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Архитектура Аудит Военная наука Иностранные языки Медицина Металлургия Метрология Образование Политология Производство Психология Стандартизация Технологии |
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Архитектура Аудит Военная наука Иностранные языки Медицина Металлургия Метрология Образование Политология Производство Психология Стандартизация Технологии |
Unit 8 Landing, Takeoff, and En Route Procedures ⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 7 из 7
Air terminal ATC involves aircraft departures and arrivals. Its procedures include issuing instrument flight rules route clearances and communicating departure runways, taxi instructions, and definition of climb and altitude routes. These operations assure passengers of safe, speedy air traffic patterns. A departing aircraft enters the taxiway as instructed by the ground controller and the pilot waits being fitted into the pattern of incoming and outgoing flights. ATC controllers allocate available departure runways to enable safe aircraft separation. Once the aircraft climbs to its initial altitude on an ATC-instructed heading, departure control makes sure that radio contact with the departing pilot is established before allowing a new takeoff. More instructions clear the aircraft for its final climb to the en route segment of the flight and for transferring the pilot to the next control facility. Air traffic controllers relay descent instructions to incoming aircraft to keep them separated by five-mile intervals. As the aircraft approaches an airport, its speed is adjusted and its flight path altered to maintain an aircraft separation of over three miles within airport boundaries. ATC controllers determine aircraft landing sequences, stacking plans, and takeoff adjustments to handle aircraft flow. To simplify this flow, all commercial aircraft remain at their origin airport until it is confirmed that a landing site will be available at their destination airport at the planned arrival time. Travelers often become frustrated when a pilot cannot obtain a landing slot after leaving the gate at the origin airport, but the practice maximizes safety since flight delays are safer when spent on the ground than in the air. The last part of descent control transfers the aircraft to the approach controller. Data from radar surveillance determine the final landing directions. Radar monitors optimize landing, and once on a runway, the pilot and the ground controller interact to prevent aircraft movement conflicts on the field. This controller also tells the pilot how to reach the craft’s apron or parking position at the airport. En route ATC includes monitoring the routes between terminals granted to individual pilots. A flight follows a predetermined path in a defined airway corridor. Effective en route ATC instructs pilots when and how to avoid nearby aircraft. During most flights, a given ATC facility periodically transfers control of each flight within its jurisdiction to the next facility on a flight plan. For this reason, ATC gives pilots radio-frequency changes that occur as they are passed on to the next controller along their flight paths. The availability of inertial navigation units for commercial aircraft has reduced the need for this communication. In an inertial navigation unit, a computer and gyroscope are oriented to true north, while speed sensors track the aircraft’s direction and the distance to its destination. Although inertial navigational units can fly virtually automatically until the aircraft reaches an airport, en route information is provided for safety and to warn of impending delays or other dangers. As a result, all IFR aircraft are monitored continuously throughout each flight. In addition, pilots must get ATC approval before making any flight path alterations. The main rule systems governing flights are instrument flight rules (IFR) and visual flight rules (VFR). The minimum instruments needed for VFR are an airspeed indicator, an altimeter, and a magnetic direction indicator. In VFR, pilots fly using visual ground references and a “see and be seen” rule. The minimum requirements for VFR vary, but often include cloud ceilings of 1, 000 feet and visibility of three miles. IFR are used if aircraft operate above 18, 000 feet, an area known as Class A airspace. Outside this airspace, any aircraft may use VFR, although only slow-moving, low flying aircraft or small jets on short flights routinely do so. Exercises
1 You should check the pronunciation of key words. Transcribe the words: Procedures, issuing, departure, en route, surveillance, jurisdiction, ceilings, routinely, visual
2 Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions: (1) departure runways, (2) the en route segment of the flight, (3) descent instructions, (4) aircraft landing sequences, (5) to handle aircraft flow, (6) obtain a landing slot, (7) a defined airway corridor, (8) instrument flight rules, (9) visual flight rules, (10) a magnetic direction indicator
Rearrange the words to make sentences 7. сommodity/ in pilot-controller/Understanding/communications/is/the most important 8. FAA of the United States/To establish a solid basis for understanding/ set up/a pilot/controller glossary 9. goal/ to implement/The ICAO’s/is/in the twenty-first century/an English language proficiency standard/for aviation 10. also/had to/The FAA/deal with/spoken over aviation radios/the issue of letters and numbers. 11. registers/using letters and numbers/its airplanes/ or letters alone/these tail numbers establish an/Each nation/airplane’s identity/in radio communication. 12. To/the communication/facilitate/one segment of the AIM/displays/wherein /a phonetic alphabet/individual letters/are pronounced/as specific and familiar words.
4. Match the words from the texts (1-5) with their synonyms (A-E):
Complete each sentence (1-10) with one of the endings (A-J)
6. Answer the following questions. 1. What do ATC procedures include? 2. What do ATC controllers determine? 3. What are the minimum instruments needed for visual flight rules? 4. When are instrument flight rules used? 5. What does en route ATC include?
7. Translate the following sentences into English: Попробуем разобрать этапы этого полета на примере работы авиадиспетчеров. Eще на земле экипаж должен получить разрешение на этот полет от диспетчера аэродромного диспетчерского пункта.
