Increase in Flights - Essay Example

? Increase in Flights Roll No: Increase in Flights Introduction With the building of passenger planes, there is a rapid increase in flights. Combining the different laws of nature, man founded that he can achieve lift in air by producing a thrust more than the weight of the body (Tolley and Turton, 1995). Douglas DS-2 was the first passenger plane and could carry fourteen people. It was built in 1932. In 1935, Douglas DS-3 was made for world war two and it was the first passenger airplane, which flew to earn profit without any governmental financial backing. DS-3 flew with 21 to 32 passengers (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). By the time, DS-4 and DS-6 revolutionized the passenger flights and the power associated with them. Boeing and Airbus are two major companies that are providing the world with the passenger airplanes (Armstrong, 1993). The biggest passenger aeroplane is Airbus A-380. It is a double deck plane and made its first flight on 27 April 2005. The seating capacity for this plane is almost 853 for economy class or 525 people in a three-class arrangement. The airbus A-380 can reach the speed of almost 900km/hour or 0.85 mach (Cullingworth, 1997). History Fight history is full of experimentations and theories. The initialization in the field of flying is initiated by the Chinese. Chinese discovered kites round 400BC and people at that time thought that someday man could be able to fly in the air using kites or some other mechanism (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). After that people, experimented big kites to fly in air but in vain. Chinese used these kites for fun and in their religious ceremonies. These kites are also used in weather testing. In 1480, Leonardo da Vinci proposed many theories about the flight and drew about 100 drawing to support his theories but his flight mechanism never came into reality (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). In the year of 1783, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier developed the first hot air balloon. The invention of hot air balloon opened new ways to develop an aircraft. About two centuries ago in 1804 a model of a real time glider is proposed by George Cayley (Armstrong, 1993). The model glider has fixed wings and a movable tail. This concept revolutionized the flight history. In 1853, George Cayley’s invented a glider, which was able to carry man. He named the glider ‘New Flyer’ and it took his footmen across Brompton Dale. In 1874, a piloted aeroplane was made by Felix du Temple, which ran down a ramp (Barrass and Madhavan, 1996). He named it ‘Hop’ and it is unable to take off using its own power. Clement Ader in 1890 created the first piloted aeroplane that is able to take off by using its own power. The name of this aeroplane is Eole. In 1893, first controlled flight was made by Otto Lilienthal (Cullingworth, 1997). He made a true controlled flight and glided up to 230 meters. Wright brothers made a sustained controlled flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk (Barrass and Madhavan, 1996). Wright brothers made a remarkable contribution in the flight history. Douglas airplanes contributed much in the history of the aeroplanes but when Boeing entered in the market of passenger planes, it made a remarkable contribution in passenger and cargo aeroplanes (Armstrong, 1993). In 1947, Boeing came with new design in aircrafts and presented their first plane and names it Boeing 377 Strato Cruiser. It has four piston driven engines (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). Modern flights are much more advanced and are able to carry hundreds of passengers and tons of cargo with them (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). Today airplanes have advanced turbo jet engines. Reasons for Increase in Flights Flight is the fastest mean of transport today. The speed of a plane depends on its engine. Today aircraft engines are such made that they can be able to carry tons of loads and maintain a high velocity. The property of an airplane that it can cover large distance in a little span of time makes it a major reason in the increase in flights (Tolley and Turton, 1995). It can save you much time as compared to the other means of transport. Results show that there is a rapid increase in the passengers, which are willing to travel by aeroplanes year by year. Sometimes it is only a single mean of transport. Secondly, the development in the world’s economic conditions given a certain rise in the flights. Today most multinational companies send their packages and letters by using the means of air (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). The main motive of using flight as the medium of transportation of packages and letters is that to ensure packages and letters are delivered safely and through the fastest means (Banister, 2005). Today cargo airplanes are the fastest mean to deliver a package from one end of the world to the other. Many students from one country travel to other countries for their studied and to get better jobs in the other countries (Armstrong, 1993). There is increase in flights due to tourism in certain months but countries, which are rich with natural resources such as forests and rivers, are a major reason in increasing the flights due to tourism. In European countries, America and some other countries the air tickets are not of much cost and most of the people can afford the cost of a ticket (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). Advantages As we know time is a precious commodity and nothing in the world is as precious as time. The advantages of travelling through airplanes over other conventional transports are more than its disadvantages. The main advantage of airplane over other means of transport is that the airplane has a much higher. Other means of transport such as bicycles, motorbikes, cars, trucks, busses and trains have the highest speed of less than 150km/hour in a conventional system (specially built motorbikes and cars are not included) but the speed of a civil aviation ranges from 400km/hour to 1000km/h and more (Tolley and Turton, 1995). Secondly, airplanes are the safest mean of transport. Airplanes have very low risk of accidents in a regular manner. Results show that air crash accidents are few as compared to other