Environmental IMPACT Carbon emissions.

One environmental impact of aviation that I have chosen to focus on is carbon emissions. The aviation industry is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), aviation accounts for about 2% of global carbon emissions, and this is expected to increase as air travel continues to grow.

The primary source of carbon emissions in aviation is the burning of fossil fuels, such as jet fuel. When these fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping heat and causing global temperatures to rise. This, in turn, can lead to severe weather patterns, rising sea levels, and other environmental impacts.

To mitigate the environmental impact of aviation, several strategies can be employed. One such strategy is to improve the fuel efficiency of aircraft. This can be achieved through the use of more fuel-efficient engines, lightweight materials, and improved aerodynamics. The IATA has set a target of improving fuel efficiency by 1.5% annually between 2009 and 2020, and several airlines have made progress towards achieving this goal.

Another strategy is to promote the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). SAFs are made from renewable sources, such as plant oils, municipal waste, and agricultural waste. These fuels can reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% compared to traditional fossil fuels. Several airlines have already begun to use SAFs on some of their flights, and the industry aims to scale up the production and use of these fuels in the coming years.

A third strategy is to improve air traffic management and reduce congestion in the skies. This can help reduce the amount of time planes spend in the air, which, in turn, can reduce carbon emissions. The use of more direct flight paths and better coordination between air traffic control centers can help achieve this goal.

In conclusion, carbon emissions from aviation are a significant environmental impact that needs to be addressed urgently. Employing strategies such as improving fuel efficiency, promoting the use of sustainable aviation fuels, and improving air traffic management can help mitigate this impact. It is essential for all stakeholders in the aviation industry to work together to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable aviation practices.

Weather Hazards

 Weather can have a significant impact on the aviation industry, from affecting flight schedules to causing severe accidents. One current event that highlights this is the extreme winter weather that hit the southern United States in February 2021. In this blog, we will explore the impacts of the winter weather on aviation and the lessons learned from this event.

Why I chose this event for my blog?

The winter weather event that occurred in February 2021 in the southern United States was a significant event that impacted various sectors, including the aviation industry. The winter storm resulted in the cancellation of thousands of flights and caused significant delays, affecting millions of passengers. As an AI language model, I believe it's essential to highlight the role of weather in aviation and the impact it can have on the industry's smooth operation.

Insight into the event

The winter storm that hit the southern United States was a rare event that had not occurred in decades, causing havoc on the aviation industry. Several airports in Texas, including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, experienced freezing rain, sleet, and snow, resulting in numerous flight cancellations and delays.

One lesson learned from this event is the importance of proactive planning and communication. Airlines must anticipate weather events and plan accordingly to ensure the safety of their passengers and minimize the impact on operations. During the storm, some airlines proactively canceled flights and allowed passengers to reschedule without penalty, minimizing the impact of the storm on their operations.

Another lesson learned is the need for investment in airport infrastructure to handle extreme weather events. While some airports in the southern United States are not equipped to handle heavy snowfall and ice, airports in other regions with similar weather patterns have invested in infrastructure that can handle such events. Such investments could help mitigate the impact of weather events on aviation and minimize the disruption caused.

In conclusion, the winter storm that hit the southern United States in February 2021 highlights the critical role of weather in aviation and the need for proactive planning and infrastructure investment. While such events are rare, they can have significant impacts on the aviation industry and the millions of passengers who depend on it. As we continue to face the effects of climate change, the aviation industry must work to address the challenges posed by extreme weather events to ensure the safety and well-being of passengers and the smooth operation of the industry.

The Air Traffic Control Staff Shortage in the United States

Current Event: The Air Traffic Control Staff Shortage in the United States

In recent years, the United States has been experiencing a shortage of air traffic control (ATC) staff. This has resulted in increased delays and cancellations, causing frustration for both passengers and airlines. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the problem, with many ATC staff members being forced to quarantine or take time off due to illness.