Unit 9. Boarding procedures Boarding procedures are airline procedures that process passengers and allow them onto the correct aircraft for their destination. Boarding procedures ensure that only ticketed passengers board the correct aircraft for their destination. Boarding procedures ensure on time departures by taking place within a scheduled time period. Boarding planning first considers the kind of flight that is being processed. Flight departures can be of two types: one in which an aircraft is coming from another location and proceeding on to its destination or one in which the departure is the flight’s origination point. Operations departments determine whether the flight is on schedule, what gate will be assigned for the departure, and the expected number of passengers. Passengers are of three types: first, local passengers are those beginning their trip; second, connecting passengers are those arriving on other aircraft to continue their trip on the departing flight; and third, continuing passengers are those arriving and continuing onto the flight’s destinations. If the flight is oversold, or overbooked, oversale procedures are initiated. Keeping in mind that a departure may involve an arriving aircraft, gate agents report to the assigned gate typically thirty minutes before an aircraft’s arrival or one hour before its departure. They prepare and post signs that indicate departure information such as the flight number, the destination, and the scheduled or adjusted departure time, if necessary. When passenger counts are low, all of the boarding procedures can be performed by one person. When twenty five or more passengers are expected, it is customary to have two gate agents. Three to four gate agents are needed for flights of larger aircraft in which two to three hundred passengers are expected. Boarding responsibilities are divided into two functions, known by a variety of titles. The boarding agent, or coordinator, is responsible for all announcements, for the actual taking of tickets and boarding passes from passengers, and for all communication with the crew. The gate, or control, agent is responsible for checking passengers in if needed, for producing all needed reports, and for making the entries that calculate and finalize how many passengers are on board. Within the hour before departure, passengers begin to arrive at the gate. Some need to be checked in and given their seat assignments. Most already have been checked in at a ticket counter or in their originating location if they are on a connecting flight. Different aircraft have different boarding requirements and time frames that take into account the aircraft’s size and the number of passengers. A full medium-sized aircraft may take as much time as a half-full large aircraft. Boarding may begin as much as one hour or as little as fifteen minutes before departure. Boarding begins with a consultation and agreement with the flight crew that all is in order on board the aircraft. Boarding is managed and coordinated by announcements usually made through a public-address system. The first announcements identify the airline, the flight number, the destination, the departure time, and also include certain reminders regarding the size and the number of carryon items allowed. Recognizing that certain passengers have special needs and that certain passengers enjoy the privileges of being preferred customers, the second announcement is called the preboarding announcement. Row numbers, normally in sets of five, are called to board, starting with the back rows and progressing toward the front. Boarding from the rear rows to the front eliminates congestion on board the aircraft and allows passengers to proceed without interruption to their assigned seats. After preboarding and while general boarding is conducted, other steps leading to final passenger and departure documentation take place. Almost every airline makes what is called a cutoff announcement twenty minutes prior to departure. Computer entries are then made releasing the advance seat assignments of passengers who have not already checked in. Other entries are then made to assign seats to standby passengers. Standby passengers are of two kinds, revenue and space available. Exercises 1. You should check the pronunciation of key words. Transcribe the words: Boarding, passenger, destination, schedule, departure, origination, determine, assign, arrive, initiate, adjust, customary, crew, finalize, revenue 2. Match the words from the texts (1-10) with the definitions (A-J):
3. Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions: (1), an established way of getting into an airplane, (2) a person who is traveling having a piece of paper that allows him to travel, (3) a list of an appointed moment for something to happen, begin, or end, (4) a traveler, whose flight begins with an airplane departure, (5) a traveler, who become joined to somebody else, (6) to allow too many people to buy tickets or to reserve seats, (7) a business representative in an area for departure, (8) a business representative in board of an airplane, (9) an apparatus including a microphone and loudspeakers used for broadcasting, (10) a customer, that gets priority, (11) concentration in a narrow space, (12) a notification about completed boarding, (13) records on setting out on a course, (14) to give seats, (15) travelers, who are held in reserve. 4. Complete the text with the words from the box
Boarding procedures are (1) procedures that process passengers and allow them onto the correct aircraft for their destination. Boarding procedures ensure that only (2) passengers board the correct aircraft for their (3). Boarding procedures ensure on time departures by taking place within a scheduled time period. Operations departments determine whether the flight is on schedule, what (4) will be assigned for the departure, and the expected number of (5). Passengers are of three types: first, local passengers are those beginning their trip; second, (6) passengers are those arriving on other aircraft to continue their trip on the (7) flight; and third, (8) passengers are those arriving and continuing onto the flight’s destinations. If the flight is oversold, or overbooked, (9) procedures are initiated. 5. Answer the following questions. Begin your answers with such introductory phrases as: as far as I know; as far as I remember; to my mind; certainly; it's hard to tell; probably; of course; if I am not mistaken etc. 1) What are boarding procedures intended for? 2) What types of flight departures do you know? 3) What types of passengers do you know? 4) What are duties of gate agents? 