Environmental Issues for Aviation

Like any other form of public mass transport that relies on finite planetary resources, aviation cannot (in its present form) be considered sustainable in the very long term. Because of the finite nature of the resources upon which aviation relies, it is more realistic in the medium term to think how best to improve the sustainability of air transport rather than it achieving sustainable development. Laversab Aviation Systems is incredibly concerned with the nature of environmental issues for aviation. That is why they put so much focus in developing pitot-static systems that not only function efficiently and effectively, but which are manufactured in an environmentally-friendly fashion.

Demand for air transport is continually growing and, if this demand is to be met with all the attendant benefits, society must also accept the costs (noise, pollution, climate change, risk, resource use etc). Whilst it is not possible to make aviation sustainable (in its present form) in the very long term, much can be and is being done to improve aviation’s sustainability including:

• ensuring safety and security;
• efficiently optimising available capacity;
• collaborating to achieve a shared vision for more sustainable aviation;
• making decisions based on optimising the balance between social, economic and environmental imperatives;
• serving the need for mobility in a manner where the greatest overall benefit will arise, meeting the needs of stakeholders;
• taking every opportunity to minimise adverse impacts and resource use by creating and operating more efficient ATM systems, equipment and technology;
• targeting efforts where they will produce the greatest improvement in our citizen’s quality of life;
• investing in adequate research, training, education and awareness;
• being transparent and honest about both the good and bad aspects of air transport;
• avoid conflicting policy and regulations.

Aviation Systems: A Look Into the Future

NASA asked the world's top aircraft engineers to solve the hardest problem in commercial aviation: how to fly cleaner, quieter and using less fuel. The prototypes they imagined may set a new standard for the next two decades of flight.

BOX WING JET, LOCKHEED MARTIN

Target Date: 2025

Passenger jets consume a lot of fuel. A Boeing 747 burns five gallons of it every nautical mile, and as the price of that fuel rises, so do fares. Lockheed Martin engineers developed their Box Wing concept to find new ways to reduce fuel burn without abandoning the basic shape of current aircraft. Adapting the lightweight materials found in the F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, they designed a looped-wing configuration that would increase the lift-to-drag ratio by 16 percent, making it possible to fly farther using less fuel while still fitting into airport gates. These future jets are incredibly sophisticated - much like the pitot static testers and air data test sets that Laversab produces.

They also ditched conventional turbofan engines in favor of two ultrahigh-bypass turbofan engines. Like all turbofans, they generate thrust by pulling air through a fan on the front of the engine and by burning a fuel-air mixture in the engine's core. With fans 40 percent wider than those used now, the Box Wing's engines bypass the core at several times the rate of current engines. At subsonic speeds, this arrangement improves efficiency by 22 percent. Add to that the fuel-saving boost of the box-wing configuration, and the plane is 50 percent more efficient than the average airliner. The additional wing lift also lets pilots make steeper descents over populated areas while running the engines at lower power. Those changes could reduce noise by 35 decibels and shorten approaches by up to 50 percent.

SUPERSONIC GREEN MACHINE, LOCKHEED MARTIN

Target Date: 2030

The first era of commercial supersonic transportation ended on November 26, 2003, with the final flight of the Concorde, a noisy, inefficient and highly polluting aircraft. But the dream of a sub-three-hour cross-country flight lingered, and in 2010, designers at Lockheed Martin presented the Mach 1.6 Supersonic Green Machine. The plane's variable-cycle engines would improve efficiency by switching to conventional turbofan mode during takeoff and landing. Combustors built into the engine would reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by 75 percent. And the plane's inverted-V tail and underwing engine placement would nearly eliminate the sonic booms that led to a ban on overland Concorde flights.

