AHS International – The Vertical Flight Technical Society  announced today the winner of the Society’s prestigious Best Paper Award. The Alfred Gessow Award is given each year for the best technical paper at the AHS Annual Forum. The award consists of a plaque and transportation for one author to the European Rotorcraft Forum (ERF).

This year’s winner is entitled “Blade Tip Pressure Measurements Using Pressure Sensitive Paint.” It was authored by Oliver D. Wong, US Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate, Joint Research Program Office, Hampton, VA; A. Neal Watkins, Advanced Sensing & Optical Measurement Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; Kyle Z. Goodman, ATK, Hampton, Virginia; Jim Crafton, Alan Forlines and Larry Goss, Innovative Scientific Solutions, Inc., Dayton, Ohio; and James W. Gregory and Thomas J. Juliano, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

The paper discusses the application of pressure sensitive paint using laser-based excitation for measurement of the upper surface pressure distribution on the tips of rotor blades in hover and simulated forward flight. The testing was conducted in the Rotor Test Cell and the 14- by 22-ft Subsonic Tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center.

This year’s 68th Annual Forum and Technology Display was held on May 1-3, 2012 in Ft. Worth Texas. The paper was selected from among over 200 papers in 19 technical disciplines published in the 68^th Annual Forum Proceedings. The paper and the 18 runners-up are available on the AHS Online Store – more details can be found at http://vtol.org/best-papers.

Dr. Wong will be presenting the paper at the ERF in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 4-7, where he will also receive the Alfred Gessow plaque. The award is named after a helicopter pioneer, researcher, author, professor and founder of the rotorcraft center at the University of Maryland now named for him.

The American Helicopter Society (AHS) International is the world’s premier vertical flight technical society. Since its inception in 1943, AHS has been a major force in the advancement of vertical flight. The Society is the global resource for information on vertical flight technology. It provides global leadership for scientific, technical, educational and legislative initiatives that advance the state-of-the-art of vertical flight.