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Aviation Study Tour 2007

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

The 2nd Aviation Study Tour was conducted in December 2007. The highly successful 25-day tour comprised a group of 9 undergraduate and 3 TAFE students. We were kindly hosted by Boeing, Thales, Airbus, Easyjet, Rolls Royce, Shell, London City Airport, British Airways (Crisis centre), and Jet Airways (Mumbai).

Students suggest the highlight of the tour was taking off and landing the A380 simulator - an experience only shared by 100 pilots worldwide!

Below is an excerpt of one of the student’s blog:
“I don’t know where I was when the Air France Concorde crashed in Paris, but I do know where I was today: on board the world’s only supersonic passenger aircraft as it was parked at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

The temptation was strong to say “that was one small step for man, but one giant leap backwards for mankind” when I stepped off the aircraft. It’s hard to think of past examples where human beings had the technology to progress, but held back.

We went to the moon and now we are on our way to Mars. We went across the Atlantic Ocean on the Concorde in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, and now we can’t any more. It doesn’t make sense. 

When the British and French government decided to commission a supersonic passenger aircraft in 1952, the engineers had no idea how such a thing might be achieved. Sure, they had jet fighter aircrafts flying up in the 
stratosphere at twice the speed of speed, but these were flown by young men with G-suits.

Boeing state that the technological challenge of making a Mach 2.0 passenger aircraft was greater than putting a man on the moon. Those engineers get all teary eyed about their beloved Saturn Vs. But, when the Concorde is mentioned, their eyes dry and they nod, slowly and reverentially.

That’s because life beyond the 750 miles per hour sound barrier is hostile. There’s the friction which generates heat, which results in the aircraft expanding by 6 inches. There’s a spot on the dash that, in flight, is so hot that you could fry an egg on it! 

Then, there’s the shock waves that jams the hydraulics and freezes the controls….” 
For more on this blog, and others, visit: http://blogs.swin.edu.au/aviation/

The next study tour is scheduled for November 2009.