5) What happens within the hour before aircraft departure? 6) Why does boarding happen from the rear rows to the front? 7) What happens after preboarding and while general boarding is conducted? 6. Translate the following sentences into English: 1. Посадка пассажиров обеспечивает точное время вылета, поскольку происходит в запланированное время. 2. Службы организации движения определяют, происходит ли полёт по расписанию, какой выход на посадку предназначен для вылета, а также ожидаемое количество пассажиров. 3. Пассажиры бывают трёх видов: во-первых, местные пассажиры – те, кто начинают поездку; во-вторых, пассажиры стыковочных рейсов – те, которые прибывают на другом самолёте, чтобы продолжить путешествие на вылетающем самолёте; и в-третьих, транзитные пассажиры - те, кто прибывают и продолжают полёт до места назначения. 4. Посадка управляется и координируется сообщениями, обычно передаваемыми системой публичного оповещения. 5. Почти каждая авиалиния делает объявление о прекращении посадки за двадцать минут до вылета. Unit 10 Air shows
MAKS 2013 MAKS 2013 Eleventh International Aviation and Space Salon held from August 27 to September 1, 2013, has become the largest event in the history of aviation salons in Zhukovsky, Moscow region. MAKS 2013 participants demonstrated a record-breaking scale of commercial operations. During the aviation salon, the industry leaders made contracts, entered into memorandums of understanding and agreements for the supply of aircraft and aviation components for a total amount exceeding $21.2 bln, which is much more than in 2011. Most deals were struck by home aircraft manufacturers for the supply of civil aircraft. In particular, bookings for MS-21 were supplemented with 82 pieces, Sukhoi Superjet-100 – for 96 machines. The aggregate value of transactions exceeded $9 bln. Besides, arrangements of United Aircraft Corporation and Russian Ministry of Defence in the maintenance of aircraft airworthiness are valued at some $3 bln. Agreements of intent to purchase 100 Bombardier Q400 NextGen airplanes were entered into by two Russian leasing companies; transactions are valued at $3.4 bln. Leasing companies also considerably increased their bookings. VEB-Leasing and Ilyushin Finance Co. (IFC) signed contracts and memorandums of understanding with airlines for 32 MS-21, 6 SSJ-100 and 15 Tu-204SM airplanes (plus five airplanes as an option). Their total value exceeded $3.8 bln. IFC also signed a number of agreements for the supply of An-148 / -158, Bombardier CS300 and Bombardier Q400 NextGen airplanes. A continuous increase in the number of participants is the evidence of dynamic development of the home aviation industry and strengthening of international co-operation. “As you know, this year, a great number of companies exhibit; there are more than a thousand of them, including such global tycoons as Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Siemens and other key players. Russian aviation holdings also exhibit, which is definitely very important to us”, – underlined D.A. Medvedev in his speech. The salon of 2013 features broad global representation: 287 foreign exhibitors from 44 countries took part in the exhibition. Expositions covered the following area: indoor pavilions (net area) – 19, 385 sq.m, open area – 7, 352 sq.m, 97 chalets with a total area of 9, 300 sq.m, static stand – more than 140, 000 sq.m. Despite adverse weather conditions, Interdepartmental Supervisory Committee and Flight Directorate of Gromov Research Institute FSUE delivered a spectacular and eventful demo program of MAKS 2013. 256 aircraft including 49 foreign ones were displayed in the sky and at the static stand. Zhukovsky skyline featured 116 aircraft, including 60 airplanes and helicopters from 9 aerobatic teams. 176 aircraft were demonstrated at the static stand. Domestic novelties of the Salon included Il-76MD-90A heavy military transport aircraft, Sukhoi Superjet-100LR regional liner, Mi-171A2, Ka-62 helicopters with Turbomeca engines, Mi-28UB operational trainer. Airbus A380 world’s largest passenger airplane aroused much interest of the public. From among the events scheduled and included into the Business Program of MAKS 2013, 70 were held, including the International Aviation Congress held for the first time, scientific and technical and workshop conferences, workshops and round-table discussions (some with foreign companies as participants) as well as presentations of various projects and programs in aircraft engineering, history of aviation and social sciences. More than 4, 500 specialists took part in the Business Program. The exhibition was covered by 3.5 th. journalists from more than 900 Russian and foreign mass media. The Salon of 2013 drew both aviation professionals and amateurs. Despite unfavorable weather conditions, the total amount of visitors exceeded 350 th. people this year. During the first three days, some 70 th. specialists visited the Salon.
Exercises 1 You should check the pronunciation of key words. Transcribe the words: aviation salon, manufacturer, airworthiness, evidence, development, strengthening, exhibit, aerobatic, amateur, exhibition
2. Match the words from the texts (1-10) with the definitions (A-J):
3. Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions: (1), part, (2) total amount, (3) when an airplane is fit for flying, (4) an arrangement, contract, etc., by which people agree about what is to be done, (5) a top leader, (6) an event at which objects are put out in a public space for people to look at, (7) the apparent juncture of earth and sky, (8) difficult and exciting movements of an airplane often performed for entertainment, (9) airplane meant for training and execution of military operations, (10) aircraft, which carries travelers, (11) a planned piece of work that has a specific purpose (such as to make something new) and that usually requires a lot of time, (12) an activity in which someone shows, describes, or explains something to a group of people, (13) the act of talking about something with another person or a group of people, (14) the work of designing and creating large structures or new products or systems by using scientific methods, (15) engaged in by persons receiving financial return. 4. Complete the text with the words from the box
