Industrial Design Class Uses Ohio State Airport To Test Real-World Project

Mike Farley, an Ohio State University Airport assistant chief flight instructor and 2004 aviation graduate, sits in the cockpit and explains features of the plane to industrial design students.Students in industrial design class 693 are lucky Ohio State has an airport and alumni who stay connected to the university.

Thanks to 1975 industrial design graduate Rick Mills, whose company manufactures aircraft parts, the students are working on a “real world” project to redesign the emergency landing gear release system for the Cirrus VK-30 experimental aircraft. Eight students spent a day at the airport this quarter getting firsthand feedback on their design concepts from six flight students and instructors.

“This is a great application,” said senior Blake Kishler, an industrial design major. “Being able to test at Don Scott was enormously important to the progression of our design concepts. With only 10 weeks to complete a project, we don’t always have time to test models with people who may be eventually using them in their intended context.”

“The primary function of the OSU Airport is to support the teaching and research activities of the university,” said Doug Hammon, airport director and lecturer in aviation. In the past, the airport hosted both classes and research projects for aviation and non-aviation disciplines alike. “Whether you’re interested in pavement design, environmental protection, or conflict resolution, the airport is where the theory of the classroom meets the practice of the industry.”

The design students watched flight instructor Mike Farley and other Don Scott pilots test their concepts on several different aircraft and in the flight simulator, and the pilots commented on the ergonomics of the system.

“We answered questions about basic operations of the plane and when you put the gear up and down,” Farley said.

“It is very fortunate to have our own airport,” said Reinhart Butter, industrial design professor emeritus. “Candi Roby (chief flight instructor) and airport personnel were extremely helpful and accommodating. I don’t know how many universities are this lucky.”

Design student Dave Ghioldi said he was excited to listen and learn from people who are experts and stakeholders in the aviation field.

“Our visit to the airport provided invaluable data. The result for us was a clearly defined design direction for our product,” he said. “One instance that exemplifies this was testing on one of the fuel selectors that we designed. In theory it functioned well, but the data from our test session revealed that particular variation to be out of place in this application. This type of data can only come from field research.”

Mills started his company, RAMills Corp. in Medina, Ohio, in 1982 to design custom packaging and machinery. A pilot since the age of 16, he began designing and building aircraft parts in 1986, and three years later he redirected his business focus entirely to aircraft.

“I had taken a few of classes with Reinhart, and a couple of years ago I e-mailed him and asked if he remembered me,” Mills said. “We visited then and got together again last year for the 40th anniversary of the design department. That’s when we started talking about a student project that could look at the human factors of the emergency landing gear release system.”

Mills recalled working on a design project for Armco Steel Corp. (now AK Steel) when he was a student, “but most of the time the designs projects we got were ‘blue sky’ situations. These students know that the Cirrus project is real, that its results may be manufactured.”

“The teaching and research potential at the airport is limitless,” Hammon said. Anyone interested in taking a class or project to the airport can contact Hammon at dhammon@osuairport.org or (614) 292-5600.