, Thanksgiving has left you nourished, with sufficient energy for that end-of-millenium push -- pack the kids in the car and watch that occidental chronometer flip over to all zeroes!

Our kick-off meeting was a great success! We presented what the Tucson section has to offer, gathered some of the members' wishlists and gorged ourselves on pizza. After the students showed off their plane and rocket projects, we also announced yet another anonymous member pledge of $1,000 for the student entry to the AIAA Student Design/Build/Fly competition. During the pizza party, we selected the winner of the one hour flight lesson donated by Winsor Aviation. His name is Geoff Hill, he studies Aero at the U of A, plays saxophone, and has never flown before. He was very excited about the lesson, and after he goes up, we're going to highlight his experience and let you know how it went!

Our guest speaker for the meeting was Congressman Jim Kolbe. He wanted to meet us and pledged his firm support for all of our goals and ambitions. He was very impressed with the outreach and industrial collaboration efforts we have underway. Similarly, we were all impressed with his warmth and encouragement. In addition to this support, we're establishing excellent ties with both the Mayor's office and the Tucson Economic Development Council.

October meeting at the University of Arizona
(Rep. Jim Kolbe at lower right, Kevin Kremeyer at left)

This kind of organized support we're receiving is phenomenal, and very important for our success. However, an even more vital component for our section to succeed and prosper is your participation. The first thing we need from you is to know what kind of events and times are good for you. We want to know what you want to see, do, and learn; and what days, times, and months work well with your schedule.

If you'd prefer family events over professional events; or if there are any specific discounts or events that you'd like to initiate or help organize, we'd love to hear about it all. This is the kind of information we need, in order to make a really active and enjoyable local section.

Once we gather this vital information and set up a calendar, the obvious necessity is member participation. If it looks like an interesting and good idea -- the kind of thing you'd like to attend -- the only way we know about your support is if you actually show up. This is why we'd like to offer events and functions that really spark your interest and enrich your lives (socially, intellectually, professionally), and then ask you to make a concerted effort to attend once we've tried to accomodate as many schedules as possible.

After we've gone through a few such iterations, some natural dynamics will begin to evolve. The essential point is that if you are to be represented in this initial evolution, we really need to see and hear from you during the start-up phase.

The beauty of the holiday timing is that it provides the optimal opportunity to make a new-year's resolution (or a new-millenium's resolution): to let us hear from you, and to actually come meet some of the other members and interested attendees.

Officers discuss business over free pizza
(Left to right -- Rina Shivashankara, Kelly Sinnock, Kevin Kremeyer)

The last weekend in January, we're shooting for a phenomenal speaker to come into town. The details aren't completely firm yet, so we'll announce the specifics in early January. There's still time for you to let us know the best days and hours for your schedule, so please get those to us ASAP (today, if you can!).

In February, we're planning to join forces with the Pima Air and Space Museum, during their SR-71 weekend. On February 18th and 19th (Friday and Saturday), they'll be hosting 20 SR-71 pilots who will be showing the public all around the SR-71 (even inside the cockpit!). In conjunction with this event, we will be bringing in a distinguished lecturer (Robert Loschke), who designed the unique control systems of not only this plane, but also of later stealth vehicles, including the F-117A.

If we haven't received your information survey form yet, you'll find one enclosed, with a self-addressed envelope. All you have to do is fill it out, put on a stamp, and stick it in the mail. Think of it as an important bill involving no money, or a greeting card for the local AIAA officers, trying to figure out what to do for you. Before sending it, I urge you to let your family take a look at it to see if there is anything they'd like to do, as well. Any comments you have are appropriate to include.

If there's no allotted space, just write your comments in the margins. All comments are welcome. If you'd prefer to not to be on the mailing list, please let us know this also...just write "please remove from list" (and remember to include your name), and we'll be glad to do so.

You will, of course remain a national member, receiving Aerospace America, and all of the national mailings. If you'd prefer to save postage and trees by receiving notification of the posted newsletter via email and the internet, please include your email address on the completed survey form, and write next to it "prefer email over USPS". You are always welcome to contact us for anything at our general email address: tucson_aiaa@yahoo.com

Now, I've definitely emphasized these points sufficiently, but just for the folks who are skimming the newsletter, I'm going to use some bullets:

Thanks again, and have a great Season. Next time we'll let you know more of the details on the upcoming events. We'll also write up what we learned at the December 4th meeting, and I"ll tell you about my adventure with the Tucson Soaring Club!

At the University of Arizona, the AIAA Student Branch is entering the AIAA Student Design/Build/Fly (DBF) competition again this year, after entering at least two years previously. Also, a group with the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is building a high power rocket.

The Tucson Section is doing what it can to support both projects. To date the Section has made available at least $2k for the DBF students, and both groups are making great progress in raising funds. So far, their accumulated total is in the neighborhood of $10k.

The UA AME Department has also generously allocated some space to the DBF group for the construction phase. Lab space is an important concern, and represents a very helpful contribution by AME. The DBF group shares this space with several other projects, one of which involves a BD-5 airframe (below).