MAKS 2013 participants demonstrated a record-breaking scale of commercial operations. During the aviation (1), the industry leaders made contracts, entered into memorandums of understanding and agreements for the (2) of aircraft and aviation components for a total amount exceeding $21.2 bln, which is much more than in 2011. Most deals were struck by home aircraft (3) for the supply of civil aircraft. In particular, (4) for MS-21 were supplemented with 82 pieces, Sukhoi Superjet-100 – for 96 machines. The aggregate (5) of transactions exceeded $9 bln. Besides, arrangements of United Aircraft Corporation and Russian Ministry of Defence in the maintenance of aircraft (6) are valued at some $3 bln. Leasing companies also considerably increased their (7). VEB-Leasing and Ilyushin Finance Co. (IFC) signed contracts and memorandums of (8) with airlines for 32 MS-21, 6 SSJ-100 and 15 Tu-204SM airplanes (plus five airplanes as an option). Their total value exceeded $3.8 bln. IFC also signed a number of (9) for the supply of An-148 / -158, Bombardier CS300 and Bombardier Q400 NextGen airplanes. 5. Answer the following questions. Begin your answers with such introductory phrases as: as far as I know; as far as I remember; to my mind; certainly; it's hard to tell; probably; of course; if I am not mistaken etc. 1) What is “MAKS”? 2) What was remarkable in MAKS 2013? 3) What were most deals struck for and by whom? 4) What were the activities of leasing companies? 5) What included a demo program of MAKS 2013? 6) What domestic novelties were demonstrated during the Salon? 7) What scheduled events were held on MAKS? 6. Translate the following sentences into English: 1. Во время работы авиасалона ведущие предприятия заключали контракты, подписывали протоколы о намерениях и соглашения на поставку самолётов и комплектующих на общую сумму, превышающую 21.2 млрд. долларов. 2. Большинство сделок были заключены отечественными производителями на поставку гражданских самолётов. 3. Непрерывное увеличение количества участников - свидетельство динамичного развития отечественной авиационной промышленности и интенсификации международного сотрудничества. 4. Несмотря на неблагоприятные погодные условия, Межведомственный комитет по надзору и управлению полётами при Лётно-исследовательском института имени М. М. Громова представил яркую зрелищную программу МАКС 2013. 5. В рамках деловой программы МАКС 2013 было проведено 70 мероприятий, среди них – Международный авиационный конгресс, проводившийся в первый раз, научные и технические конференции, семинары и круглые столы (некоторые с участием иностранных компаний), а также – презентации различных проектов и программ в области авиастроения, истории авиации и общественных наук.
Supplementary reading
Modern fighters
MODERN FIGHTERS ARE AMONG the wonders of modern technology. These astonishing machines can typically reach speeds well in excess of Mach 2; climb around 10, 000m (30, 000ft) a minute to an operational altitude of about 16km (10 miles); execute high-speed jinks and twirls in close combat; and, of course, operate by day and night in all weathers. Reliable engines, improved design, and fly-by-wire controls have made these aircraft much safer to fly than earlier high-performance jets. Immense engine power – up to 22, 700kg (50, 000lb) total thrust – means that they have been able to grow heavier without losing out on performance. Fitted with an array of radar and infrared devices able to identify enemy aircraft at distance and warn against incoming missiles, their own missile systems are able to engage targets well beyond visual range. They are also very expensive. Economics dictate that even the most dedicated air-superiority fighters end up being used in the ground-attack role too.
The US Air Force’s perennial demand for a lightweight fighter produced, in the 1980s, the F-16. Fast, extremely manoeuvrable and relatively cheap, over 2, 500 were produced. The F-16A was limited to the daylight interceptor role and most of these aircraft have now been transferred to the Air National Guard. The F-16C has greater all-weather and attack capability and is regarded as a fighterbomber. The F-16’s many export customers, who include Belgium, Holland, and Israel, use it as an attack aircraft.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23M “Flogger” The MiG-23 was the first Soviet swing-wing aircraft, and its main purpose was to take on Phantoms and other Western attack aircraft. To do this, it carried more interception radar and so was bigger than its predecessor, the MiG-21. Fitting variable-geometry wings reduced the take-off and landing run, so the aeroplane could still use small front-line airfields in the traditional Soviet manner. MiG-23s served with the Soviet Union and its allies from 1973 until the 1990s. Engine 12, 500kg (27, 512lb) thrust Khachaturov turbojet Wingspan 14m (45ft 9in) Length 15.7m (51ft 7in) Top speed 2, 490kph (1, 546mph) (Mach 2.35) Crew 1 Armament 1 x 23mm twin-barrel cannon; 10 x air-to-air missiles
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 “Fulcrum” The US Navy’s and Marine Corps’ strike aircraft since 1981, the Hornet (NASA safety support aircraft shown) has been given the unusual dual designation “F/A”, as it can be used as both a fighter and an attack aircraft. Though slower than the F-14, its small size makes it extremely manoeuvrable. Formations of attack F/A-18s can defend themselves en-route to their target and chase enemy fighters after they have dropped their bomb load. The MiG-29, with the now familiar layout of twin tails with twin underslung engines, uses the fuselage between the engines as part of the lift area, giving it amazing manoeuvrability. Like the Su-27, it was designed to counter the newest American aircraft – F-15, F-16, and F-18. In service since 1984, the MiG demonstrated its abilities by performing “tail-slides” at air shows during the 1990s – something no Western aircraft could do. Engines 2 x 8, 300kg (18, 268lb) thrust Klimov RD-33 turbofan Wingspan 11.4m (37ft 3in) Length 17.3m (56ft 10in) Top speed 2, 450kph (1, 521mph) (Mach 2.3) Crew 1 Armament 1 x 30mm cannon; 6 x AA-10 air-to-air missiles
Tupolev Tu-154 By the mid-1990s, the Tu-154, with approximately 900 built, was the standard medium-range airliner throughout the former USSR. Designed in the mid-1960s with the ability to operate from the more rural areas of Russia, the first tri-jet 154 flew in October 1968. The improved Tu-154M appeared in 1982, with quieter and more economical engines and continued in production into the late 1990s. The type is currently being replaced by the twin-jet Tu-204.
