How Did the Airplane Arrive?

HOW did designers finally achieve success with heavier-than-air flying machines? They turned their attention back to the true masters of flight—birds. In 1889 a German engineer named Otto Lilienthal, inspired by the flight habits of storks, published “Bird Flight as the Basis of Aviation.” Two years later he built his first simple glider. In 1896, after about 2,000 glider flights, Lilienthal was killed while practicing with a monoplane. Octave Chanute, a French-born American engineer, elaborated on Lilienthal’s design and developed a double-winged glider that again represented a significant advance in the design of a heavier-than-air flying machine.

Enter the Wright brothers. Proprietors of a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., Orville and Wilbur Wright began their first gliding experiments in 1900, building on the accomplishments of Lilienthal and Chanute. The Wrights worked slowly and methodically over the next three years, making repeated experimental flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. They developed new designs with the aid of wind tunnels, the first of which they made for themselves from a laundry starch box. For their first powered flight, they built their own four-cylinder, 12-horsepower engine and mounted it on the lower wing of a new plane. The engine powered two wooden propellers, one on each side of the plane’s rear rudder.

On December 14, 1903, the Wrights’ new invention rose off its wooden launching track for the first time—and stayed aloft for three and a half seconds! Three days later the brothers flew the machine again. Eventually it remained airborne for nearly a full minute and covered a distance of 853 [260 m] feet. The airplane was a success.a

Surprisingly, this landmark accomplishment was given little attention by the rest of the world. When The New York Times finally carried a story about the Wright brothers in January 1906, it said that their “flying machine” had been developed in strict secrecy and that the brothers had obtained only “some slight success in flying through the air” in 1903. In reality, Orville had sent a telegram to his father on the very night of the historic flight, urging him to inform the press. However, only three newspapers in the United States bothered to publish the story at that time.

No Commercial Future for Flying Machines?

The world in general was skeptical of aviation in its early years. Even Chanute, one of aviation’s noteworthy pioneers, predicted in 1910: “In the opinion of competent experts it is idle to look for a commercial future for the flying machine. There is, and always will be, a limit to its carrying capacity which will prohibit its employment for passengers or freight.”

Nevertheless, aviation technology advanced rapidly in the years following the Wrights’ first flights. Within five years the brothers had built a two-person biplane that could speed along at 44 miles [71 km] per hour and climb to an altitude of 140 feet [43 m]. In 1911 the first U.S. transcontinental airplane crossing was made; the trip from New York to California took about 49 days! During World War I, aircraft speeds were pushed from 60 miles per hour [100 kph] to over 145 miles per hour [230 kph]. Altitude records soon topped 30,000 feet [9,000 m].

Aviation records continued to grab headlines in the 1920’s. Two American army officers made the first nonstop flight across the United States in 1923, journeying from coast to coast in less than 27 hours. Four years later Charles A. Lindbergh won instant fame by flying nonstop from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the fledgling commercial airlines were starting to attract customers. By the end of 1939, air travel had caught on to the point that U.S. airlines were serving nearly three million passengers annually. The standard airliner of the late 1930’s, the DC-3, carried just 21 passengers at a cruising speed of 170 miles per hour [270 kph]; but after World War II, commercial airplanes grew much larger and more powerful, achieving cruising speeds of over 300 miles per hour [480 kph]. The British introduced commercial turbojet service in 1952. And jumbo jets, such as the 400-seat Boeing 747, made their debut in 1970.

Another breakthrough came in 1976 when a team of British and French engineers introduced the Concorde, a delta-winged jetliner capable of carrying 100 passengers at twice the speed of sound—more than 1,400 miles per hour [2,300 kph]. But steep operating costs have limited the widespread use of commercial supersonic planes.

Shaping the World

Even if you have never flown in an airplane, your life has probably been shaped by these rapid technological advances. Airfreight operations span the globe; often, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the machinery we use at work or at home have been flown in from across the ocean or across a continent. Letters and packages are whisked from country to country by means of airmail. Businesses rely heavily on courier services by plane to conduct daily transactions. The goods and services available to us and the prices we pay for them have all been influenced by man’s ability to fly.

Aviation has also generated profound social changes. Without a doubt, the world has shrunk, thanks to aviation. Within a few hours, you can be almost anywhere in the world—if you can afford it. News travels fast, and so do people.

The Price of Progress

But such progress has come at a price. With air traffic increasing, some fear that the skies are becoming more dangerous. Each year crashes involving private and commercial planes take many lives. “Under competitive pressures, many airlines are forgoing the extra margins of safety that they maintained routinely when they could pass the extra costs on to customers,” says Fortune magazine. The Federal Aviation Administration, charged with the task of ensuring air safety in the United States, is “underfunded, undermanned, and badly managed,” the magazine reported.

At the same time, a growing number of environmentalists are alarmed by increases in air and noise pollution that result from heavier jet traffic. Dealing with concerns over noise problems is “among the more divisive issues in world civil aviation,” said the magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology.

These problems are compounded by the fact that air fleets are getting older: In 1990, 1 of every 4 U.S. airliners was found to be more than 20 years old, and a third of them had been used beyond their prescribed “objectives for useful life” as originally set by the manufacturer.

