Science Notes 2010, August 25, 2010.
A high-pitched whirr shatters the serenity of the damp Monterey morning. “We’re all going deaf!” Garth Hobson shouts over the incessant whine, after removing an earplug, grimacing, and leaning away from the screeching machinery. His windbreaker protects him from the sprinkling winter rain as he stands outside of the testing bay. He’s in the middle of a golf course, the unlikely home of the Naval Postgraduate School’s Turbopropulsion Laboratory.
Hobson, associate director of the lab, is developing one of the first completely new aircraft propulsion systems since the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk: the cross-flow fan. He believes this technology, which dates back to an 1892 patent, could one day compete with helicopters. He isn’t the only one; a company called Propulsive Wing in Elbridge, New York, is also developing aerial vehicles using a similar design. Read More >