Airbus A320-200 Aimed at the 150-seat market, the advanced A320 first flew in February 1987. With its fully computerized cockpit and fly-by-wire control system, the design set the standard by which all future airliners were judged. Based on the A320, Airbus developed a further two jets: the A319 (up to 120 passengers) and the A321 (up to 220 passengers). All three remain in production.
EARLY JET AND TURBOPROP AIRLINERS THE BASIS OF THE AIRLINE BUSINESS is not technical innovation or elegance of design, but the economic equation of passenger numbers against operating costs. Jet engine technology did not at first seem an attractive proposition to airlines because of high fuel and maintenance costs and low passenger payload. Turbojets were developed in the postwar period to provide some of the comfort and speed advantages of jets, but with more economical operating costs. The Boeing 707 was the breakthrough jet that could carry enough passengers fast enough to make it profitable on long-distance routes. Its success in the 1960s left plenty of room at the bottom for less powerful airliners that could use smaller airports or operate on shorter routes where it was important to perform economically at slower speeds. The BAC 111, one of the few commercially successful British aircraft, catered for this market, as did Douglas’s DC-9, but once again it was Boeing that tailored airliners most precisely to the needs of its customers with the 727 and 737. In the 1960s everyone in the airline business assumed that supersonic commercial jets would be the next big thing. The history of airliners seemed to show that increase in speed was a constant factor. In the 1930s the DC-3 had flown at 290kph (180mph); in the 1940s the four-engined propliners flew at upwards of 480kph (300mph); the turboprops flew at around 640kph (400mph) in the 1950s; and the Boeing 707 was carrying passengers at 960kph (600mph) in the 1960s. Why should this acceleration of commercial flight cease? It seemed a fair assumption that, given the choice, passengers would always opt for the shortest journey time, and thus the fastest aeroplane. As with turbojets, there were daunting problems to overcome, especially in the commercially crucial relationship between fuel consumption, payload, and range. But with the supersonic transport (SST) apparently the new holy grail for the aircraft industry, designers and engineers bent to the task. Supersonic showdown Three SST projects developed through the 1960s: the Anglo-French Concorde; the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144; and, in the US, the Boeing 2707. They were so costly that only government money could cover the expense – even Boeing depended almost entirely on federal funding. In many ways the SST projects were close in spirit to their contemporary, the American Apollo moon-landing programme, driven by the same technological imperatives and heightened national pride, rather than by considerations of profit or practical advantage. The Anglo-French and Soviet projects got under way more quickly, but the Americans were more ambitious, setting their sights on Mach 3 flight – around 3, 200kph (2, 000mph) – while their SHRINKING WORLD rivals settled for Mach 2. The Concorde and Tu-144 developed into such superficially similar, slender, delta-wing designs that in the West there were inevitable rumours of espionage. In fact, the number of possible solutions to the problem of designing an SST was very limited, and it is hardly surprising that two teams independently came up with a similar shape – no more surprising than that all three SSTs had a movable nose (to give better visibility on landing). Boeing pursued a radically different design, with a variable-geometry wing. It was not only intended to fly faster than its rivals, but also to carry more than twice as many passengers. The Tu-144 made its first flight in December 1968, followed by Concorde in March 1969. Meanwhile the Boeing SST was in trouble: the variable-wing concept had had to be abandoned and the projected passenger payload scaled down. Boeing 747 (“Jumbo Jet”) Wide-bodied jets The entry of the wide-bodied Boeing 747s into service in 1970 carried this process to a new level. The message of the 747’s success was that air travel was going to be mass travel. Airports had to reinforce runways and expand passenger and baggage handling facilities, initially swamped by 300 or 400 people disgorging at once from a single aircraft. In-flight caterers had to adjust to supplying their fare in previously undreamed of quantities. Hotels had to be built to cope with the rising tide of travellers. The 747 represented no great technological breakthrough, just better engines and business daring. Other wide bodies inevitably came in its wake as rival manufacturers sought to break Boeing’s increasing domination of the market. They could not challenge the giant 747 head-on, but sought out a market share among airlines for which the 747 was just too big. McDonnell Douglas came up with the DC-10, Lockheed produced the TriStar, and a new consortium of European manufacturers, Airbus Industrie, built the Airbus A300. The DC-10 and TriStar were three-engined airliners competing for the same market niche; they inevitably ran into commercial difficulties because there was not enough room for both of them. Lockheed, who came off worse in this contest, never made an airliner again. The Airbus A300, on the other hand, was a major success. With only two engines and two crew members in the cockpit, it marked a significant step forwards in economy of operation. By the 1980s Airbus Industrie had established itself as Boeing’s most vigorous competitor on the world market. From the 1970s jet flight became an experience open to everyone. As such it inevitably lost its connotations of glamour, romance, or excitement. The European consortium’s choice of the name “Airbus” for its product spoke volumes about the prosaic nature of air travel in the age of the wide-bodied jets. Most passengers on a 747 did not even have a window. Much effort was devoted to distracting passengers from the fact that they were flying at all, insulating them with in-flight entertainment and reducing them to passive consumers of duty-free goods, snacks, and drinks. One jaundiced journalist referred to modern air travel as “the most constrained form of mass transport since the slave ships”.
