Aerospace.

Man's fascination with aerospace and flight probably is as old as mankind itself. Whether it be the observation and naming of the stars, the flight up to heaven of Etana in Assyro-Babylonian mythology, or the adventures of Pegasus the flying horse, man has always seen himself (and herself, no doubt) as destined to take to the air. These and other fascinating flights of fancy can be read at the Mythology Theme Page at http://www.cln.org/themes/mythology.html.

Relics of the more recent past are widely dispersed on the Internet as well. Most reside in real or virtual museums throughout the world. One of the best is at the United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Take a virtual visit with the kids at http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/. If you want the full Monty, you can link directly to almost 80 historical and special aero and space museums from the Yahoo Aviation History links at http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Transportation/Aviation/His tory/Museums.

For those who need information more down to earth for everyday purposes, a good starting place is the Virtual Library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. You can get to the main entrance by surfing over to http://www.embryriddle.edu/libraries/virtual/. Here you can access both the Aerospace Library (with 323 links), and the Aviation Library (with 1408 links). The aerospace wing has hot links to the NASA Space Centers, Software Engineering resources (including airplane design and analysis software), Aerospace Publications, and more. A good companion resource site is The World Wide Web Aerospace Business Development Center at http://www.tenagra.com/aero_bd.html. Link from here to NASA and the Federal Acquisition Jumpstation procurement centers, Department of Defense Information Sources (including technical information centers), the NASA Newsroom, and NASA's "Eureka" Guide.

After visiting many general news and information sites, this month's vote goes to Landings, a commercial sponsored site containing databases, aircraft sales, planning, weather, pilot supplies, and industry information. Unlike many of the other commercial sites, this one links to areas of interest off their own site, and covers a wide variety of aeronautically related products, information , and services--not just their own stuff. The news section this week had information on local airport planning industry alliances, Federal agency reporting, new aircraft designs, and historical items on aerospace history. There is also an "expert forums" section manned by real people covering topics such as GPS, Maintenance, Aviation Medicine and Law, and Aerobatics and Soaring. Other areas include aircraft registration databases (US, world, and by prefix), FAA regulations, NTSB reports and SDRs, and Government and Military resources. Extras include sections on homebuilt kits, ultralights, ballooning, and skydiving. That see ms to cover pretty much everything from the ground up.

Much useful industry and design information, of course, is available on the sites of major industry builders. The usual ones that come to mind are Boeing (http://www.boeing.com/) and Airbus (http://www.airbus.com./home.asp) because of their high commercial profiles. There are dozens of others, however, which are active primarily in North America and Europe. A couple of good pages of links for these can be found at Aerospace Engineering Companies at http://mechanical.poly.edu/links/ae.htm and EUROAVIA's Guide to Aerospace Companies at http://www.tu-bs.de/studenten/euroavia/links/company.htm. The latter site is no longer updated and there are some bum links, but it is still useful for locating a wide variety of top level manufacturing and supplier base companies. The Aerospacewest site (http://www.aerospacewest.com/) also has a nice selection of company links as well as space launch schedules (by location and tracking station), specific aerospace program links, periodical resources, education, and the usual "c ool" stuff like satellite imaging sites, a solar system simulator, and NOVA online.

One of my favorite resources for design engineers is the bevy of colleges and universities, as well as trade associations, that have industry-specific expertise. In the aerospace niche, these resources are rich and accessible. They range from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics to the USC Aerospace Engineering School. A full list of these (with links), as well as industry institutes can be accessed at http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Aviation_and_Aeronautics/Institutes/. There are also various mentoring and internship programs at the high school and university level, such as the University of Toronto Summer Mentorship Program which is detailed at http://www.aerospace.utoronto.ca/design/mentor/mentor.html.

If you have access to a large format color printer, take a coffee break and get yourself a download (.pdf) of "The Wright Way: Innovation Through Engineering," at The Centennial of Flight located at http://www.centennialofflight.gov/. Click on "Posters" in the left margin. This is a high quality poster presentation of the original Wright brothers' aircraft with supplemental theory and specification outlines of "first flight" events.

Steve O'Neil, Ph.D. is President of N'Fusion, Inc., an editorial and Internet consultancy which aids technology companies in integrating their print and online strategies, improving advertising and branding accountability, and building end-to-end e-commerce solutions. The company is headquartered in the Tampa Bay, FL area with offices and affiliates throughout the US, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.