Lauren Westfall, Mechanical Engineering & Aerospace Concentration

Name: Lauren Westfall | Major: Mechanical Engineering | Semester: Fall 2024

My name is Lauren Westfall. I am a Senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerospace. I am conducting my research on General Aviation Fixed Wing Aircraft Stall and Spin Accidents through the College of Engineering under my research professor, Dr. Neelakshi Majumdar. I have been in her lab for around one year and have conducted all my research on this topic.

My research focuses on the causes of stall and spin accidents in general aviation. We chose this topic because it is one of the most fatal types of accidents in general aviation. More specifically, I found in my research over a ten year period that stall and spin occurrences accounted for thirty seven percent of all fatal general aviation accidents. This is over a third of all fatal general aviation accidents, which is why we decided this was the perfect research topic to go into depth on.

Starting out, I looked at what phase of flight the stall and spin occurred, whether that was take off, landing, or some other phase of flight. This was to find the most common phase of flight these accidents tend to happen in. I also looked at the altitude at which the stall and spin occurred in order to learn where the accident was most likely to happen. I have used a combination of Microsoft Access and Excel as well as the data from the NTSB database to obtain information for every fixed wing general aviation stall and spin accident between 2013 and 2022. This research I am conducting will hopefully aid in making general aviation safer and better for future pilots and passengers. It can offer insight into the main causes and altitudes these specific types of accidents occur at to make pilots more aware of the dangers they face in those phases and at those altitudes.

I was able to find my mentor by looking online at the research opportunities on the UARK Mechanical Engineering page and I found research that interested me and emailed my professor. The biggest challenge I have faced in conducting my research is that I am looking at a 10 year period and I have a lot of data to sort through. I use Microsoft Excel to organize a lot of my data and to help me make graphs for visual representations of the numbers I am getting. Dr. Majumdar has helped me write a grant proposal, learn new ways of obtaining data on general aviation accidents, and is currently helping me write my honors thesis.

As I mentioned, I am currently writing my honors thesis on my research from this past year. I will be presenting and defending my thesis this semester, so my main focus is taking all of the data I have organized from this past year and condensing it into the main topics I mentioned above. From there I will write my thesis and apply for my defense. After I successfully defend my thesis, I will be able to graduate from the University of Arkansas Honors College. The spring semester in 2025 will wrap up my 4 years of college and my combined total of 2 years of research at the University of Arkansas.