Module 1: Technology through History (Airplanes)

Summary
In this part I'm going to discuss about Airplanes and how did the Airplanes was found or invented and also why which is the history of the technology. I will also discussing about the historical impact of the technology in the past and how it changed the lifestyle of the people in that period of time. There will be also social and cultural trend of the technology which I’m going to talking about. In the end I’m going to bring up the future path of technology and how it’s going to help the people in future.

Introduction

This picture i took from MOTAT.

This picture i took from MOTAT.

There many types of aircraft that being produce over the years, such as planes for agriculture, aircraft for in military for defense, cargo carrier for transportation, and the most important is the commercial Airplanes which transports people and cargo’s to one destination to another. Airplane are very popular nowadays because it saves plenty of time by travel in it , like those days people use to travel by ship to travel from and to the destination that they wanted, which takes them about four to five days or more depends on the destination. In this era we can travel where ever and whenever we want to with Airplanes within hours. This is also convenience for those who want to study abroad or explore the other land lifestyle.

History 

The history of flight can be traced back as early as 400 B.C. Archytas, a Greek scholar, built a wooden pigeon that moved through the air. Before that, about 300 B.C. , the chinese developed kites, which acted the same as a glider. This allowed humans to be flown inside of the kites. 

Figure 1: A look at the history of flight. (source: learning-to-fly.com 2012)

The another famous Greek mathematician, Archimedes, discovered the principle of buoyancy in about 200 B.C. He discovered how and why some objects float in liquids. This fact helped in the progress of true flight. When the great libraries in Alexandria, Egypt were destroyed in 500 A.D. the discoveries of Archimedes and many others were lost for a thousand years. 2000 years later men used Archimedes' principle to help them with the hot air ballon. 

Figure 2: How hot air balloons work. (source: science.howstuffworks.com 2012)

Then in 1783 Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier invented hot air balloon which manage to transport people.  At first they tried with animal in the compartment of the hot air balloon which lifted up to 6 thousand feet and manage to travel 1 mile. Then they tried with humans who were Jean Francois and Francois Laurent. (about.com, 2011). 

Glider Flight 

Then in 1799 the first Airplane was invented and it was called the gliders. It was non motorized glider so it was really hard to control, it has to be push from a cliff for it to fly with the force of the wind and then land on the ground. This glider was created by a guy named Sir George cayel which actually can fly but can’t fit in passenger or pilot because it was to small. By the time goes he made one which brought his coachmen crossing a small valley and this was not launched from the cliff.

Powered Flight

Figure 3: The history of flight-Powered flight. (source: learning-to-fly.com)

By the time goes the Airplanes was improved better because of the effort from the creators from past who work hard on flying like bird and whereby it will convenience for the others to travel to. In 1903 Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright who was the master piece of building and creating breakthrough in Aviation history, These both brothers design their own wind tunnel for them to test experiments on the best wing shape for their flights which was in 1901-1902. And in 1903 the Wright brothers was the first people to fly a plane with people in it. That plane only flew for about 120 feet and the time of flying was about 12 seconds. But they had three attempt on that day. Their best attempt was flying as far as 892 feet and this fly when to almost 1 minutes, and this plane was flew back Wilbur Wright. Then in that same year the Wright brothers made their first powered plane by the name of “Flyer”. After years of hard work the Wright brothers came out with a plane that could fly with powered engine for more than one hour and a half and also with wing controls and can be turned left and right. (Oracle Thinkquest, 2001) 

Widebodies and Supersonics

1969 marked the debut of another revolutionary aircraft, the Boeing 747, which Pan Am was the first to purchase and fly in commercial service. It was the first widebody jet, with two aisles, a distinctive upper deck over the front section of the fuselage, and four engines under its wings. With seating for as many as 450 passengers, it was twice as big as any other Boeing jet and 80% bigger than the largest jet built up until that time, the DC-8.

Recognizing the economies of scale to be gained from larger jets, other aircraft manufacturers quickly followed suit. Douglas built its first widebody, the DC-10, in 1970, and only a month later, Lockheed flew its contender in the widebody market, the L- 1011. Both of these jets had three engines (one under each wing and one on the tail) and were smaller than the 747, seating about 250 passengers.

Figure 4: Widebody and Supersonics. (source: learning-to-fly.com)

During the same period of time, efforts were underway in both the United States and Europe to build a supersonic commercial aircraft. The Soviet Union was the first to succeed, testing the Tupolev 144 in December of 1968. A consortium of West European aircraft manufacturers first flew the Concorde two months later and eventually produced a number of those fast, but small, jets for commercial service. U.S. efforts to produce a supersonic passenger jet, on the other hand, foundered in 1971 due to public concern about the sonic boom produced by such aircraft. U.S. airlines have never operated a supersonic aircraft.

