Transportation Nonfiction

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Steel Boatbuilding combines both volumes of Colvin's masterwork on building boats from steel in one complete volume. This book offers the insights, experience and mature thinking of a man who has been a merchant seaman, naval architect, yacht and shipbuilder, sailmaker, and consultant to shipbuilders and governments on matters of vessel design and construction. There is, quite simply, no one more qualified than Tom Colvin to have written this book.

Steel Boatbuilding gives an overall view of the subject from raw materials to the finished vessel. The wealth of detail pertinent to every step in the building, fitting out, and launching of a 25- to 79-foot yacht or commercial vessel will ease the first-time builder or the professional over problems that might otherwise have seemed insurmountable. Part 1 covers the building of hull and decks, while Part 2 takes you through the remainder of the process, including joinery, machinery installation, rigging, and launching.

The author first discusses in detail such topics as purchasing and studying plans, communicating with materials suppliers, choosing and obtaining necessary tools, estimating costs and lofting. He then describes building of one of his designs, a 50-foot pinky schooner intended as a yacht or cargo carrier, using this vessel to provide a context for information that can be applied to the building of any steel boat. The procedures outlined assume that you will be working unassisted on a rented or backyard site.

Part 2 completes the building, fitting out, and launching of the pinky, with in-depth discussions of plumbing, refrigeration, heating and other systems of steel craft in general. The chapter on spars and rigging reflects Colvin's long experience with commercial sailing vessels. The coverage of paint systems and finishing will be invaluable for steel boat owners. The final two chapters are full of advice worth listening to for anyone considering a venture into commercial sail or boatbuilding as a business.

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Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing

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Combines into one resource essential information on all aspects of low-speed wind tunnel design, analysis, testing, and instrumentation. Addresses current topics and applications. Includes coverage of digital electronics, new instrumentation, video and photographic methods, and liquid crystal-based measurement methods. DLC: Wind tunnels.

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The Savvy Flight Instructor: Secrets of the Successful Cfi (Focus Series)

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As a newly certified flight instructor (CFI), a pilot can be faced with a difficult prospect-how to make a living and keep flying to build up piloting hours. This book offers timely and humorous help for flight instructors to market their flight school, meet all those people who really want to fly, and keep them flying. Also emphasized is a broader understanding of the business of the flight school, including how flight schools can revamp marketing and student-recruiting strategies.

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Flight Testing Homebuilt Aircraft

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Fly the Wing

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The Simple Science of Flight: From Insects to Jumbo Jets

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"[I]nsights to delight both biologists and aircraft designers alike. . . . both informative and fun." -- Mick Hamer, New Scientist

From the smallest gnat to the largest aircraft, all things that fly obey the same aerodynamic principles. The Simple Science of Flight offers a leisurely introduction to the mechanics of flight and, beyond that, to the scientific attitude that finds wonder in simple calculations, forging connections between, say, the energy efficiency of a peanut butter sandwich and that of the kerosene that fuels a jumbo jet. It is the product of a lifetime of watching and investigating the way flight happens.

The hero of the book is the Boeing 747, which Tennekes sees as the current pinnacle of human ingenuity in mastering the science of flight. Also covered are paper airplanes, kites, gliders, and human-powered flying machines as well as birds and insects. Tennekes explains concepts like lift, drag, wing loading, and cruising speed through many fascinating comparisons, anecdotes, and examples.

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Delaware & Hudson: The History of an Important Railroad Whose Antecedent Was a Canal Network to Transport Coal

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The Delaware & Hudson was a railroad line which ran from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to the Hudson at Kingston. This is an account of its 144-year history, which includes the mining in the region and steamboat operations on Lake George and Lake Champlain.

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William Fife: Master of the Classic Yacht

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A combination of the vintage yachts of William Fife and the extraordinary photographs of top nautical photographer, Franco Pace. Hundreds of lush photos, full-page, full-spread shots. Close up details of sailors, ships and sea.

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The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space (Bluejacket Paperback Series)

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In the 1950s and early 1960s a small fraternity of daring, brilliant men made the first exploratory trips into the upper stratosphere, reaching the edge of outer space in tiny capsules suspended beneath plastic balloons. This book tells the story of these tenacious men as they labored on the cusp of a new age, seeing things that no one had ever seen and experiencing conditions no one was sure they could survive.

Mostly U.S. Air Force and Navy officers, among them doctors, physicists, meteorologists, engineers, astronomers, and test pilots, they struggled with meager budgets, bureaucratic politics, and one another. It is a thrilling story of tremendous personal sacrifice and great risk for the promise of adventure and the opportunity to uncover a few precious aspects of the universe. Capt. Joseph Kittinger, for example, rode a balloon up to 103,000 feet in an open gondola and then stepped out and freefell to Earth, becoming the only person to break the sound barrier without a vehicle. Lt. Col. David Simons stayed aloft for a full day and night in a primitive pressurized capsule to become one of the first to see the curvature of the planet. In this work, Craig Ryan masterfully captures the drama of their spectacular achievements and those of many of the other space pioneers who made America's stratospheric balloon programs possible. 344 pages. 20 photographs. Line drawings. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Paperback. 6 x 9 inches.

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