The configuration mitigates the waves of air pressure (caused by the collision with air of a plane traveling faster than Mach 1) that combine into the enormous shock waves that produce sonic booms. "The whole idea of low-boom design is to control the strength, position and interaction of shock waves," says Peter Coen, the principal investigator for supersonic projects at NASA. Instead of generating a continuous loop of loud booms, the plane would issue a dull roar that, from the ground, would be about as loud as a vacuum cleaner.

The future is looking bright.

Aviation Safety Management System

Many industry and regulatory "experts" suggest that implementing a Safety Management System (SMS) is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.

A rational, empirical mind will disagree - and Laversab Aviation Systems is of the same sentiment.

Ask yourself this question: Are your safety management activities complex and expensive? If the answer is "yes," you’re doing something wrong.

Managing safety is ultimately about managing risk – a simple concept that is often lost in academic models and 300-page safety manuals. Managing safety is not about making things complicated and "user unfriendly." An effective SMS that actually adds value while elevating the level of safety within an organization, is easily understood and "user-friendly."

I’ve had the opportunity to review the SMSs of several types of operators – large, small, international, domestic, private non-revenue (part 91), non-scheduled commercial (part 135), scheduled commercial (part 121) – and the most effective SMSs are not complex; instead, they are streamlined and easy to understand. An example of reducing unnecessary complexity is an operator who utilizes a single report form, rather than three different forms, for 1) the reporting of hazards/threats, for 2) any recommended changes employees want to suggest, and for 3) any unintentional errors employees have committed. This is sort of a "one-stop shopping" concept. The operators with an ineffective SMS seem to focus more on managing the complexities of their SMS rather than managing safety itself. An example of complexities is the method an employee uses to access safety information. The safety information should be readily available and easily accessed for the front-line employees. Employees should not be forced to perform several steps just to get the safety information in front of them to read. Also, the safety information itself should be as brief and to-the-point as possible. The above is as important to safety as the pitot static tester or the air data test set is to Laversab.

It is a myth that SMSs are better suited for large organizations. Smaller organizations actually have an advantage when it comes to incorporating an SMS because the smaller the operation, the easier it is to communicate and implement the steps needed to run an effective SMS. Regardless of the size of the operation, all successful SMSs will include four basic elements:

• Top-level management is committed to safety.
• Systems are in place to ensure hazards are reported in a timely manner.
• Action is taken to manage risks.
• The effects of safety actions are evaluated.

Experience has shown that effective SMSs make good economic sense. An effective SMS not only allows an organization to become more proactive in identifying and avoiding major threats/hazards but also reduces the number of minor incidents an operator will experience over time. An effective SMS will lead to improved communication, higher workplace morale, and increased productivity.

If your SMS is just sitting there and not really doing anything to make your operation safer and more efficient, then you need to take a hard look at how your organization is really managing safety. Chances are, your safety management activities are too complex and more reactive than proactive.

Effective safety management depends on the involvement of everyone within an organization. In order to get everyone within an organization involved in the activities of an SMS, the SMS must be easily understood and transparent.

An effective SMS has credibility which leads to everyone’s involvement. Employee participation is inversely proportional to the complexity of an SMS. As complexity increases, participation decreases.

Without participation, an SMS can never be effective.

Aviation Systems: Core Concepts (Part 2)

In late July, an excursion into the aggregation of the core aviation systems concepts had begun. The intention: to get a better understanding of the discipline. And to get a firm grasp of what pitotic static systems are and what they are for, a basic, rudimentary knowledge of the relevant concepts is necessary. Terms such as air data test systems and RVSM test equipment cannot be understood from the get-go.

Civil aviation

Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying that represents non-military aviation, both private and commercial. The majority of countries around the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), working together to establish a consistent and universal set of standards and recommended practices for civil aviation through that agency. The two major categories encompassing cival aviation are:

• Scheduled air transport. This includes every passenger and every cargo flight operating on regularly scheduled paths and routes.
• General aviation (or GA for short). This includes all other civil flights, either commercial or private.

