Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, January 09, 2007 Gary Williams, Editor

VISITORS AND GUESTS:

• Laura Ajaeb, Newark Valley Interact - They raised $261 from "Copper Counts" and used it to purchase school supplies for needy students
• Gage Wiles, OFA Interact - They are doing a freshman orientation on January 17, and are also raising money for flood victims through a precise ball tournament

FINES:

Orv fined everyone who made a resolution and hasn't kept it and all those who did not make a New Year's Resolution.

INDUCTION:

Orv inducted Fred Strauss who owns and operates Multi-Systems from his home in Apalachin (sounds like another good program). He has been a Rotarian since 1986 and has decided to transfer his membership from Endwell to Owego and we are glad to have him. Carolyn Wright sponsored Fred and, in our customary, disorganized fashion, we all welcomed Fred into our Club. Orv included some interesting information about Rotary into the "inducement".

PROGRAM:

Vern Fronek made what was to me a "Star Wars" presentation as he shared with us about BAE Systems which is the fourth largest Global Defense Contractor. They have figured out how to correctly export technology. They are also the 7th largest US prime contractor.

BAE is involved in a broad spectrum including moving their technology to areas such as tanks so that military people may be able to be moved out of harm's way. Their systems include: Air; Sea; Land; C4ISR (information integrity when you want it, where you want it, and secure), and Support Systems. BAE has 85,000 employees and is purchasing other companies as LM did. Their stock has more than doubled in the last two years. Despite having many locations around the world, they make a significant effort to be monolithic. They also need to deal with different cultures within their system.

Like LM, they have diversified in recent years. They have applied their technology to buses and have hybrid buses in NYC. The usual diesel bus gets 2.2 miles per gallon in the city and their buses get 5 mpg and have their engines last longer. Their goals for their airframes is to "fly by wire" so there are computer connections instead of mechanical connections. Since there are three computers which back each other up and check for errors, this is much safer than mechanical linkages and it reduces a great deal of weight.

Vern shared how night vision goggles in helicopters caused more accidents. They only see objects which give off heat. Therefore, a pilot can easily fly into a cable. There are now many more of these kinds of accidents than mechanical failures. Their system looks at the environment in many different ways and integrates it with a digital picture of the earth which is constantly upgraded. This is presented through a helmet-mounted display. The inside of the visor has a thin film which is capable of HDTV. Weight is still a factor, but better balancing has helped. The helmet sees outside which means that the pilot does not see the floor of the aircraft when he/she looks down but sees the ground beneath them.

FASCINATING PROGRAM. Thank you Vern and John.

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