Why I Chose This Event for My Blog:

I believe it's important to stay up-to-date on current events, especially those that impact people's daily lives. Air travel is an essential part of many people's lives, and any disruption can have significant consequences. The air traffic control staff shortage is a current event that affects millions of people, and I believe it's important to shed light on the issue and provide some insight into the problem.

Insight into the Event:

The shortage of ATC staff in the United States is a complex problem that has been brewing for many years. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for managing air traffic in the United States, has been struggling to recruit and retain ATC staff for some time. The problem is multifaceted and includes issues such as low pay, long hours, and a demanding work environment.

One of the biggest issues contributing to the shortage is the retirement of experienced ATC staff. Many of these employees are nearing retirement age, and the FAA has not been able to recruit and train enough replacements to keep up with the demand. Additionally, the FAA's hiring process is notoriously slow and bureaucratic, which can deter potential candidates.

To address the shortage, the FAA has been offering incentives such as signing bonuses and tuition reimbursement to attract new hires. They have also been trying to streamline their hiring process and work with colleges and universities to recruit and train more ATC staff. However, these efforts may take some time to produce results, and in the meantime, passengers and airlines are left dealing with the consequences of delays and cancellations.

In conclusion, the air traffic control staff shortage is a real-world current event that has significant consequences for air travel in the United States. While the FAA is taking steps to address the problem, it may take some time to see the results of these efforts. As air travel continues to grow in popularity, it's crucial that the FAA is able to recruit and retain enough ATC staff to ensure the safety and efficiency of our skies.

Legislative Acts

Legislation is a set of rules and laws that regulate relations between people in a country or in a particular sector such as the aviation industry. Aerial crimes were taken into account later the first series of aircraft hijackings in the U.S. began when a passenger on a flight to Key West, FL, forced the pilot to fly to Cuba on May 1, 1961. This brought a lot of uncertainty because they realized that the lives of many people could be threatened again. Bill S. 2268 — Public Law 87-197, approved September 5, 1961, is designed to combat recent aircraft hijackings, by applying Federal criminal law to crimes committed on aircraft in air commerce. Some previous incidents made them look at the need to create additional laws to cover these crimes related to airplanes. There are Federal laws as well as State laws that are now applicable in many instances; however, few specifically meet the unique problems including the venue problem, which arises while aircraft are in flight. For a long time, the failure of states to extend their criminal laws to their aircraft while they were outside national territory posed a serious problem. As long as an aircraft is flying in the national airspace of some state, the law of that state is applicable. When a crime has been committed during an international flight, however, there may be difficulty in pinpointing when and where it occurred and hence in determining the state of the law which has been violated (Cheng, n.d). 

This bill supplements crimes of violence committed within the jurisdiction of the United States, whether maritime or terrestrial as defined by sections 113, 114, 111-13, 1363, or 2111 of title 18, United States Code. But in this case, air protection is added to air commerce. The subject of title 18 is crime and criminal procedures while the subject of title 49 is transportation. Both inform about the consequence of hijack or piracy. Aircraft piracy means seizing or exercising control of an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States by force, violence, threat of force or violence, or any form of intimidation, and with wrongful intent. According to the bill, any person who obtains or attempts to obtain control of an aircraft by unlawful force or threat of force will be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both. If the act was committed with the use of a dangerous weapon, imprisonment may be for life but not less than 20 years, or by death if the jury so directs. One who assaults intimidates, or threatens to interfere with a flight crew member in a way to interfere with his duties to safely operate the aircraft will be subject to a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both. If a deadly or dangerous weapon is used, the penalty may be imprisonment for life but not less than 20 years (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Articles, n.d).

These laws were made to prevent any tragedy in the air and punish people who act that way. I believe that with this it was possible to increase the security of the aeronautical operations and of the people involved. Unfortunately, another event occurred on September 11, 2001, when airplanes were hijacked and crashed. With this event, the government increased, even more, security so that these events do not happen again.

