WINGS Questions #6

Assignment #6 Wings

Chapters 15 and Conclusion

There are two questions this week. You must answer both and each answer must be at least 150 words.

1. In your opinion, what was the most significant impact aviation had on our world in the first one hundred years of flight?

I believe aviation’s most significant impact on our world today is globalization. When the jet airliner was first rolled out, it suddenly allowed any person with some spare change to spend access to even the most remote corners of the earth. Any region that had a landing strip and an airport was now a potential travel destination. As a result, tourism saw a huge boom. Travellers could seek out places they had only dreamed of seeing with their own eyes - for a relatively low price and in no time at all! Businesses expanded across continents with international business travel. Nowadays a global business model is a standard feature of every Fortune 500 Company. With the speed and convenience of the airplane, we as a human race have made our world smaller, and with that we have begun to eliminate borders to create a linked global community. Of course, with aviation’s impact on war as well, we are still a long ways away from perfect harmony as a human race, but the plane has made it possible to embrace new cultures and individually experience what our great planet has to offer.

2.   What do you think the future holds for aviation in the twenty first century?

The costs of innovation have hindered the growth of the aeronautical industry since the crest of the Cold War. We have sat by, content with our Boeing 747s, historical moon missions, satellites and B-52s. Eventually a combination of two distinct pressures will revolutionize flying machines again. The first is our environment and resources. As overpopulation continues to threaten the globe, humankind will have to get creative in order to sustain itself. We will need to seek new worlds to mine for resources and possibly relocate at some point. This may not be in the twenty-first century, but it is highly likely that we will at least have to create new aeronautical devices to enhance the atmosphere from the crippling results of climate change and the Greenhouse effect. The second pressure is the digital revolution, which in fifty years time will likely have produced hyper-intelligent AI, personalized biotechnical devices and the increased possibility of plausible space travel. I believe that before the 21^st Century is over, the massive space cruisers of Star Wars won’t be so fictional anymore. We will send astronauts to the far reaches of our solar system and hopefully begin cracking the issue of Light speed travel. Since the silicon chip was invented in the mid 20^th century, technology and innovation have leapt forward at a rate unseen in human history. I only expect that progress to surge exponentially.

Frank Speranza Wings #6

1. In your opinion, what was the most significant impact aviation had on our world in the first one hundred years of flight?

I think that the most significant impact that aviation had on the world was the accessibility offered by air travel. The world became much smaller with the invention of airplanes. What was once a very dangerous and long voyage across the ocean is now able to be safely flown in relative comfort in just a few short hours. The amount of people that are moved around the globe on a daily basis is amazing. Very remote location in the world are easily accessed by airplane. This not only influences our daily life but it has changed the way that war is waged and the way that countries can defend themselves. Nations can mobilize their armies in just a few hours with the use of an air force. The world is now interconnected in way that was not possible one hundred years ago. Trade and commerce around the world is now possible. I can order a product of a country on the other side of the world and receive it at my door in just a few days. This would have taken months if not years before the invention of airplane.

2. What do you think the future holds for aviation in the twenty first century?

I think that the future of aviation will be improvements in speed and interplanetary travel. Being able to travel at supersonic speeds in an airliner would be very favorable to companies because they could have that many more flights with fewer total planes in their fleets. The Concorde was ahead of its time I think and I also propose that supersonic air travel will resume soon. I also think that improvements in rocketry and reusable spaceships will lead to easier space travel. Whether this is used solely for scientific research or eventually commercial use, I think that there will be manned flights to nearby planets and moons. If we reached the moon with analog technology and very basic computers almost fifty years ago, there is so much more that we could do with the technology that we have today. 

Wings #6 - Rachael Kneice

1.  In your opinion, what was the most significant impact aviation had on our world in the first one hundred years of flight?

