Engineering
Can you tell me what makes an aircraft fly? Can you design a 2-seat microlight aircraft? What will be the next aeronautical revolution?
These questions give a picture of the types of challenges I have faced during my time at school and university. What is most interesting about the subject of Aeronautics is that the answers to these interrogations never stop changing over time. When the pioneer Louis Bleriot crossed the English Channel in 1909, he gave an unprecedented demonstration of the potential of air travel. By rapidly connecting people without the need for building roads, bridges or tunnels, aviation quickly found its selling point and expanded into what is now a multi-billion-dollar industry. Beyond this commercial success, I have been strongly attached to simple essence of engineering (Latin ingenium) which is to solve a problem by the use of ideas. The thought of applying these methods to aircraft design was what led me to study aeronautical engineering. During my time at the University of Southampton, I have had the opportunity to study a variety of subjects closely linked to subject of aircraft design. These have made me appreciate the complexities involved in the design and building process through numerous design projects some of which can be found in the posts.
My vision
As a student, I spend a lot of time studying the theory but I also enjoy keeping up to date with the latest developments in the industry (see my post about Farnborough 2016).
The current duopoly between Airbus and Boeing has left little space for other civil aircraft manufacturers to conquer the market. The recent inauguration of the Chinese first Comac aircraft promises to tighten the already saturated sector. In this context, coupled with a grim economic perspective and high fuel prices, only niche market manufacturers have been able to sustain a profitable business. One example of this is the private jet sector which has been continually expanding with the growing number of millionaires. New start-up companies have attempted to widen the target market by offering “cheap” empty leg services or by monetising ferry flying. The results have allowed private jet operators to decrease some of operational losses but the persistent high running costs due to the fuel-hungry aircrafts means that the sector is destined to remain an exclusive way of travel for the time being.
In France, the success of carpooling in reducing travel costs has inspired other start-up companies such as Wingly to attempt to export the economic model to small private aircrafts. The idea was well received with the media widely supporting the scheme. However, the success was quickly damped by concerns about the safety of such flights. The French civil regulating body (DGAC) took the quick decision to request the companies to produce and air carrier certificate in order to continue “selling” the flights. Some companies have decided to move to other countries (Germany) for the time being where laws are more lenient towards these kind of flights. It is safe to assume that EU governments will commonly decide how to regulate this practice but this might take many years.
So where is the future of air travel?
I believe that manufacturers have turned to building aircrafts for the airlines and not for the passengers.
By simply browsing the internet, is it not hard to find news articles praising Boeing’s new “state-of-the-art” winglet design or Airbus’s latest concept plane which appears as revisited version of the Concorde and “could fly you from London to New York in an hour”. However, these stories relate to technology developed in the 1960s (Concorde) and 70s (winglets). This is a testimony that, although innovations are being made in a multitude of domains, the industry is failing to spark people’s fascination towards the world aviation as it used to. I believe this is strongly due to the fact that manufacturers have turned to building aircrafts for the airlines and not for the passengers. Each new aircraft model sees new and improved performance figures as the version goes up (e.g. 737-100, -200, Classic, NG etc.) without generally minor changes to cabin layout. Some could argue that the conventional “cigar with two wings” design it the most cost efficient and that it allows passenger safety to be kept to a high standard. I feel that most of these problems could firstly be addressed by initiating the transition to other ways of propelling aircrafts. For instance, a new generation of small green aircrafts could bring a new dimension to air travels which wouldn’t involve getting to an oversized airport to travel a few hundred km. More on this idea will be developed in the future…
Edward
Main interests: Aerospace Design, Aviation Safety, Sustainable Engineering, Wind Engineering.