Benjamin A. Gorman
Ready for a test? Loading the family car requires little serious planning. You can cram in luggage, passengers and fill the gas tank without thoughts of gross weight or center gravity. A similar approach to loading an aircraft could result in a serious accident.
Consider a four seater plane with a baggage allowance of 120 lbs., useable fuel capacity of 39 gallons and an oil supply of 8 quarts. On a hypothetical flight, you take on full fuel and oil, toss in four 30 lb. suitcases and four people averaging 180 lbs. each. What‘ s the total? 840 lbs. plus the fuel weighing 244 lbs. and the oil weighing 15 lbs. Now the total is 1099 lbs. The airplane shows an empty weight of 1,325 lbs. and a maximum allowable gross weight of 2,200 lbs. The Weight and Balance Data of 1,325 lbs. must be added to the weight of the load. The total of 2,424 lbs. is 224 lbs. excess! Your plane would have trouble getting off the runway. Weight and balance will effect the airplane’s behavior and can cause actual danger.
Before a pilot can be licensed, he must receive flight instruction and practice actual flying. The following is a list of air transport ratings and their qualifications.
Private:
40 hours of flight time and instruction.
This is divided into: 20 hours of instruction and 20 hours of solo flying, 10 of which is solo cross-country to an airport more than 25 miles from the departure.
Commercial:
200 hours of flight time and 20 more hours of instruction in addition to the private license.
This includes:
100 hours flight time in powered aircraft, 100 hours of pilot command made up of 50 hours cross-country, takeoffs and landings from at least two airports under two way radio communication, one cross-country flight of at least 350 miles including a landing at an airport at least 150 miles from departure, 5 hours of night time flying including 10 takeoffs and landings as pilot, and 10 hours of flight instruction with reference only to instruments.
Instrument:
At least 40 hours of instrument time under actual or simulated condition. This includes at least 20 hours in an airplane or simulator and at least 15 hours from a flight instructor.
Multi-Engine:
At least 5 hours of instruction in a multi-engine airplane.
Air Transport:
1500 hours total.
This is made up of 300 hours of actual instrument time, 200 hours of night flying, 1000 hours as pilot in command, and 1000 hours of cross-country flying.
Each rating requires a written and practical examination by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Today’s airline companies employ more than 500, 000 workers and the industry is growing fast. There are a variety of careers tied to air travel. Some jobs are hard to get because so many people apply. For example, as many as 10,000 people might put in application for one opening as an overseas flight attendant with a first year salary of about $22,000. The need for airline pilots is increasing and the traditional primary source, the military, is not producing the number that is needed. According to the Future Aviation Professionals of America, over the next ten years a total of 40,000 jet pilots will be needed and between 30,000 and 40,000 more for commuter and regional airlines. In 1987, the major airlines hired 7,018 pilots while the commuter/ regional carriers hired 4,073. Only 64 percent had military background. Besides the increased need for commercial pilots, there will be a demand for corporate pilots and for flight instructors.
Some U.S. commercial carriers have affiliated with universities to produce airline pilots. Students graduate with the appropriate ratings, a guaranteed interview and training specifically designed to meet the airline ‘ s standards. Most airlines require a college degree and the training programs include all ground school and flight training needed to graduate with commercial, multi-engine and instructor ratings.
It may be appropriate to ask students to list as many airline jobs as they can. All jobs may not hold the same appeal as that of flight attendant or pilot. The salaries vary from airline to airline and increase as experience is gained. The following is a list from United Airlines:
|
Airline pilot
|
Flies two and four engine jets.
|
$40,000-$50,000
|
|
Airline dispatcher
|
Communicates with control
|
$20,000
|
|
|
tower, responsible for
|
|
|
ground clearance.
|
|
Pilot instructor
|
Trains pilots in new equip
|
$45,000
|
|
|
ment and flying techniques.
|
|
Flight attendant
|
Serves passengers, needs
|
$16,000-$18,000
|
|
|
to be good with people.
|
|
Ramp agent
|
Manages gates to airplanes.
|
$15,000
|
|
Ticket agent
|
Works at ticket counter,
|
$14,500
|
|
|
needs to be good with people
|
|
|
and computers.
|
|
Airport manager
|
Oversees all airport activities.
|
$40,000
|
|
Airport security
|
Checks passengers and lug
|
$16,500
|
|
|
gage, must have police training.
|
|
Air traffic
|
Needs experience with radar,
|
$30,000
|
|
controller
|
computers and radio communication.
|
When considering a career in the aviation field, the first step is to examine one’s aptitudes. Are you mechanically minded? Do you work well with your hands? Do you like science? A mechanical aptitude could lead to a career as an instrument repairman, production technician or astronautical engineer. A verbal aptitude is required for airline sales, public relations and flight instructor. An aptitude for science could mean a career as an aeronautical engineer, metallurgist, chemist or lab technician. Manipulation is required by pilots, radar specialists and machine tool operators. A numerical aptitude is useful for an aircraft navigator, airline statistician or industrial accountant. Administrative skills are required for airport operators, management and administrative officers. Even artistic aptitudes can lead to careers as design engineers, airline architects, technical illustrators or scale model builders in research.
College degrees are necessary in many aviation careers.
Planning should begin when high school is entered because of the preparation needed in many fields. The following chart shows school subjects that must be mastered for various careers in aviation.
Careers and School Subjects:
(figure available in print form)
* * *
Then and Now
. . . .Clear for visual approach.
