Great Canadians, Honored Appropriately

CASI logo.

Almost two years ago, in one of my earliest blog posts (the July 3rd, 2009 post titled "Historical Accounts and Comparisons of our Present Space Age with Other Era's") I mentioned author George Santayana, and quoted  from his book, the Life of Reason, that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Some of the people at the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) must also have read Santayana, since they've always taken steps to appropriately honor past Canadian achievements through their CASI Senior Awards. The 2011 Senior Awards are scheduled for presentation at the gala dinner of the CASI AERO 2011 Conference, being held at the Delta Centre‐ville Hotel in Montreal, on April 27th.

Five awards will be presented at the gala:

Snowbird Ornithopter.

• The Trans‐Canada (or McKee) Trophy, the oldest aviation award in Canada and normally awarded to a Canadian citizen who has made an outstanding, contemporary achievement in aerospace operations, will be awarded to Mr. Cameron Robertson and Mr. Todd Reichert for designing, building, and flying the Snowbird, a human‐powered ornithopter that completed sustained flights on July 3l and August 2, 2010. According to the September 22nd 2010 Science Daily article "Human-Powered Ornithopter Becomes First Ever of Its Kind to Achieve Sustained Flight" this specific ornithopter was the first to ever actually function as designed, which is something that even the great inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, who first designed his version way back in 1485, couldn't quite claim.

W.G. Habashi.

• The McCurdy Award, presented for outstanding achievement in the science and creative aspects of engineering related to aeronautics and space research, will be awarded to Professor W.G. (Fred) Habashi for his contributions to computational flow dynamics (CFD) applications in gas turbine engines and to computations of in-flight phenomena. Habashi is well known for his research in this area, having previously been awarded with a life time achievement award from the CFD Society of Canada in July 2006.

• The C.D. Howe Award, presented for achievements in the fields of aviation and space planning and policy making, and named after the powerful Canadian Cabinet minister in the William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent administrations, will be awarded to Mr. William Brenton Boggs IV who passed away on January 11th, 2011 after a life of long service. This included a short stint in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, plus civilian duty at Trans-Canada Airlines, Canadair, Hawker Siddeley Canada, de Havilland Canada (DHC), Boeing Canada and Field Aviation Holdings Inc. His policy expertise is illustrated by his chairmanships of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) and the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. Boggs was previously made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1944, invested as an Officer into the Order of Canada in 1988 and inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame in 2003.

CSA logo.

• The Alouette Award , presented for outstanding contributions to advancement in Canadian space technology, applications, science or engineering, will be awarded to Dr. Allan B. Hollinger, for a series of outstanding contributions to Canadian space technology, applications and engineering during a career that spans more than 30 years as an expert and lead in developing Canada’s optical spacecraft payloads. Hollinger is associated with the Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science (now the Centre of Excellence for Earth and Environmental Technologies) as the Manager of the Electro‐Optics laboratory and has been with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) since 1995. He shared the Canadian Government Inventor Award in 2004, is co‐holder of seven patents and has contributed to 120 publications and technical reports.

• The Roméo Vachon Award, presented for outstanding display of initiative, ingenuity and practical skills in the solution of a particular challenging problem or series of challenging problems in aeronautics and space activities in Canada, will be awarded to Major Dwight Bazinet for his work with the Augmented Surface Plot (ASP) tactical computer project, which fuses global positioning system data with traditional maps and radar information.

As mentioned in my March 28th, 2011 post "The Difference Between Aviation and Space" the space systems sector has a different set of planning and policy requirements than the aviation industry, but that doesn't mean we can't come together to celebrate excellence, no matter where we might find it.