FLYING CAR Molt Taylor’s Aerocar, marketed in the 1950s, was one of the most ambitious efforts to create an aircraft for people to keep in their garage. It is shown here in both flight and automobile mode – the wings are folded up in the trailer. The idea of flying an aircraft as an activity open to millions has remained one of the frustrated dreams of aviation. As early as 1924 American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford envisaged a future in which aircraft would be produced in similar numbers to cars. In the 1930s American air administrator Eugene Vidal was a prominent campaigner for a “poor man’s airplane”, a Model T Ford of the air, that would transform flying from “a rich man’s hobby to a daily utility or inexpensive pleasure for the average American citizen”. From the 1920s onwards, private aviation in light aircraft did become a popular sport open to the moderately affluent. But the notion of an aircraft parked in every driveway never came off. There were several attempts to produce flying cars – vehicles that could be driven on roads as well as fly through the air. Perhaps the most promising was Molt Taylor’s Aerocar, produced in the 1950s. The flying surfaces folded up to turn the aeroplane into an automobile; the engine drove a propeller when in aircraft mode and the wheels when it was being driven on the ground. But the Aerocar’s dual function involved too many compromises to perform well enough in either genre. There were also attempts at making aviation very cheap, of which perhaps the most memorable was Frenchman Henri Mignet’s Pou du Ciel, or Flying Flea. Brought out in 1933, this tiny aircraft was sold in kit form, to be assembled at home. After some 30 days’ hard work, the purchaser would have a machine capable of reaching 130kph (80mph), but with a landing speed of only 30kph (19mph).
THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT IN THE GREEK MYTH that so fascinated many of the earliest pioneers of flight, Daedalus’ son Icarus died after flying too close to the sun, which melted the wax on his feathered wings. In 2001, ironically inverting the mythical experience, a NASA Helios ultralight flying wing powered by the sun’s rays flew to the outer edge of the earth’s atmosphere. Surely one of the most extraordinary aircraft yet built, Helios is “piloted” by a controller on the ground and travels at a sedate 32kph (20mph). Its wing, measuring 75.25m (247ft) and thus longer than that of a Boeing 747, is covered in solar panels that generate the electricity to drive its 14 motors. Storing electricity in fuel cells during the day allows it to continue to operate through the night. Totally ecologically friendly, Helios is destined for sustained flight at the edge of space. On 13 August 2001 it set an altitude record for a propeller-driven aircraft, rising to 29, 511m (96, 863ft). The earth’s atmosphere at that altitude is similar to the atmosphere of Mars, so the flight allowed NASA scientists to learn about the feasibility of a flying machine that might cruise the skies of the “red planet”. Helios could also serve many of the functions of a satellite – in communications or weather observation, for example – at a fraction of the cost. With no need to refuel, NASA believes Helios will eventually be able to fly for months at a time – in effect until its parts wear out. Distance travelled Helios is a superb example of the constant power of aviation to amaze with unexpected feats of technological innovation, revealed time and again through the 20th century. Looking back at the distance flight advanced in its first 100 years offers a vertiginous perspective. Any measure of aircraft performance reveals dizzying progress – speed, for example, accelerating from Glenn Curtiss’ record-breaking 75kph (47mph) in 1909 to top speeds passing 640kph (400mph) in the 1930s; the breaking of the the sound barrier by the end of the 1940s; and aircraft reaching Mach 2 and Mach 3 in the 1960s, topping out with the X-15 at Mach 6.7 in 1967. C-5 transport introduced at the end of the 1960s could carry about 100 times the payload of a World War I bomber, and has itself been far surpassed by transports such as the extraordinary Airbus Beluga series, capable of carrying cargoes well in excess of 50 tonnes. The history of flight’s impact on the world shows a similar acceleration. If you were writing a general account of life in the 20th century, aircraft would only figure marginally for the first three decades. Some reputable single-volume histories of World War I barely mention aviation at all. Until the late 1930s, aircraft were a craze that generated heroes, but really had little effect on the lives of any but a small minority of people. It was World War II that truly brought aircraft centre stage, transforming the practice of warfare. Commercial aviation took until the jet age to begin to effect a dramatic change in leisure and business. Even in the United States, in the early 1960s half the population had still never flown. But by the 1990s over a billion passengers were flying worldwide every year. It was an open question at the start of the third millennium whether flight still had revolutionary possibilities, or whether it hadbecome, like tanks in warfare or railways in passenger transport, an established feature of the landscape that would endure (with improvements) but undergo no further dramatic expansion or transformation. BIGGER JUMBO The giant Airbus A380 should be carrying its payload of 550 passengers in airline service by 2006. The A380’s unprecedented wingspan and weight will require airports to upgrade their facilities, as they had to when the Boeing 747 was first introduced in the 1970s. The latest American fighter ready to go into service in the first decade of the new millennium, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, was an advance over its predeccesors in its stealth features and its ability to cruise at supersonic speed – all previous fighters could only “go supersonic” in short bursts because of fuel consumption. But it was not a dramatic revision of the fighter concept. Vectored thrust was one of the most radical areas being explored in experiments with fighters, Passenger travel Before the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (see page 410), the aircraft industry was predicting that four billion passengers a year would be carried by 2020 – almost triple the current level of air travel. Boeing confidently stated that the world’s commercial air fleet would increase from 14, 500 to 33, 000 airliners in the first 20 years of the new millennium. The implications of this for airports and airways was, in its way, daunting. After 11 September the