References

Cheng, B. (n.d). Acts and occurrences on board aircraft. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/air-law/HijackingLinks to an external site. 

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Articles. (n.d). Legislative summary: Aviation. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/legislative-summary/aviationLinks to an external site. 

 

Team-Based Human Factors Challenges

Since the beginning of aviation, human error has been considered the main factor in accidents and incidents. Without a doubt, one of the greatest challenges for aviation has been and will continue to be avoiding human error and being able to control its incidence. I can define the human factor as the behavior of aeronautical personnel (pilots, mechanics, controllers, etc.) before, during, and after their duties. That same behavior depends on factors that can increase or decrease the safety of the operations. In this case, I will talk about the human factor in pilots.

It is estimated that roughly 80% of all aviation accidents are related to human factors. It must be remembered that when flying there will always be a risk, whether internal or external, but the objective is to reduce that risk to the lowest possible level. As a result of these human errors, the importance of learning and understanding effective Aeronautical Decision-Making skills cannot be overemphasized. ADM is a systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances (U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d). When the pilot wants to go flying, would be an example of using this mechanism. Decision passes over this person and puts into analysis his decision to go or not to fly.

Examining these four elements will provide greater situational awareness, thus improving your decision-making including the pilot, aircraft, environment, and external pressures. This is called the PAVE model (Pilot Institute, 2021). The pilot should be in good health condition before the flight, the aircraft needs to maintain airworthy condition, the environment involves the weather conditions and airspace situation, and the pilots should not be influenced by someone else to make decisions on external pressures.

With these considerations, aviation safety will increase and most pilots will understand that human factors should be considered.

References

Pilot Institute Articles. (2021, September 19). Understanding aeronautical decision-making. Pilot Institute. https://pilotinstitute.com/aeronautical-decision-making/ Links to an external site. 

U.S Department of Transportation. (n.d.). Aeronautical decision-making. Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Federal Aviation Administration. Oklahoma City.

Aviation Security

To me the largest threat that has been a consistent growing concern since the internet was invented is Cyber crimes. According to the 2021 Cyber Defense Report (CDR), there was an increase of 5.6% increase of successful cyber attacks that year. Since the start of the report in 2014, cyber attacks rose from 62% to 86% in such a short time frame. I contribute that to the increase in technology development. Everyone has a smart device they use to connect to the world. Furthermore, people can and will access applications that connect themselves to social media, bank accounts and travel itineraries. Cyber attacks aim for one thing and it's data. Our smart devices connect to open access points that are directly linked to the internet and become susceptible to attacks. Once they get access to data cyber criminals can use that data to access other networks as long as they can get to an access point. If you have been to an airport in recent years, the increase of technology is just as impressive as the technology that we hold in our hands every day. 

 The layers of security at the airports today definitely help with the cyber threats through background checks, behavior monitoring from security employees, biometric systems that use facial recognition, scanning handheld smart devices, baggage handling systems, intelligence agencies, and even down to personnel such as air marshals on each flight for extra physical protection while in the air. These layers assist with deterrence but like anything other mitigations, there are always gaps in coverage. The screening processes help detect devices that can be used to connect to networks to steal information for the attacker to use to gain further access to cause disruption in service for passengers or disrupt cargo from reaching other points of the globe, which in turn hurts the economy. So, how do we mitigate the threat in a rapidly growing world of technology?

The most significant way we can help mitigate is for companies that have open access points is to use a Virtual Private Network which can help hide actual Internet Protocol addresses. Another way is to increase the updates on malware and spyware software that can help cut off cyber attack attempts by recognizing the attackers before they get access to the access point. Lastly, It’s up to each user to have extra security on their smart device as well. Technology is all about being connected for data exchange and it’s more important these days to protect your data.

Reference

CyberEdge. 2021. Cyberedge Defense Report. Retrieved from https://cyber-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CyberEdge-2021-CDR-Report-v1.1-1.pdf on February 1, 2023.