Orville Wright wrote “that the beginnings of today will be mightily overshadowed by the complete successes of tomorrow.” (“Future of the Aeroplane,”
Country
Li
fe). How far sighted he was when he made that comment in 1909, yet air transport would develop slowly. The first airplanes were hardly more than gasoline-powered box kites. The light framework of their wood was covered with canvas and held together by wires. A small engine turned the propeller that gave forward thrust while the pilot sat in an open cockpit. Before World War I, the airplane was greeted by skepticism among the American public; people had to see it fly in order to believe. The first commercial airplanes were built in 1907, but by 1910, only five had been sold. With only one or two seats and small engines, few people trusted the new flying machines.
Brave pilots, women and men, dared each other to set records in distance and speed. In 19i1, Calbraith P. Rogers made the first transcontinental flight. It took 49 days of flying over the span of three months due to weather, daylight, wind conditions and crack ups. The public’s interest was increased by pre-war aerial circuses that attracted crowds to watch pilots perform various stunts. These air-circuses traveled Europe and America putting on shows of stunt flying and giving cheap joy-rides. At Yale University, a flying club was organized in 1910. However, four years later it ceased operation due to dilettantism. “The time is coming when a knowledge of flying will be as much a part of an American gentleman‘s accomplishments as golf or automobiling,” the club’s president reported. (The New Journal, April 22, 1988). It was fortunate that aviation’s future did not belong to only those with superficial interests.
During the War, the U.S. Iagged behind other nations in building airplanes. Congress would only spend $125,000 for development. When the U.S. entered the war, American pilots had to learn to fly the better foreign planes. The government soon recognized the airplane as a military weapon; the planes were used for monitoring enemy movements, mapping terrain and bombing targets. The government ordered a number of 100 mile-an-hour planes for military purposes. The first American-trained squadron engaged in air combat on April 3, 19i8. The exploits of individual pilots who fought against German aviators often without parachutes made for good newspaper copy and a hero-hungry America made Captain Edward Rickenbacker, who shot down at least 26 German planes, more famous than the generals.
When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Orville Wright predicted that besides combat, the airplanes would be used for business trips, to carry cargo and for air mail delivery. But because of the war, the aviation industry grew and the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics founded in 1915 by the government became a leader in research in the post war years. Many individual pilots were eager to prove that the airplane could provide an efficient passenger service though there were no civil aircraft and few airfields existed; the early flights were made in converted military bombers. Americans were ready to believe that the airplane had a place in their future. In 1918, the U.S. started the first air mail service between New York and Washington, D.C. Airmail service grew rapidly and gave the infant airlines a source of income to continue operations. In 1919, a Curtiss airplane flew from Newfoundland to England stopping at the Azores Islands and Lisbon, Portugal in the first stop and fly, flight across the Atlantic Ocean. In June 1919, Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten-Brown left North America; after 16 1/2 hours, they touched down in Ireland. The pilots had flown nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean blazing an important air route for the future. That same year, the world’s first regular air service began when a passenger flew from London to Paris along with mail and other goods in an old bomber. This flight by Aircraft Transport and Travel Ltd. took two and one-half hours and cost the traveller L15 1919 was also the year that the Dutch airline, KLM, opened for service.
The 1920’s saw a growth in civilian aviation and of pioneering flights across the world. Two American lieutenants, Kelly and Macready, flew non-stop across the U.S. in 1922. Two years later, a pair of Douglas bi-planes flew around the world in 15 days. Technology would introduce single wing planes designed to give better air-lift and light metal alloys took the place of fabric coverings on the wings and fuselage. In 1924, pilots set a record by flying between New York and San Francisco in 27 hours. That was great news for the U.S. Postal Service because the best time for coast-to-coast mail delivery before then was a speedy seven and a half days, by train. The future of aviation held great promise. By the end of the 1920’s, all the continents and oceans would be spanned by the airplane.
On May 20, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in New York in an aluminum monoplane, the “Spirit of St. Louis”. He traveled 125 mph over the Atlantic Ocean, non-stop to Paris in 33 1/2 hours. His solo flight captured the hearts and minds on both sides of the Atlantic and assured aviation’s future. The following year, Amelia Earhart made another non-stop flight across the Atlantic. Continuing to set records, she became the first to solo across the Pacific from Hawaii to California and the first to fly non-stop across the United States. In 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in the South Pacific while attempting to fly round-the-world.
By 1928, the airline industry had the know-how to build planes with enough room and power to handle more than a few passengers. American Airlines and Trans World Airlines opened for business. Flights were noisy and uncomfortable and there were no flight attendants until Ellen Church was hired in 1930. By 1932, several commercial airlines were carrying passengers in planes that traveled at speeds up to 150 mph. By island hopping in 1937, passengers could fly from San Francisco to Hong Kong. The first airmail flight from New York to Spain and England was completed on a Boeing 314, “Yankee Clipper” in 1939.
World War II brought many improvements to air travel. During the war, Orville Wright invented the split wing flap used by dive bombers. Radar and computers would make planes safer to fly. All the developments gained through the war experience would be adopted by commercial planes and by the end of the war, airlines were carrying three million passengers a year. When Orville Wright died in 1948, at the age of 76, the industry was at the door of the jet age. Jetliners were using newly developed jet engines and aircraft companies were building turbojets. The Douglas DC-3 of 1935 with speeds of 180 mph was replaced by the Boeing 707 and DC-8 with speeds of 315 mph. By 1970, the Boeing 747 was able to approach the speed of sound, at a Mach number (flight speed divided by the speed of sound) of about 0.8, cruising at a speed of 570 mph. The speed of sound at sea level is 760 mph; in the stratosphere, over 35,000 feet, the speed of sound is 660 mph. The planes were not only faster, but able to carry more passengers; the Hughes aircraft built a plane that could carry 700 people. The airplane became second to the automobile as a means of intercity passenger transport. From the propeller planes to the jet to the jumbo jet to the supersonic transport, people found the highways in the sky a convenient, safe and fast means of travel.
And our sky was no longer the limit as the astronauts ushered in the aerospace age.
* * *