mean of transport (Hoyle and Knowles, 1998). Disadvantages If we consider the disadvantages of airplanes then we will not forget that an airplane consumes large amount of fuel. The fuel is burnt by the engines of the airplane and results in producing a large amount of energy (Barrass and Madhavan, 1996). An airplane engine converts fuel energy into mechanical energy, which is further used to run the turbines. The flight is highly dependent on the weather. Bad weather is not a good sign for the flight. It is not suitable to fly an airplane in rain or storm, as it increases the risk of air crash accident (Cullingworth, 1997). Air crash is due to several other reasons such as mechanical fault, disconnection of the radio transmission with the air traffic controller and fuel starvation (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). Air crash accidents are few but they are much severe as compared to other means of transport. Some air crash accidents are so severe that it is a fortune of someone to escape from such accidents. Airports in the world consume large areas. The runways are in large areas Sustainability Flights contribute in carbon emissions. In order to reduce these carbon footprints a sustainable method must be utilized. There are several methods to reduce the carbon footprints and to reduce the cost of fuel consumption (Barrass and Madhavan, 1996). As the fuel prices are raising day by day, the cost of flights are also increasing each year. Solar aircrafts are much in the discussions these days. Solar aircrafts convert solar energy into electrical energy, which is then converted into mechanical energy (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). This mechanical energy is converted from the electrical energy through an electric motor. The electric motor converts electrical energy into a rotational motion. The speed of rotational motion depends on the type of motor and the power consumed by the motor (Cullingworth, 1997). The electric power generated by the solar panels mounted on the wings of the aircraft (and sometimes on the tail too) can be stored in battery packs to use the power when there is no sun (Banister, 2005). Single person aircrafts are built using this sustainable source of energy. Nevertheless, for a passenger aircraft it is not tried yet. A lot of work can be done in the field of solar powered aircrafts especially in passenger airplanes (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). This method is highly efficient and has no disadvantages. A light airplane is suitable to use this technique. Airplanes can be made lighter by using lighter metals and their alloys. Carbon fibres can be utilized instead of heavy metals as they are lighter but have almost same strength as that of metals (Barrass and Madhavan, 1996). Another sustainable technique that can be employed in airplanes is the use of hydrogen fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel cell utilizes compressed hydrogen as its fuel. The working of a hydrogen fuel cell is a simple process but it is highly effective. Hydrogen fuel cell works on the principles of ionization and electricity associated to it. In a hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen reacts with atmospheric oxygen in a cell or in a specific chamber to generate electricity (Bruun et al, 2010). In the cell, a number of platinum plates are employed. Hydrogen in the compressed cylinder reacts with platinum plates and dissociate in ions giving electrons (Banister, 2005). These electrons are captured and stored in battery packs or used directly. The direct current (DC) motor is utilized to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. Boeing has developed such an airplane and has seen a great potential in the renewable source of energy. Boeing named it Boeing Phantom Works EC-003 (Bruun et al, 2010). Compressed Hydrogen is required to fuel the hydrogen fuel cell aircraft. There are several methods to obtain hydrogen. These methods include extraction of hydrogen from water through the process of electrolysis of water. This method is simple and use direct current (DC) to dissociate water molecules. The basic two components of water are hydrogen and oxygen (Banister, 2005). Hydrogen is collected over water to avoid leakage. Another method to produce hydrogen is to collect it during the process of chlorination (Bruun et al, 2010). Hydrogen is a by-product in this process. The formation of chlorine is a typical process and involves many steps. Other methods in producing hydrogen are expensive and only utilized in laboratories. One of these methods includes reaction of concentrated acid with metals. Conclusion As the theme of this assignment is to establish a background to enhance the knowledge about flights, why there is an increase in flights and how to deal with the flights in a sustainable world. In my view, flights are the fastest means of transportation that can save much of our time but we must try to resolve the sustainability issues. As the prices of fuel are rising, we must try to find a sustainable solution. Hydrogen fuel cell and solar photovoltaic powered aeroplanes must be encouraged to resolve the sustainability issues. There is a great potential in hydrogen fuel cell powered aeroplanes. Several smaller airplanes may be employed to provide with cargo and passenger services. These airplanes must use sustainable sources to overcome fuel. References Armstrong Wright, A (1993), Public Transport in Third World Cities/HMSO, London. Banister, D (2005), Unsustainable Transport: City transport in the new century.  Routledge, London. Barrass, R & Madhavan, S (1996), European Economic Integration & sustainable  Development: Institutions, Issues and Policies, McGraw Hill, New York. Bruun, E.C., Kenworthy, J.R. and Schiller, P.L (2010), An Introduction to Sustainable  Transportation: Policy, Planning and Implementation, Earthscan, New York.  Cullingworth, B (1997), Planning in the USA: policies, issues and processes,  Routledge, London. Hoyle, B and Knowles, R (1998), Modern Transport Geography. Edition, "2nd rev. ed.,  Published Wiley, US.  Newman, P. and Kenworthy, J (1999), Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming  Automobile Dependence, US.  Tolley, R and Turton, B (1995), Transport systems, Policy and Planning: A  geographical approach, Longman, New York. Read More