On Thursday September 16th, the P51 Mustang “Galloping Host” crashed in the crowd, killing his pilot, James Leeward, and causing multiple fatalities and critical injuries. This is a dreadful day for the whole aviation family.

We’re all sad after this awful accident. In those terrible hours, all our thoughts are going to the victims and their families. The Big Frog Team is safe and we are keeping in contact with them.

Pilots often say that sky’s not the limit. Sadly, sometimes, it is.

Remember Big Frog, the French Challenge at the Reno National Air Races?

The Reno National Air Races are the fastest races in the world. Aircrafts compete in breathtaking races 50 ft above the ground, driven by the famous motto: “Go fast, fly low, turn left!”

An american specialty, the only foreign victory ever was French: Michel Detroyat way back in 1936 on a Caudron with a Renault engine.

Big Frog wanted to follow Detroyat’s track, with an extra-challenge: use a diesel-cycle engine!

A candidate of choice for the Passion for Innovation Program, which welcomed the Team, providing them with CATIA, SIMULIA and Dassault Systèmes experts’ support. Read the full story here.

For their first participation in Reno this year, the Team established on wednesday a whole set of World Premières :

- first diesel-powered racer designed and simulated on computer (with our CATIA and SIMULIA solutions)

- first diesel-powered aircraft to succed in qualifying at the Reno National Air Races

- and above all, first diesel-powered aircraft victory and in his first race!

This first victory rewards the skills, involvement and passion of the whole Team and the excellence of French technologies, including our 3D design and simulation solutions, the SMA innovative diesel-cycle aero-engine and the perfect intergration of all those elements in the NXT airframe thanks to the Passion for Innovation Program.

Last but not least, congratulations to the pilot, French Air Force Captain Christophe Delbos. Usually a Mirage 2000 fighter pilot, “Bobos” (his official pilot nickname) made a perfect race. Diving on the first pylon like an eagle, he grabbed the race first position right from the start and kept it during the race six laps! According to him, the aircraft went quite well, allowing him to fully concentrate on clean trajectories until he heard the “Race finished” announcement in his helmet.

Once a curiosity after his qualification, Big Frog is now one of the stars of those 2011 Reno Air Races. No doubt Michel Detroyat would be proud of his successors.

Gentlemen, you have a victory! May it be the first one of a long collection!

Keep 3D-ing,
Rich

Bernard Charles - CEO (center), Dominique Florack - Senior EVP Products R&D (right), and me, Dominique Anderson (left)

Acting as “MC” of the recently held Dassault Systemes Application Innovation Summit (DS AIS) was both informative and fun.  Besides my role as Online Business & Community manager within the High-Tech Industry, I’ve had the pleasure of helping “keep pace” and to “put some energy” into the show with our distinguished speakers. Privileges of being MC include interacting with each of the speakers and simply being present.

Hot-off-the-press-announcements

What an exciting event this year: one of the more interactive segments was conducting the opening exchange with Dominique Florack.  Delivering his key messages as part of a dynamic discussion made it more interesting for the audience to follow the many key messages and hot-off-the-press announcements.

Mr. Florack shared a remark with the audience that I found most profound; stating that the announcements being made during this summit were the most important he has had the pleasure of making over the last 15 years or so.

Future is on the cloud

If there had been any doubt or questions about the future of Dassault Systemes; it’s on the cloud.   The value and impact we seek to deliver with the help of our extensive partner network is all focused on modeling the “Consumer Experience.”

The dynamics of the world economy, the rapidly evolving demands and expectations of consumers, along with the accelerating change and adoption of technologies is the context to, as Mr Florack said, “… empower the individual, communities and businesses”.

What a great place to be working where the potential to positively impact the world is a tangible perspective.

Cheers!

Dominique