This month’s e-newsletter sponsored by:

Spouses and guests are invited and welcome. Williamson Restaurant, Easton Road, Horsham, PA

Technical Chairperson
Craig Clauser - Craig Clauser Engineering Consulting
Meeting Sponsors:
Stork MMA Testing Labs
Materials Resources International
Laboratory Testing Inc.

Dinner Menu
Fresh Garden Salad, Pot Roast of Beef, Glazed Baby Carrots, Parslied Red Potatoes, Ice Cream Cake w/ Chocolate Sauce
Social Hour – 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Dinner - 7:00 p.m.
Price: Members & Guests: $24.00; Retirees: $15.00; Students: $12.00

Meeting Registration Register to attend our meeting on our website www.asm-philadelphia.com. If you have a large group attending or do not have access to the website, please contact Rob DeKalb at 215-542-7600 to register.

Speaker: BRETT HOFFSTADT - Creative Forces
Topic:
A Broken Tail and More That Failed:
An Independent Investigation into Flight 587, the NTSB and Airbus

Brett Hoffstadt began working in the aerospace industry 17 years ago as a co-op student with McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) in St. Louis, Missouri. His expertise is in aerodynamics which includes experience with flight simulation, flight testing, wind tunnel testing, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and aircraft performance. He has worked on aircraft ranging from sailplanes to hypersonic re-entry vehicles, and has had also had assignments in propulsion, structures, and composites. He is currently a project specialist on the V-22 tiltrotor program at Boeing, where he oversees the technical, cost, and schedule performance of aircraft-level technology groups (aerodynamics, weights, flying qualities, etc.) for the Air Force CV-22 program. He holds a B.S. from Purdue University and an M.S. from Penn State University, both in aerospace engineering. He resides in Media, PA with his wife, two children, and three cats (one of which is Brett's pseudo-dog).

TOPIC: A Broken Tail and More That Failed: an Independent Investigation into Flight 587, the NTSB, and Airbus

On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed shortly after takeoff from JFK. All 260 persons onboard and five on the ground perished. Many people initially suspected terrorism given the context and early eyewitness reports. The NTSB's final report, issued in 2004, found the primary cause was overly aggressive inputs by the pilot which caused the vertical tail to separate from the aircraft.

Soon after the accident, it became clear the NTSB would remain the lead investigative agency and concentrate on the tail separation. A concerned group of aviation professionals and citizens began an ad hoc investigation under the auspices of U.S.Read, a private web-based journalistic venture. Their effort was inspired by many facts and witness accounts that pointed to additional and likely criminal factors. Their effort showed that at least one explosion or fire occurred on the aircraft prior to tail separation in addition to other major system failures. Supporting evidence comes from the cockpit voice recorder transcript, flight data recorder data, debris field, video footage, radar data, in addition to eyewitnesses. Regarding the vertical tail, their efforts also uncovered previously undisclosed issues with the Airbus design and highly questionable behavior on the part of this company during this and other accident investigations.

This month’s e-newsletter sponsored by:

Chairperson’s Message - September, 2006

I trust everyone had a great summer.

I am looking forward to presiding over the first general meeting as Chairperson of our chapter. I am following in the footsteps of some exemplary leaders. With a great deal of assistance, I hope to be able to be able to continue the course of excellence.

Although this is the first general meeting since the awards night in May, many things have been happening over the summer recess. Meetings were held to review our previous budget performance (we were in the black) and establish a new budget for this year. There was an E&O meeting to approve this budget and to establish a plan of action for our chapter.

Our second materials camp was held July 10-14 at Drexel University. We had 14 students, which was six fewer than in our first year. The session was a success, highlighted by a tour of the Boeing Helicopter Plant. We greatly appreciate the efforts of many volunteers and the financial contributions of companies and individuals that make this camp possible. Howard Cheetham has completed the task of establishing contacts with virtually every high school in the Delaware Valley. Next year, we should be able to get word out earlier to more students and reach our goal of 20 campers. Howard is moving to North Carolina, and the chairmanship of the materials camp will now be in the capable hands of Beth Carroll.

On May 23 we were notified that The Liberty Bell has been approved as an ASM Historical Landmark. This was the result of two years of effort by primarily Roger Jones, Jim Watters, and Scott Kreilick. Thanks for a job well done. Additional details can be found on page 42 of the new yearbook, which was assembled, proofed, and published over the summer. I now have a much greater appreciation of the amount of effort it takes to publish the best yearbook of any ASM Chapter.

With some juggling of our meeting schedule, we were able to secure Dr. Lawrence C. Wagner, The ASM International President, as our speaker on National Officers Night. Please note that this meeting will be held on November 9, which is the second Thursday and not the usual third.

Our opening night meeting on September 21 has a great program. Brett Hoffstadt will present the results of an independent investigation on the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 shortly after takeoff from JFK Airport in 2001. I would like to see a great turnout for this meeting.

Although we have attracted some new people to serve as committee chairs and members, we could use more help. Becoming involved is a very rewarding experience; please give it a try.

Sincerely,
Tom Reid
2006-2007 Chairperson

10-19-06    Thursday    Young Members Night
        Topic: Materials Challenges in New Energy Systems, Williamson Restaurant,
         Horsham, PA 6:00 pm

11-7-06    Tuesday     MEI Course - Metallurgy for Non-Metallurgist
         SPS Technologies

Awards Announced at May 2006 Meeting
The following awards were announced at the May meeting:

Adolph Schaefer Special Achievement Award. .. . . . . . . . . . . . Brian James

Delaware Valley Metals Person of the Year. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . John Janiszewski

Meritorious Service Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Rich

Metallurgical Engineering Assistants Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carol Moyer

Outstanding Company Support Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Solar Atmospheres, Inc.