Trends and impact on technology

After airlines started there were more job opportunities came around the world for those people who are good at their own specialization.

Figure 5: Changi Airport (source: paradiseintheworld.com)

The airport, operated by the Changi Airport Group, is the home base of Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines Cargo, SilkAir, Scoot, Tiger Airways, Jetstar Asia Airways, Valuair, and Jett8 Airlines. As of March 2012, Changi Airport serves more than 100 airlines operating 6,100 weekly flights connecting Singapore to over 220 cities in about 60 countries and territories worldwide. The airport is a secondary hub for Qantas, which uses Singapore as the main stopover point for flights on the Kangaroo Route between Australia and Europe. Qantas is the largest foreign airlines to operate from the airport, with over two million passengers annually. An important contributor to the Economy of Singapore, more than 28,000 people are employed at the airport, which accounts for over S$4.5 billion in output. 

Fidure 6: Jetstar airways (source babelakevietnam.com)

Figure 7: Tiger airways (source airplane-pictures.net)

The airline manufacturers also have improved their flights in order for them to attract more costumers. This urge the airline manufacturer to design and develop different kinds and models of plane to satisfy the costumer’s needs and attracted, this is also a part of business strategic for the airline manufacturers. The establishments of more airline companies due to the increase of travelling and the demand from consumers, some airline companies made even better offers like Budget airlines such as Tiger Airways and Jetstar.

Impacts

The influence on transport market and the influence on economy for the commercial airlines carriers because the low cost carriers have brought forward to a firm completion on the Aviation market. The low cost commercial carriers led to a big scale of extension in number and in the density of civil airports.

There are positive and also negative impacts on social and cultural. The commercial aviation made the Politic tie between all countries easy. Then another impact like trading between countries became easier, those day they have to use by ship and takes longer time but with commercial airline the trading became faster and easier, so global economy gets better then the past. Import of foreign labor in particular country because this will cost less congestion in other countries which are over populated.

Impact on the social of native is protected by rural development because of the aviation excess and this makes them to be more close to the government in term of good relation. The negative impacts are those labourer from the foreign countries may course violence in that particular country that their working, this effects the social life style of certain community. The exposure from the aviation might be able to course the rural area’s native and affects their status and also may lead to lost of heritage of theirs.

Aviation also has air pollution, sound pollution and land pollution. The sound the Airplane disturbs the community that stays around the area with high decibel of frequency which the airplane engine creates and also can damage the hearing of young children. The land pollution happen when the extension of the Airport for the airplanes when the demand is high this cause trouble for those native or the others staying around the area and also deforestation for developments will contribute to hot weather and air pollutions to. 

Airplanes have probably had more effect on the lives of people in the world, with the exception of computers, than any other invention in modern times. Air superiority in war is one of the major factors in deciding the outcome, distances to foreign countries have been shortened to the point that people with average incomes can travel abroad instead of the very rich who used to commute by large ships. this has created a broader understanding of other cultures but has also created problems with some countries would not have any kind of a tourist base without air travel, thus not allowing them to improve their economy. 

Future trends 

Figure 7: NASA Goal's for 2030 aircraft. (source: nasa.gov)

NASA's goals for a 2030-era aircraft, compared with an aircraft entering service today, are:

i) A 71-decibel reduction below current Federal Aviation Administration noise standards, which aim to contain objectionable noise within airport boundaries.

ii) A greater than 75 percent reduction on the International Civil Aviation Organization's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection Sixth Meeting, or CAEP/6, standard for nitrogen oxide emissions, which aims to improve air quality around airports.

iii) A greater than 70 percent reduction in fuel burn performance, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of air travel.

iv) The ability to exploit metroplex concepts that enable optimal use of runways at multiple airports within metropolitan areas, as a means of reducing air traffic congestion and delays.

REFERENCE LIST

About.com(2011) Early history of flights. Retrieved from: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blearlyflight.htm

About .com(2011) The flight of the first hot air balloon. Retrieved from: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blearlyflight.htm

Oracle ThinkQuest(2001) History of Airplanes. Retrieved from: http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112389/airplanes.htm

           Dr.Sherry, L (2009) Aviation: History Of Commercial Aviation. Retrieved from Center of         

           Transportation Systems Research:

            http://catsr.ite.gmu.edu/SYST460/Safety%20Workbook.pdf

           Howstuffworks(1998-2011) Boeing 707. Retrieved from:                             

               http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/classic/boeing-707.htm

Uherek, E (2006). Low cost carriers in Europe. Quantifying Transport System. Retrieved from: http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/Information_2/Low_cost_airlines_-_impacts_61j.html