Even though scheduled air transport is the bigger operation in terms of the number of passengers, General Aviation is greater in terms of the actual number of flights in the United States of America. In the United States of America, General Aviation carries over 166 million passengers every single year - more than any individual airline, though far less than every single airline combined.
A good number of countries also make a regulatory distinction. This is based on whether or not the aircraft are flown for hire like:

• Commercial aviation includes almost all flying that is done for hire, particularly scheduled service on airlines.
• Private aviation includes pilots that fly for their own purposes (recreation, business related reasons, etc.) without receiving pay.

International Civil Aviation Organization

The International Civil Aviation Organization is a United Nations agency that serves to codify and develop the principles and strictures that best ensure safe and orderly growth in the domain of air navigation. These recommended principles and areas of focus include but are not limited to: flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation. The International Civil Aviation Organization was founded in 1947. Its headquarters are located in Quebec, Canada.

Aircraft

An aircraft is a machine that has the capacity to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity either by using static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil. In a few cases, though, an aircraft counters the force of gravity with the help of the downard thrust from jet engines.

Lift (force)

A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a force on it. Lift is the component of this force which is perpindicular to the flow coming from the opposite direction. In contrast, draft force is the component of the surface force that is actually parallel to the flow direction. if the fluid is air, the force is known as an aerodynamic force. In water, hydrodynamic force.
Lift is the force that's generated by propellers and wings to get an aircraft in the air and keep it there. Animals such as birds, bats and instects have exploited lift for millions and millions of years. The manmade flying machines are an extraction and application of many of the same laws and principles used by said animals.

Pitot-Static Systems: Core Concepts (Part 1)

It is common knowledge that the field of discipline that Laversab deals with is abstruse to the layman – with such specialized knowledge being too much for an individual to comprehend all at once. For this, it's believed that it would be of great value to take the time to explicate and define some of the main core concepts involved in Laversab's line of work. Below is listed a set of definitions for terms and concepts that must be known by those working in the industry. To develop a certain degree of competence, one must start from the base – to first introduce the main, rudimentary concepts – and then build up to the more technical, complex concepts afterward. Please, do not expect to get through every single term today. These core concept articles are going to broken down into small, bite-sized chunks. That may indeed be a good thing, as listing them all at once may be information overload.

Aeuronautics

What is aeronautics? A nominal definition, based on the Greek root words, would tell us that aeronautics has something to do with the “navigation of the air.” And why? Because in ancient Greek, the term āēr means “air” and the term nautikē means “navigation.” Now, a more formal definition would go something like this: the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets with the atmosphere. Sounds like a mouthful, doesn't it? Well, if you're looking for a simpler definition, “the science or practice of travel through the air,” should suffice.

The term “aeronautics” is often used interchangeably with "aviation", but one must be technical here in making one distinction between the two. “Aeronautics” includes lighter-than-air craft – like airships, as well as ballistic vehicles. “Aviation,” on the other hand, does not. To grok what apitot static tester is, both terms should be firmly understood first.

Aviation

So if you've got the concept of aeronautics well understood, then chances are you would be able to define “aviation” with little effort. But for those who would still like to flesh out the concept – to make sure that they have it down to the tee – one must take the time to define the term.

“Aviation” is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft (heavier than-air aircraft). The word actually comes from the Latin word “avis,” meaning “bird.”

Okay, so chances are you already were aware thatLaversab aviation was in the Aviation Systems industry. If you didn't know what aviation meant, now you know. But where to go from here? What other concepts must one familiarize himself with in order to better understand what Laversab is all about? The number of directions that one can go from here are limitless.

Pitot-static System

A pitot-static system is a system of pressure-sensitive instruments that is most often used in aviation for the purposes of determining an aircraft's velocity, Mach number, altitude, and altitude trend. The main parts that make up a pitot-static system are: the pitot tube, the static port and the pitot-static instruments. This equipment measures the forces that act on a vehicle as a function of the temperature, density and pressure. It also measures the viscosity of the fluid in which it is operating – something that is incredibly important and must not be overlooked. Laversab has its own set of pitot-static system equipment – cream of the crop stuff; the highest quality systems out there at the moment.