shocking fall in passenger numbers made a permanent end to growth in air traffic seem not out of the question. Perhaps the best that can be said is that the future is unpredictable. The airline and aircraft-manufacturing businesses have always been financially precarious, subject to downward pressure on prices and upward pressure on costs. And so it will remain. The two options open to the airline business, if it were to change, were bigger airliners or faster airliners. The only two manufacturers left in the civil-aviation big league, Boeing and Airbus, seemed to have opted for opposite strategies. Airbus A380 looked ready to head the field in the size stakes, promising to carry 550 passengers and be in service by 2006. Boeing instead were pushing development of the Sonic Cruiser, intended to carry 200 to 250 passengers at almost the speed of sound – upwards of 0.95 Mach – over a distance of 9, 500 to 14, 500km (6, 000 to 9, 000 miles). The supersonic option seemed to have taken refuge in the private aviation sector, with ideas being floated for a supersonic private jet, the ultimate personal and corporate status symbol. Military aircraft Military aviation was in a sense in the ascendant in the early 2000s, the key to power projection in a still-hazardous world, with citizens in technologically advanced democracies accustomed to peace and reluctant to countenance the level of casualties ground war usually involves. Drones were an increasingly popular and effective option, both for battlefield reconnaissance and carrying out air-strikes, completely obviating the risk of human losses. But cost-conscious politicians were increasingly inclined to query the need for ever more expensive aircraft, which could easily seem like toys for the boys to play with. In the United States, the technological lead over any currently conceivable enemies might prove a deterrent to investment in expensive high-tech military SHRINKING WORLD allowing previously impossible manoeuvres, but again it could hardly be seen as a revolutionary innovation. The Raptor’s extreme cost was controversial, although it was argued that it was justified by the need to keep up with Russian technology. It was increasingly difficult to see why a war with Russia would be fought, but it could plausibly be argued that the Russians might sell their most advanced aircraft to a country that America might feel called upon to fight. The Russian Sukhoi S-37 Berkut, with its forward-swept wing, was, on the face of it, a more radical design break than any experimental Western fighter, but it was unclear whether the Russians had the money or the will to press on at the cutting edge. Western governments certainly showed signs of tightening the purse strings. The cheaper Joint Strike Fighter, planned to be mass-produced as NATO’s future standard fighter aircraft, was a deliberate compromise between cost and technology. Open frontiers Space exploration remained the open frontier where, at least in theory, boundless possibilities existed for new achievement. Although the ideal of an aircraft that would take off under its own power and fly into space has still to be realized, the shuttle and space stations have already begun to make space flight a once-in-a-lifetime vacation experience available to the ultra rich. Enthusiasts such as former astronaut Buzz Aldrin are seriously talking about journeys to Mars in the 2020s. Projects for moon colonies and Mars colonies still have plausibility, and serious scientists speculate about a future in which humans or their self-replicating computers spread through the galaxies. At the start of the third millennium it was hard to see space travel affecting most people’s lives except in science fiction scenarios, yet the apparently fantastic has become real before.
WHITE WHALE The extraordinary Airbus Beluga is the world’s largest transport aircraft by volume. It is basically the bottom half of an A300 wide body airliner with a bulbous cargo hold mounted on top. The Beluga was designed to carry sections of Airbus airliners between factories in different countries
FEAR OF FLYING
STATISTICS PROVE THAT FLYING IS BY FAR THE SAFEST WAY OF TRAVELLING LONG DISTANCES, BUT AIR ACCIDENTS INSPIRE A MORBID FASCINATION THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY has always known that its success depends on convincing the public that air travel is safe. This has never been an easy task. The drama of major air disasters impresses itself so intensely on the public consciousness – partly, no doubt, precisely because they are rare – that flying is often inextricably associated in people’s minds with sudden and violent death. Yet measures to reduce the number of air accidents and aviation-related deaths may undermine the image of air travel as a normal, safe, everyday experience. The more safety procedures air passengers are subjected to, the less secure they are likely to feel. Surely flying cannot be that safe if we are searched before boarding and flight attendants insist on telling us where the oxygen masks and emergency exits are? For the nervous, there is nothing quite so disquieting as constant reassurance “for your comfort and safety”. Yet the figures are unequivocal. Although accident statistics fluctuate from year to year, flying on a commercial airliner always emerges as by far the safest way of travelling long distances. In 1996, for example, a relatively bad year for aviation deaths, a total of 1, 187 people were killed on commercial jet flights worldwide. This compares with over 40, 000 people killed that year in road accidents in the United States alone, and worldwide probably a quarter of a million roadaccident deaths. Flying is far from being equally safe in different parts of the world: in a typical year, the United States might have one flight fatality for every two million passenger-hours flown, while Africa might have 13 fatalities per million flight hours. But even in Africa you are more likely to be killed or injured driving to and from the airport than on board the aeroplane. The risk of a fatal accident each time you board an airliner has been calculated at roughly three in a million. This means that if an otherwise immortal individual made a flight every day, he or she could expect, on average, to survive for over 900 years before dying in an air accident. (Flying in a private aircraft carries a quite different risk – it is almost 50 times more dangerous than flying in a commercial jet.) Progress on safety has been the necessary condition for the development of mass air travel. In the early 1930s, there was a fatality for every 4.8 million passenger-miles flown in the United States. In a single, admittedly exceptional, period