Ode to Aviation

Aviation is only a century old and yet we can hardly imagine the world being without it. The evolution in technology and scale of deployment has been quite amazing. Even if today, novelties are not so easily  accepted anymore unless they have proven their safety and reliability, a lot of novelties are being worked out today and I will highlight the ones that relate to my own work in satellite communication and navigation. This is an overview blog and you would need to surf through the hyperlinks to get a complete picture.

• The introduction of GNSS satellite navigation inposition determination and trajectory prediction of planes has advanced a lot since 2012. Meanwhile we have EGNOS supported landing in many airports. Unmanned flying (RPAS) based on Satellite Navigation is already applied in the military world.
• The use of GNSS in Search and Rescue operations.
• The use of Space-based ADS-B to localise planes above oceans. This area has received a lot of interest since the loss of flight MH370.
• The introduction of internet aboard of planes is ongoing. Even if there are concerns about the use of laptop computers on board, we will see more of this in the coming years.

There are a number of problems with aviation. We fly too much and pay too little. The reason is that the passenger doesn’t pay the environmental cost. The cost is mainly paid by the people living in the vicinity of the airports and to a lesser extent, by the tax payer. More about this in my Dutch blog: Waarom vliegen duur moet zijn.  Why flying needs to be expensive.

We have become so used of flying that we hardly look up when a plane passes over. I remember how much I liked spotting planes at the airport while waiting for a family member to arrive. The beauty of planes still fulfils me with awe and wonder. I refer to my earlier blog: Gute Technik ist immer schön.

Picture 1: taken at Air and Space Smithsonian Museum Washington, DC (August 1986)
Picture 2: taken at Belem, Lisbon: Fairey 17, first plane to cross South Atlantic Ocean (August 2016)