Aviation has made a lot of impact on our world. Since its “official” start with the Wright brothers, it has undergone many changes. I think that the most significant impact is in allowing people from other countries to travel across the world. This allowed for the people of the world as a whole to recognize each other as a people group. It built cultural bridges across the world. Whereas it would be a long boat ride of many days for one to travel from the Americas to Europe, commercial flight allowed for people to travel that distance in under a day. Worldwide travel was now a real possibility and all of the different languages and cultures of people could come together and have a better understanding of each other. It has allowed for missionaries to travel easier to spread the views of their faith, as well as politicians and ambassadors to visit different countries to attempt to bring about diplomatic relations with each other.

2.   What do you think the future holds for aviation in the twenty-first century?

The future of flight and aviation is bright. Mankind made such a great leap during the first one hundred years of flight; it can only keep escalating throughout the next one hundred years. There is still quite a bit of research being done on how to make planes be lighter in weight and have increased speeds. Other types of research is more specialized, such as bringing about better navigational and weapons systems in fighter planes and using cloaking devices. While I see a lot of future in aviation for warfare, I hope that there will be a future in domestic flights as well. Over the past few years, many commercial flights have been lost or crashed due to faulty systems and security. I hope that precautions can be made in the future to prevent those occurrences from happening and that people can fly safely from one to place to another throughout the world, without fear of not making it to their destination.

Wings #6

1.  I think that the most significant impact of aviation was the way that it made the world smaller.  I think this is the most important because the ever-expanding range of aviation has touched every aspect of human life.  In the earliest years it allowed us to reach the skies.  As technology continued to improve it allowed the horrors of war to travel further and faster than every before, consuming the world in two total wars and changing the face of warfare to a global one and not a local one.  Slowly but surely we explored all the far reaches of the Earth--so much so that tribes of people that have never been reached by the modern world have seen airplanes.  Aviation allowed us to do everything faster and threw the world into the hectic pace it travels today.  Technology invented for military aviation led to the invention of technology like the internet and GPS systems.  Aviation not only made the world smaller, it also made the universe smaller.  With the power of flight man has done the unthinkable and left our planet.  Aviation led to the satellites that mapped the remaining hidden portions of Earth and orbiting telescopes that have mapped the farthest reaches of space.  We have even sent probes out of our solar system!  Aviation has allowed us to shrink the world and the universe down to a human scale.

2.  It is hard to predict the future of aviation without sounding like a science-fiction writer from the 1930s--flying cars! jet packs! vacations in space!!!  Aviation, like a lot of technology now is facing a bit of a lull as we approach the peak of current technology and are waiting for the next big discovery.  Quantum computing seems to be just around the corner and will lead to major breakthroughs in the amount of computing power.  This could result in airplanes that could redirect on the fly, account for subtle changes in air currents and pressure, and generally make aircraft safer and more comfortable.  The aviation industry will also have to change dramatically over the next few decades.  Outdated airplanes will need to be replaced for safety and comfort reasons.  If the airline business does not evolve they will find that society has left them behind.  I do not think that super-sonic flight will be pursued for commercial aviation because it is too costly in terms of fuel, and recent research shows that high altitude flight may damage the atmosphere more than previously thought.  It is also likely that the airline industry along with everyone else will have to figure out an alternate fuel source in order to bring down carbon emissions in the near future.  I'm hoping the future of aviation has a focus on space exploration.  I'm a bit of a Star Trek geek and seeing commercial space travel become a reality would be a dream come true!  Overall in the next hundred years I don't think flight will evolve as quickly as it did during its first hundred, but it will definitely continue to grow and change...and who knows?  Maybe in the next 100 or 200 years we really will be vacationing on Mars!

Wings #6

1. In your opinion, what was the most significant impact aviation had on our world in the first one hundred years of flight?

​There were many impacts that aviation had on the world in the first one hundred years of flight. I think that the most significant impact that flight had on aviation was giving people access to other parts of the world as well as allowing people to realize the vastness of the world. Before flight it took people much longer to travel and there were constraints,  such as not being able to afford a long boat ride to another country or not being able to take such a long time to travel. However, with the invention of aviation people were able to travel faster to the places that they wanted to go. I also think this allowed for better communication between people in the world since the airplane allowed mail to be flown places, getting it there faster, and allowing for more communication. Overall, I think that the most significant impact of aviation because it allowed people to have increased access to world travel and better communication.  

