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Final Blog

As for the military application of UAVs, how have they transformed military strategy? Has their integration been efficient (consider all aspects - from financial to ethical)? As the world turns over and night turns today, the human machine continues on its the tireless mission to improve and prosper. Since the times when humans started to populate the earth, and even before that, species have battled for resources for food, shelter, and safety. The ways of which we have waged this age-old war has changed considerably since its beginning but has not become any less important. From the age of the club to the now current UAV, war pushes our technology and resources to the maximum to win in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of casualty to life and property. On February 10 th , 2018 I wrote briefly about the transformation of the military stratagem regarding the acceptance of drones. Drone use has taken significantly greater roles in recent times because they allow for s
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ATC Privatization

Air Traffic Control, known as ATC, works off of a system of ground-based radar. This is a system that dates back to the 1970s that uses a “line of sight” reference. Once a radar echo picks up a sizeable mass in the air, the signal is bounced off the mass back to a receiver and the duration and direction are noted to calculate distance and height. While this system is relatively decent at getting aircraft from point A to point B, it is still very inefficient. According to Sara Breselor at wired.com, one man with bad intentions was able to directly put down 91,000 square miles of radar coverage by slicing cables and setting a fire in the basement of Chicago center (Breselor, 2017). While the man may have been suicidal and a long-standing employee, he was able to put down almost 10,000 square miles of coverage for aircraft above 10,000 feet. Another problem with our current system is that if the radar cannot “see” the aircraft, it cannot detect it. The radar has to have a direct line of
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Aviation Organizations

Every day, there are issues and topics being discussed in the Aviation industry, and while as an individual you may not be able to make much of a dent in such an argument, a group would be able to. There are many different aviation groups that you can belong to, but it is crucial to choose the ones that support your beliefs and desires so that you may prosper and help others succeed in the path you have established. Two organizations that would be important for me to belong to would be the WAI, Women in Aviation International, and NAFI, the National Association of Flight Instructors. WAI is a Non-profit organization that works to encourage and support women in all aviation related interests. According to the WAI website, they “provide year-round resources to assist women in aviation and to encourage young women to consider aviation as a career” (WAI, n.d.). Their group is very diverse as it includes everyone from astronauts to students and everyone in between. WAI also provides ser
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Global Airlines

One of the greatest modern documents to the aviation for long haul travel, i.e. transoceanic flight, has been the “Open Skies Agreement” otherwise known as Air Transport Agreement between the United States and the United Arab Emirates.   According to the document, there is a grant of rights in the second article that states “Each Party grants to the other Party the following rights for the conduct of international air transportation by the airlines of the other Party: the right to fly across its territory without landing; the right to make stops in its territory for non-traffic purposes; and the rights otherwise specified in this Agreement” (U.S. Department of State, 2002). One of the only things not allowed is in the immediate preceding paragraph which goes on to say that the foreign carrier may not “the rights to take on board, in the territory of the other Party, passengers, their baggage, cargo, or mail carried for compensation and destined for another point in the territory of t
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The next FAA Administrator

Most of aviation is a very close niche and a very small world. This world, however, has been thrown into the spotlight a few times throughout its rather short history. One of the most recent example of this is the rumored name tossed into the list of next possible FAA administrators. That name is John Dunkin, President Donald Trumps personal pilot. While there has been quite a lot of skepticism, there are also supporters for this Dunkin. According to Brianna Gurciullo and Tanya Snyder, both of which report on transportation issues for Politico, relayed a quote from Axios, one of the first to affirm that Dunkin was on the list of possible FAA administrators, stated that “he's "managed airline and corporate flight departments, certified airlines from start-up under FAA regulations, and oversaw the Trump presidential campaign’s air fleet.”” (Gurciullo & Snyder, 2018). In a quote made by Dunkin, he stated the enormous amount of traveling the president conducted along his camp
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Commercial Space Transportation

Space travel. The last frontier. From mystical dreams to conspiracy theories, space has held the awe and attention of people world-wide ever since the space race began. As these dreams start to become more attainable, commercial space tourism became a rapidly growing industry in the hopes that there would be an ease of traveling to the moon as there is to go to the bus stop and get across town. While we now see how far space travel has come, to truly understand it, we must understand where it comes from. Peter Wainwright, who discusses the long and somewhat bumpy past of commercial space travel, has recorded several of noteworthy events along the space travel quest. In my opinion, one of the first major accomplishments was “First of a series of papers on 2STO HTOL vehicles for space tourism published by David Ashford of Bristol Spaceplanes in England” (Wainwright, n.d.). This event shows that the science community was taking the possible space tourism industry more seriously. This wa
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UAVs

UAVs have begone a new era of transportation and thrill seeking in the civilian world. While there are now toys and camera drones for the fun seeking drone user, there are also starting to show a more commercial application. These drones come in handy when the operation would be dangerous for humans to undertake and by using a drone, the operator can cut down on time, costs, and man power for the job at hand. According to Divya Joshi, a business enthusiast holding an MBA and working on her masters, commercial drone usage has expanded to include: “Aerial photography for journalism and film, Express shipping and delivery, Gathering information or supplying essentials for disaster management, Thermal sensor drones for search and rescue operations, Geographic mapping of inaccessible terrain and locations, Building safety inspections, Precision crop monitoring, Unmanned cargo transport, Law enforcement and border control surveillance, Storm tracking and forecasting hurricanes and tornad
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