Thus, aeronautical engineers are now faced with tremendous challenges. They must develop safer and less expensive ways to carry more passengers, even as costs escalate and environmental concerns increase.

Some solutions for cutting costs have already begun to emerge. Jim Erickson, writing in Asiaweek, says that the Franco-British team of Aerospatiale and British Aerospace plan to develop a plane that can carry up to 300 passengers at twice the speed of sound. Costs and fuel consumption per passenger will be lower. And in response to the overcrowded traffic conditions at many airports, some industry visionaries have proposed a new generation of giant commuter helicopters—each capable of carrying 100 passengers. These aircraft, they believe, could someday handle much of the short-haul air traffic now carried by conventional fixed-wing aircraft.

Will mammoth helicopters and supersonic planes truly meet the urgent needs of the airline industry in the years to come? Only time will tell as man presses on in his quest to ‘open the skies’ to human flight.

[Footnote]

How Safe Are Planes?

IN ONE year about half a million people die on the roads of the world. In contrast, the number of deaths from airline accidents in 1996 was 1,945. For 1997 the total was down to 1,226. According to statistics kept by the manufacturer Boeing, “commercial jets crash less than 2 times for every 1 million flights.”

Yet, every airline crash gets top publicity, while the daily carnage on the roads is taken for granted. In the United States, only travel by bus is considered to be slightly safer than plane travel.

Why is a plane normally safer than a car? One obvious reason is that unlike vehicles on the road, planes do not usually fly in close proximity. Another reason is that most airline crews are highly trained and very professional in their approach to their responsibilities. A captain of a Boeing 747 will usually be in his 50’s and have about 30 years of flying experience. Safety is the primary factor for all members of the crew. After all, their lives are also on the line.

Safety on the Flight Deck

If you stop to look inside the flight deck of a passenger plane, you will notice that all the primary instruments and controls are duplicated—one set on the left for the captain and the other on the right for the copilot.a Thus, according to The Air Traveler’s Handbook, “in the unlikely event of one of the pilots collapsing, the other has all the controls needed to fly safely. In flight, each pilot can monitor the other’s instruments, and ensure that they are giving the same indications on both panels.”

Another safety factor on the flight deck is that as a precaution, the captain and the copilot usually have different meals. Why is that? So that in the unlikely event of food poisoning, only one of them would be affected.

In order to guarantee control of such movable parts as flaps, landing gear, and brakes, “airliners usually have two or more hydraulic systems in case one should fail.” A doubling or even a tripling of systems is a standard safety requirement for most modern planes.

What Can You Do?

Here are some simple precautions that all passengers can take: Read the instruction card for emergency situations, and listen to the flight attendants when they explain safety procedures at the beginning of each flight. When you take your seat, check to see where the nearest exit door is. And in case of an emergency, follow the flight attendants’ instructions. They are all highly trained to handle difficult situations, should any arise. When instructions are given, it is vital that passengers move quickly and forget about their belongings. Life is more important than possessions.

Modern planes normally fly above or around the weather, so most long-distance flights are very smooth. As a consequence, very few people experience airsickness. If any turbulence is expected, the captain usually advises the passengers to be sure to buckle their safety belts as a precautionary measure.

Could travel by plane be safer? The answer is yes. But most passengers would not tolerate the necessary change. What would that be? Have passengers face backward rather than forward! What advantage would there be in that? Passengers would be supported by the backrest during sudden deceleration instead of by just a seat belt fastened across the abdomen, which is incomplete protection compared with most car seat belts that additionally cross the chest. However, people prefer to see where they are going rather than where they have been!

Afraid to Fly?

It is estimated that 1 in 6 of the adult population in the United States is afraid of flying. With some it is more than fear—it is a phobia, a disproportionate fear that can lead to panic reactions. What can help?

Becoming an informed passenger can do much to quell anxiety. Every year worldwide about 15,000 aircraft serving nearly 10,000 airports transport more than 1.2 billion people with relatively few accidents or incidents. “According to Lloyd’s of London [insurance company] it is 25 times safer to travel by air than by car.”

If you are nervous about air travel, read books on flying, planes, and pilot training. Read about the high standards of training that are demanded of pilots and the rules they work under with regard to hours of sleep, limits on consumption of alcohol before flying, and random drug testing. Also there are the semiannual checkups that pilots must pass in a flight simulator to test their reactions to emergency situations. These simulations are so lifelike that some pilots exit the simulator “shaking and soaked in perspiration.” If a pilot fails the simulator test, he can lose his license to fly commercial aircraft.

These standards are far higher than any imposed on those who drive vehicles. Therefore, the more you learn about planes and pilots, the more your confidence can grow.

It may also help to visit an airport. Note the procedures for passengers, and observe how people are reacting. You will notice that most people step off a plane as if they were just stepping off a bus. Air travel for them is commonplace. Watch planes taking off and landing. Understand and admire the scientific principles of aerodynamics that make flight possible and safe.

When you finally take your first flight, tell the flight attendant that it is your first time in a plane and that you may be a little nervous. These professionals know how to help you to relax and have confidence in the system. Try to relax. When the captain says it is OK to walk about the plane, get up and take a stroll about the cabin. You may be well on the way to conquering your fear of flying!

[Footnote]