1.  What do you think the future holds for aviation in the twenty first​century? ​

​I think that the future of aviation will definitely be full of interesting and exciting things. However, as it seems that war and such is a cause for increased research in aviation as shown by the two world wars and the attack on 9/11, I think that due to the current state of the world and all the conflict there will be a push towards more faster and weapons that are able to fly further but still accurately hit a target. Aside from the side of aviation that is focused on military matters, I also think that the future of aviation will continue to soar into space and there will be increased interest in the world of outer space. However, no matter what the future of aviation holds "flight will continue to inspire, much the same sense of awe and power that it did when the airplane was new" (Crouch, 639). 

Wings #6

Wings #6

Carissa Wolfe

1. The single most important impact I believe aviation had on our world was teaching us how expansive the earth and the universe are. At first, one could easily think that being able to traverse the globe by air and reach distant planets would make our universe seem smaller, in the sense that it becomes more manageable. However, I believe quite the opposite happened in the first 100 years of aviation. History teaches us that society was split initially when it came to flight. Some thought it would mean an absence of God, others thought it would bring war, and still others thought it would bring peace. In the end, aviation brought both war and peace, but it could not bring an absence of God. In fact, as aviation flourishes we begin to realize how much further we have to go, and that no matter how far we do go we can never reach the edges of our universe. Aviation has opened our eyes to other cultures and ways of life. It has aided in the transport of goods and people. It has united countries and served in their conflicts. Aviation alone is neither good nor evil; it is only a grand means to accomplish whatever lies in the heart of man. It is simple to go through life unaware of anyone or anything outside where a car could take you. This kind of life is less complicated, less messy, and less frightening. On the other hand, that life is less diverse, less interesting, and less beautiful. Aviation has prevented us from living in the simplicity of ignorance and opened our eyes to the infinite wonder of creation.

2. The future of 21^st century aviation holds bigger and more terrible things than what I dare to imagine. I do not doubt that there will be many beneficial discoveries and exploration into the expanses of space, but I don’t think that those advancements will be predominant. The terrorist attacks of 2001 serve as a warning to inevitable global conflict. It can be certain that aviation will serve as a catalyst in whatever is to come. This seems dismal, I know, but I’m willing to bet that even though all countries were supposed to do away with nuclear weapons in the 90s, most countries still have some hidden. It is this lack of trust and pervasive threat that will eventually lead to mass destruction as tensions climax. Planes and guided missiles will become faster and more accurate. The damage mankind was capable of at the end of World War II with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are nothing compared to what we could do with today’s technology. I hope that my predictions are proven to be wrong, but based on the current issues seen around the world, we are headed in that direction.

Medical Emergency on a Plane

Man having a heart attack saved by passengers.

When searching for aviation news stories related to medical emergencies, I came across an article by Tanya Lewis from last year about a man that has a heart attack while on a plane. The story is about a tragic event that had a good outcome.

While the plane was traveling in a remote area of the world on its way from Canada to Hong Kong, a passenger experienced a heart attack and cardiac arrest. Luckily, there were passengers and crew that were trained in emergency medical care. Three passengers, a pharmacist, doctor, and policeman helped resuscitate the man with CPR, medications, and equipment available on the plane. The man survived until the plane made an emergency landing and later made a full recovery.



According to the doctor on the plane, The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration requires all flights to carry AEDS, but its not an international mandate. Apparently medical emergencies on airplanes are common, occurring in about 1 in every 600 flights. About 1,000 passengers each year experience cardiac death on a commercial flight, making it more common for a person to die of a heart problem on a flight than an airplane crash. In this man's case, the outcome was great. Even without the luck of having healthcare professionals on board, with advances in telemedicine, the future of airplane safety seems promising for improvement in emergencies such as this one.

(Hofstetter blog post #5)