29 October 2011 ; Meshuganaut, (tuanaguhseM), revision 1

_

_

These figures reprise those posted on 5 October, with two principal revisions :

_

_

The craft has been 'cut and stretched', slightly, along its fore-aft centerline .

This offers the benefit of widening the pilot's cockpit, allowing more space for movement, for protection, systems and controls .

It strengthens the mesh where it passes between the forward two engine cells behind the pilot's cockpit,

and expands the volume of the fuselage slightly .

In all areas except the landing skid, the stretch is a linear one, (assembled from straight segments) .

The fore end of the skid is capped with a half-torus, maintaining the link between it branches .

_

_

On the dorsal side, where it peaks between the first-from-aft engine cells, (the canopy of) a large, double-ended cockpit has been added .

I imagine this as being for the captain of the craft, who would be able to turn to face fore or aft, having controls for both flight and firefighting .

As this would provide the aircraft with a second pilot, there would be less need for firefighters to have flight controls in their, (smaller), cockpits .

From his or her vantage point, the captain could also watch the upper surface,

(and have monitors in the cockpit providing views of much of the rest), with readings from the full craft .

An array of water mist-nozzles, (not shown), could help keep the temperature of the aircraft's skin below 100 °C when fighting intense fires .

_

_

Other notes :

_

_

A model from this family might be able to make direct delivery of backup generators,

fuel, electrical cable and boric acid or boric acid solution to a crippled nuclear power plant .

If a metal fire had broken out in a cooling pond, the craft might be able to get close enough to attempt to quench it with carbon dioxide ;

or to smother, (and thus entomb), it with powdered copper, possibly mixed with boron or boron carbide .

_

_

In such an application, the captain and technicians could sit together within a highly shielded cockpit inside the fuselage .

Such could be a below-shielded-deck extension of the captain's cockpit shown here, which would need thicker, (boro-silicate), canopy glass ;

and which would be occupied by the pilot, who could join the others through an access hatch if need be .

I imagine the captain would sit in a second, fly-by-wire-&-camera cockpit within the fuselage .

_

_

The craft could, and conceptually should, carry robots to enter lethal-dose areas to attempt what manual operations were necessary .

If control of these by wire or optical-fiber were necessary, hopefully, the craft would be shielded enough to enable it to remain in the vicinity until the job was done .

To this end, a sealed breathing air cycle with equipment to scrub carbon dioxide, dehumidify, and replenish oxygen could be important .

_

_

Similarly, the Meshuganaut family may offer a craft which proved adept at directing carbon dioxide at oil well-head, drilling rig, tank farm or refinery fires .

An external tank with its own nozzle could be a carryable option for this model, (or for its meshugganaut brother) .

Because there is a danger of killing the engines, carbon dioxide should only be released from,

and directed, below the craft ; and where a wind is present, downwind .

Because there is a danger of killing people, the gas should only be employed against extreme fires .

_

_

As the model shown here is specialized for operating in close proximity to tall structures, the cockpits have protective "margin strips" .

In potential applications built to a smaller scale, or those where the pilot and crews' direct, uninterrupted downward field of view is of high importance,

these margins could be modified, and the front and rear cockpits made proportionally larger .

In military designs, the margin could house a 'lateral line' of sensors for the detection of incoming projectiles .