Airspeed Indicator

This instrument is connected to both the static and the pitot pressure sources. There is a difference between the pitot pressure and the static pressure. That difference is called dynamic pressure. When there is more dynamic pressure, the airspeed reported will be higher. A traditional mechanical airspeed indicator has something known as the pressure diaphragm. The pressure diaphragm is connected to the pitot tube. The case that surrounds the diaphragm is actually airtight. This is crucial; it has to be airtight for everything to function properly. As the speed increases, the ram pressure also increases. This causes for more pressure to be exerted on the diaphragm - which will require larger needle movement through the mechanical linkage.

Pitot-Static Systems: A Briefing

The pitot-static system supplies power to three basic aircraft instruments: The airspeed indicator, altimeter and vertical speed indicator.

Components

Pitot Tube and Line: The pitot tube is an L-shaped device located on the exterior of the aircraft that is used to measure airspeed. It has a small opening in the front of the tube where ram air pressure (dynamic pressure) enters the tube and a drain hole on the back of the tube. Some types or pitot tubes have an electronic heating element inside of the tube that prevents ice from blocking the air inlet or drain hole.

Static Port(s) and Lines: The static port is a small air inlet, usually located on the side of the aircraft, flush against the fuselage. The static port measures static (non-moving) air pressure, which is also known as ambient pressure or barometric pressure. Some aircraft have more than one static port and some aircraft have an alternate static port in case one or more of the ports becomes blocked.

Instruments: The pitot-static system involves three instruments: The airspeed indicator, altimeter and vertical speed indicator. Static lines connect to all three instruments and ram air pressure form the pitot tube connects to only the airspeed indicator.

Alternate Static Port (if installed): A lever in the cockpit of some aircraft operates alternate static port in the event that the main static port experiences a blockage. Using the alternate static system can cause slightly inaccurate readings on the instruments, since pressure in cabin can is usually higher than the main static ports measure at altitude.

Normal Operation

The pitot static system works by measuring and comparing static pressures and in the case of the airspeed indicator, dynamic pressure.

The airspeed indicator is a sealed case with an aneroid diaphragm inside of it. The case surrounding the diaphragm is fed static pressure and the diaphragm is supplied with both static and dynamic pressure to it. When airspeed increases, the dynamic pressure inside of the diaphragm increases as well, causing the diaphragm to expand. Through mechanical linkage and gears, the airspeed is depicted by a needle pointer on the instrument face.

The altimeter acts as a barometer and also supplied with static pressure from the static ports. The altimer is a sealed instrument case with a stack of sealed aneroid wafers inside. The wafers are sealed with an internal pressure calibrated to 29.92" Hg, or standard atmospheric pressure. They expand and contract as the pressure rises and falls in the surrounding instrument case. A Kollsman window inside of the cockpit allows the pilot to calibrate the instrument to the local altimeter setting to account for nonstandard atmospheric pressure.

The vertical speed indicator has a thin sealed diaphragm connected to the static port. The surrounding instrument case is also sealed and supplied static air pressure with a metered leak at the back of the case. This metered leak measures pressure change more gradually, which means that if the airplane continues to climb, the pressure will never quite catch up to each other, allowing for rate information to be measured on the instrument face. Once the aircraft levels off, the pressures from both the metered leak and the static pressure from inside the diaphragm equalize, and the VSI dial returns to zero to show level flight.

Errors and Abnormal Operation

The most common problem with the pitot-static system is a blockage of the pitot tube, static ports, or both.

If the pitot tube becomes blocked, and its drain hole remains clear, the airspeed will read zero.

If the pitot tube and its drain hole is blocked, the airspeed indicator will act like an altimeter, reading higher airspeeds with an increase in altitude. This situation can be dangerous if not recognized immediately.