Philadelphia Chapter Distinguished Service Award. . . . . . . . . Jim Watters

President's Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Howard Cheetham

Young Member Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Travis Nelson

The following two awards will be presented in 2007:
William Hunt Eisenman Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doug McGhee
Albert Sauveur Lecture Award. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Chad Graham

2006 Charles F. Burns, Jr. Postgraduate Poster Contest Winners
The following three winners were announced at the May meeting:
First Place - Varun Gupta, Second Place - Davde Mattia, Third Place - Surojet Gupta

2006 Scholarship Winners
AW (Doc) Grosvenor Scholarship - David Steinmetz - Drexel University
Anthony Gallacio Scholarship - Cristin Yavorsky - Drexel University
Joseph J. Weisser Memorial Scholarship - Stephen Niezgoda - Drexel University

Materials Camp 2006
July saw our second "Materials Camp" as Drexel University's graduate student volunteer greeted 14 uncertain high school students. Over the week the students were introduced to metals, ceramics and polymers; designing, testing and failure analysis.

The high point was a tour of Boeing Rotorcraft which included a walk through the wind tunnel, the production line of the V-22 Osprey and their materials testing labs (and some interesting failures). During the tour we also welcomed a student alumnus from last year's camp who has decided to study Materials Science at Penn State.

Our thanks to all our sponsors; please continue to support Beth Carroll as she takes over for next year's camp.

Howard Cheetham, Materials Camp Chairperson

Libery Bell Named ASM Historical Landmark
For the past two years the Liberty Bell Chapter of ASM has been pursuing the designation of ASM Historical Landmark for the Liberty Bell. This effort has been headed up by Roger Jones as Committee Chairperson. Jim Watters and Scott Kreilick have contributed significantly to this effort. These three chapter members met with Karie Deithorn, the Chief Curator at Independence National Historical Park to review the application. Jim took photographs of the Bell and the outer lobby of the Superintendent's office where the plaque will hang. Scott contributed five technical articles about the bell from his library in support of the application. On May 23, 2006 the Chapter was notified that the Liberty Bell was accepted as an ASM Historical Landmark. The citation on the plaque will read "The Liberty Bell is an international symbol of freedom whose history is as significant to metallurgy and casting technology as it is to American Heritage." The plaque will be cast this summer, and a suitable presentation ceremony is being planned for late summer or early fall.

This month’s e-newsletter sponsored by:

Welcome New Members
Yifang Cao        Princeton University
Judy Hoffman       William Tennant HS
Rajesh Kalavalapally      Burpee Materials Tech. LLC
Laura Shekleton       AGC Chemicals American Inc.
Mark D. Finn      McGee Ind. Inc.
Walter Korn       Millennium Medical Products, Inc.
James Alan Sago       Accellent, Inc.
John J. Dwyer, Jr.       Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.
Robert Irving
William M. Kane      Exponent Inc.
Alexis R. Opp       Villa Maria Academy
Mark Scott       HPS Inc.
Mohammad Abuelhawa       Potters Ind.
John B. Boodey       Airgas
Christopher Danielak      American Superabrasives Corp.
Dawn M. DiMarco       Hutchinson Ind.
Dustin B. Doss       Drexel University
Stan P. Gawel        Tube Methods, Inc.
Ray Hull       Johnson & Johnson
Gary Johnson        Tube Methods, Inc.
Michael S. Lambert       Nooter Construction Co.
Pramod Mavinkurve       Johnson & Johnson
Christopher Younker      Accellent, Inc.

MEI course - “Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist”
The Liberty Bell Chapter of ASM and the Greater Philadelphia Section of ASNT are announcing this year’s MEI Course. The first class will be on Tuesday, November 7th at SPS Technologies. Complete details will be included in next month’s newsletter.

Now Sending E-Newsletter
During the 2006-07 Chapter year, the Liberty Bell Chapter will have an e-newsletter in addition to the familiar blue mailer. This will allow us to make late additions to the newsletter.

We are planning to include full color business card size ads in the e-newsletter. You can run an ad for a one time fee of $100 for 8 placements This is a very economical way to reach the 400 Philadelphia ASM members with e-mail. If you wish to run a one time job placement ad, those ads can be run for a monthly fee of $25. Contact Jim Watters for more information at dvua2@cs.com.

Mission Statement - ASM International, Philadelphia "Liberty Bell" Chapter
The Philadelphia "Liberty Bell" Chapter of ASM International supports the development and continuance of the materials industry in the Philadelphia area. Chapter activities strive to inform the local technical community of new developments in materials, raise the visibility of the materials industry, provide educational opportunities in materials technology, recruit new people and organizations into materials-related activities, and provide networking opportunities for members of the materials community. The Chapter works with ASM International to use our joint resources to accomplish this mission.

Changes To Your Membership Information - Any Chapter Member who needs to make a change to their membership listing or to their company affiliation listing must call Membership Service, ASM International at 1-800-336-5152 or use the ASMI website at www.asminternational.org. This will permanently update your information. We depend on ASM International to receive our updated mailing list for this newsletter. So please do not send information to the return address on this newsletter. Do you have news... that should be shared with the other members of the “Liberty Bell” Chapter? If so, please send your info to Jim Wattters at dvua2@cs.com. Be sure to add the phrase “Item to add to the ASM Chapter newsletter” in the subject line. We’ll be sure to include it in the next monthly Chapter newsletter. For more info about the ASM Liberty Bell Chapter. . . Contact Chapter Chairperson Tom Reid at 215-675-8122 or email him at reitmrd@aol.com.