Guest Column: Technology and Flying

This continues a series of guest columns on how technology is reshaping hobbies and passions  – basket weaving, rugby – whatever.

This time it is Ameed Taylor, who runs Applation which develops On-Demand Supply Chain solutions and provides BI services, about his love of flying

"How It Started

I am a longtime aviation buff and advocate. My love of aviation actually started when I was a kid and dreamed of one day becoming an astronaut. Towards that end I applied to the Air Force Academy to obtain a pilot slot in the US Air Force but eventually attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL. I planned to secure a pilots slot via the Air Force ROTC and along with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, parlay that into later becoming an astronaut with NASA.

I passed the Air Force physical with flying colors - except, unfortunately for the vision portion. I was color deficient and my vision was 20/40 in my left eye. 20/20 uncorrected vision was the base requirement for a pilot slot at that time and the Air Force would not consider those who had Laser vision correction procedures.

Not wanting to become a regular Air Force officer, (non flying) I left Embry-Riddle and finished an Accounting degree at another university.

Aviation Technology

Aviation as a hobby/industry is full of technology and has had a number of technological advances over the past 20 years. The biggest advance for all aviation (General , Commercial and Military) have been with avionics. Avionics are the instruments that give a pilot an aircrafts heading, speed, altitude, fuel levels, engine performance etc. Most general aviation (and a few commercial and military aircraft) aircraft are still outfitted with traditional mechanical gyroscopic flight instruments. Almost all new aircraft being manufactured today have electronic avionic displays. The displays present flight instrumentation, navigation, weather, terrain, traffic and engine data on large-format, high-resolution displays. These displays cut down on the large numbers of instruments that were standard in most aircraft cockpits until recent and allow pilots to better control their aircraft and be more aware of their environment.

The other technology that has advanced is flight simulation. When I advance to Multi-Engine Flight training later this year I will spend quite a few hours in a flight training device prior to and in addition to actual flight time in the Diamond Star DA42 aircraft. Flight training devices are used to give pilots an overview of an aircrafts exact instrumentation, flight procedures, checklists, maneuvers and how to handle emergencies. Modern simulators have exact replicas of flight controls & avionics and the graphics in flight training devices are much better than what one might be used to in video games.

Aviation has also benefited greatly from the use of composite materials over the past 20 years. In the past most airframes were constructed mainly of aluminum. Composite materials such as graphite, fiberglass and Kevlar offer major weight savings, additional strength, less maintenance and fewer corrosion issues compared to aluminum. Most new aircraft are now built with some composite materials and a few general aviation aircraft are wholly composed of composites..

The Future

The advances in aviation technology over the past 25 years will pale in comparison with some of the new technology over the horizon.

The Aviation industry is in the midst of making a major transition from piston powered aircraft to turbine (jet) powered aircraft. Modern turbine engines are very fuel efficient, quiet and economical when compared to piston powered aircraft. Long used in Commercial and Military aviation; turbine powered aircraft are now becoming much more common in new general aviation aircraft like the Cessna Mustang and Eclipse Jet.

The nascent air taxi industry will also become more prevalent in the future. As the big airlines either abandon or go bankrupt trying to service short hop regional routes with their inefficient hub and spoke system of scheduling; air taxis will make it very efficient and cheap to fly under-served markets like Las Angeles to Palm Springs or Chicago to Milwaukee. Also most Air Taxi operators run out of smaller general aviation airports thus avoiding the hassles associated with flying into major airports. All of the first wave of Air Taxi operators use small Light Turbine aircraft called Very Light Jets or VLJ’s.

Finally, the FAA has proposed an upgrade to Air Traffic Control (ATC) called Free Flight. Free flight eliminates the need for ATC operators by giving the pilots full flight control. Under free flight pilots will be able to change trajectory using advanced avionic technology during a flight. Although this advance might still be about 20 years out, it will decrease Air Traffic delays and in general make aviation more efficient and safe.

I plan to be involved in many of these advances as I continue both my aviation hobby and at a future point start up a new business that will create advanced propulsion systems for aviation and aerospace uses.

I guess I will always be an Aeronautical Engineer at heart :)"

Comments

[Josefa Barahona]

I liked this documentary; it served me a lot for my career class, I love aviation, and I attended the summer camp of the Embry Riddle University in Daytona Fl.