in the winter of 1936–37, there were five fatal air crashes in the US in 28 days. Translated into the contemporary world of widebody jets, a 1930s style accident rate would have produced a totally unacceptable mass of fatalities. By the 1980s, American airlines flying major routes had reduced the death rate to around one for every 300 million passenger-miles. Even so, recent decades set all the records for air disasters, because of the large numbers of passengers on a single flight. The worst year for air-accident fatalities worldwide was 1985, with 2, 129 people killed – although 1, 105 of the victims died in just three incidents. In 2000, a fairly average year for aviation in recent times, there were 1, 126 deaths worldwide. To put this figure in perspective, there were by then some 1.5 billion passenger flights being made worldwide every year, over 600 million of them in the United States. The safety of commercial flying is a triumph of organization and regulation, and a tribute to the professionalism of all involved in the aviation business, from those who make the airframes, engines, and avionics, through the ground maintenance staff and flight crews to administrators and air-traffic controllers. The volume of traffic that air-traffic control has to cope with has, of course, increased dramatically in the jet age. By the late 1990s there were some 7, 000 flights a day into and out of New York. To look at it another way, controllers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport were responsible for the safety of around 70 million passengers a year. But despite occasional panics about overstretched air-traffic controllers being overwhelmed by numbers, the system has continued to cope well. So has the system of periodic checks and overhauls designed to ensure that aircraft are fit to fly, with faultless engines and free of structural weaknesses. Considering what amazingly complex machines modern aircraft are – a Boeing 747 has about 4.5 million moving parts – it is astonishing how rarely they suffer serious faults. A modern jet may have ten hours ground maintenance for every hour it spends in the air. Future Boeing Projects For sale after 2007, Boeing planned to build a new 700- mile-per-hour Sonic Cruiser, which will reduce the current seven-hour transatlantic airline journey by one hour. Boeing also planned to increase aircraft speeds significantly with an entirely new engine technology using a mixture of conventional jet fuel—derived from oil, a fossil fuel— with clean-burning hydrogen. Prior to Boeing’s new tests, the top speeds of commercial aircraft had been stagnant since 1970, when the record for the fastest civilian aircraft (1, 600 miles per hour) was set by a Russian Tupolev Tu- 144. Typical jet aircraft speeds (500 miles per hour) had not changed since the 1950’s. In 2001, Boeing unveiled a prototype superfast aircraft that could fly passengers between London and New York in forty minutes. In May, the Hyper-X, “a flying engine that looks like a surfboard with fins, ” designed jointly by Boeing and NASA, was tested over the Pacific Ocean 75 miles off Los Angeles. In the engine test, the Hyper-X was bolted beneath the wing of a B-52 bomber. The B-52 released the “flying surfboard” at 20, 000 feet, as a conventional booster rocket drove it to about 2, 000 miles per hour. Revolutionary scramjets then cut in and, for ten seconds, the hypersonic plane reached a maximum speed of 5, 000 miles per hour, making it the fastest aircraft in history. Ordinary jet engines are propelled by blades that drag air into a chamber, compress it, mix it with jet fuel, and explode it out of the rear to create forward momentum. Scramjets have no blades, but depend on previously generated speeds to force air through an oval-shaped mouth into a copper chamber, where it mixes with hydrogen to produce a much more powerful explosion. The Hyper-X can fly at speeds of up to 5, 000 miles per hour, more than three times as fast as the next-fastest airliner, the thirty-year-old Concorde, which had become technologically obsolete by the year 2000. Other tests were foreseen with prototypes able to fly as fast as 7, 000 miles per hour. Such vehicles could circumnavigate the earth in fewer than four hours. Boeing intended initially to design such aircraft for the U.S. military and then to build a bigger version for cargo operators. After all tests were completed, Boeing would build a version for commercial customers, such as British Airways, starting in 2016. Boeing’s hypersonic aircraft would be much smaller than the jumbojets that comprised parts of many airline fleets during the late twentieth century. The bigger planes lack the structural integrity required to withstand vastly accelerated speeds. The development of hypersonic aircraft also has been made possible by advances in the strength of manufactured metals. For structural reasons, the new airliner probably will have no windows. Passengers will be protected from a gravitational force of 6 g’s by a highly pressurized cabin. The aircraft also will accelerate and decelerate slowly to lessen the effects of changing gravity. Such aircraft also will produce sonic booms as they accelerate, so routes will need to be configured to avoid large population areas at the point of transition to hypersonic flight. Pilot/Controller Glossary Even pilots native to English-speaking countries may have widely diverging accents, and syntax differs from region to region in many countries. In the United States, after 1972 the FAA established a pilot/controller glossary in the AIM that put forth words and phrases that were largely compatible with those of the ICAO. These words had developed by trial and error since the 1930’s, and the FAA found them both efficient and effective. Common words include “Affirmative” to answer a question “yes, ” while “negative” answers such a question with “no.” Flight students soon learn that on the radio, monosyllabic words such as “yes” or “no” might not transmit over the radio. Within the United States alone, different regions say “yes” in fashions confusing to the inhabitants of other localities. A commonly misused aviation word, “Roger, ” means simply that the hearer has received all of the last transmission. It does not indicate compliance with an instruction, nor understanding of information. When pilots or controllers do not understand a transmission, they should ask the sender to “Say again.” AIM Phonetic Alphabet Letter Word Pronunciation A Alpha al-fah B Bravo brah-voh C Charlie char-lee or shar-lee D Delta dell-tah E Echo eck-oh F Foxtrot foks-trot G Golf golf H Hotel hoh-tel Популярное:
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