AIRCRAFT  SYSTEMS AND FLIGHT: FUEL

 There are many components that allow an aircraft to fly. Hydraulic systems, fuel systems and electrical are among the basic components for a successful flight. To achieve enough speed to take off, the aircraft would obviously need an engine. For the engine to function it needs air and fuel. So for me, the basic component needed to achieve flight is fuel. The fuel system is what I'd like to talk about today.

 The fuel system consists of a tank, filter and a pump, if required. There are a few more advanced systems that could be included in the fuel system like heaters to help keep fuel from freezing at low temperatures. For now, i'm sticking to the basic idea of the fuel system. More specifically if the fuel pump for a low wing aircraft were to fail, fuel would not be able to get to the engine in order for the engine to power up. Additionally, the pump would not be available to prime the engine during cold weather operation on certain models. There a couple things that could have happened to the pump that would cause the malfunction, a clogged filter or just simply a bad motor.

 If the pump stopped running, one thing to check could be a clogged filter and is cheaper to replace a filter than a pump, so check that first. Then I would move onto the pump motor itself if the filter is clear. On the surface of the issue, that should get you in the right direction.  But what if you are in flight and you lose your source of fuel to the engine and the pump is working fine during pre-flight? Maybe you forgot to check the water amount in your tank prior to take-off.

 With the water in your fuel source, some aircraft fly at incredible altitudes which I mentioned earlier, is very cold; below freezing. With water in your lines and in your fuel system the water will freeze and then in turn causing catastrophic failure for your power plant (Remer, 2017). This is why checking your tank during pre-flight is one of the most important things you can do before take off.

Our story today takes place on July 23, 1983. It is mid-afternoon at the Montreal airport and Air Canada Flight 143 is preparing to depart, on a domestic flight, heading to the also Canadian city of Edmonton, with a brief layover in Ottawa. The aircraft is a Boeing 767-233, a twin-engine wide-body and medium-long-haul aircraft with capacity for up to 290 passengers. It is the first twin-aisle twin jet developed by Boeing, a large aircraft that we can still see flying today. Commanding the device is Captain Robert Pearson who will be in charge of monitoring the flight during this jump. Pearson is 48 years old and has accumulated some 15,000 flight hours. He is accompanied by the first officer and co-pilot Maurice Quintal, 36 years old and 7,000 flight hours, who will be in charge of the controls. The crew is completed by 6 flight attendants. In addition, on flight 143, initially, 25 passengers travel, so the total number of people on board amounts to 33.

Air Canada Flight 143, operated by a Boeing 767-200, ran out of fuel at an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 meters), almost halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton, Canada. The crew was able to glide the plane to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba. At 41,000 feet the aircraft's flight deck warning system began to sound, indicating a fuel pressure problem on the left side of the aircraft. Believing that one of the fuel pumps had failed, the pilots shut it down, assuming that gravity would cause fuel to feed the two engines. The aircraft's fuel gauges became inoperative. However, the flight computer indicated that there was sufficient fuel for the aircraft, but, as it later turned out, the pilots had entered a wrong fuel calculation. Seconds later a second fuel pressure alarm sounded, so the pilots diverted to Winnipeg. A few seconds later, the left engine failed and they prepared for a single-engine landing.

It would take more than a year and a half for the official investigation to exonerate the captain and hold Air Canada responsible for everything that happened. If the fuel load was miscalculated, it was not due to the captain's negligence, but because there was a lack of adequate training in terms of conversion in the different metric systems. In fact, the report praised the crew for their "professionalism and skill." So much so that, months later, the conditions of this flight were recreated in a simulator in Vancouver with different pilots: they all crashed. The official report further added that Air Canada "refused to clearly and specifically designate responsibility for calculating the amount of fuel," concluding that the company "failed to transfer the task of performing that calculation, which was previously It was done by a flight engineer.

Reference

Remer, Dale. Aircraft Systems for Pilots (4th ed). Aviation Supplies and Academics, Inc.             https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/erau/reader.action?docID=5631254