If the static port(s) become blocked and the pitot tube remains operable, the airspeed indicator will barely work and indications will be inaccurate. The altimeter will freeze in place where the blockage occurred and the VSI will indicate zero.

Another problem with the pitot static tester system includes metal fatigue, which can deteriorate the elasticity of the diaphragms. Additionally, turbulence or abrupt maneuvers can cause erroneous static pressure measurements.

The Future of Aviation

Last month, the Airbus invited the press to get an insight into the new ideas the manufacturer is developing for future aircraft types. All of them are brilliant, but the most surprising aspect was that none of them seemed to deal with increasing the cruise speed of aircraft.

Manufacturers are focusing their efforts on saving fuel, and they all proudly claim a fuel save improvement against their competitors. There has been a huge improvement in this in the past 50 years. The fuel consumption of aircraft has decreased dramatically, but the cruise speed of a Comet 4 (one of the first production jet airliners, in the 1950s) was mach 0.78, the same as the current generation of aircraft.

The new generation promises about 15% of fuel savings compared with current models. So, assuming that carriers spend, on average, 30% on fuel, the potential savings for a carrier are 5.25% (0.35 times 0.15).

However, the impact of the aircraft on the operating costs of a carrier is about 15%, and the extra cost of the new-generation aircraft should be deducted: about 10% more according to list prices; either leased or financed, which means that they are going to see their costs increased by 1.5%.

The new generation of aircraft should give carriers savings of 3.75% of total costs.

Flying next-generation aircraft is profitable. The savings in fuel justify the price increase, so why don't they consider a 180-seat turboprop? They burn less fuel, and for short distances the speed is not a big concern. The answer is obvious: it is a step back in terms of technology. Most passengers associate propellers with a lack of safety, and airlines would struggle to sell tickets.

The economical advantages of super fast aircraft are solid for long routes - a notable increase in available seat kilometres with the same fleet, fewer crew and lower inflight costs. The traditional concern about speed is that it is not fuel efficient, but the latest technology in supersonic airliners is from more than 30 years ago.

The record for a transatlantic flight from New York to London is just under two hours, and it was achieved in 1974. We should not forget that this happened before the massive application of the microchip, so the technology available nowadays is completely different.

A flight from London to New York takes about eight hours on a normal jet, adding about two hours for each cycle (landing, taking off, on-ground operations, etc), meaning that each flight takes about 10 hours on average. Developing an aircraft capable of doing the same trip in half the time means the cycle could be made in about six hours, 40% less. It is clear that the longer the route, the bigger the savings, so it would make sense for routes of more than five or six hours.

Carriers spend, on average, about 15% on aircraft and 10% on crew. Cutting the duration of the flight by two and burning the same fuel per mile, the savings would increase by up to 10%, which is more than 5.25% of fuel savings.

The main advantage is, however, that carriers cannot justify a dramatic increase in fares just because they are flying on a more fuel-efficient aircraft, whereas there is a reason for increasing the speed - people will pay more. It happened in Europe with highspeed train services - not only do passengers pay more, but also in some cases the new rolling stock completely replaces the traditional train service.

Tickets for long distances are often more expensive per mile than for short distances, and customers assume that they have to pay more for them - business travellers would demand this service.

The big question is: would you pay more to travel faster?

At times, it is perplexing, but pleasantly so, that as technology advances and becomes more complex, prices drop. The same can be said, in the aviations industry. Companies such as Laversab Aviation Systems are on churning out cutting-edge technology in the aviations systems industry. Their Pitot Static test equipment is incredibly sophisticated - placing in the top echelon of their respective marketplace as a leading supplier of: air data testers, pitot static testers, and RVSM test sets. Laversab Aviation is continually pushing the boundaries. The innovations are not stopping. Their ingenuity and gumption is helping the aeronautics and aviation world become even more and more sophisticated.