Element 115
Element 115
01 Industry
4 Aviation & Shipping 10 Material Innovation
02 Travel
10 Safest Travel oppertunities 22 History Faceoff
03 Humans
26 Covid-19 pandemic and the people 30 The Beauty of Machines
Industry
Element 115
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01
Aviation & Shipping in the Spotlight The aviation and shipping industry have both grown simbiotically at accelerated rates. While this push for globalization and interconectivity in our world has benifited most of us the impact of the envirnomental footprint of these areas are drastic and a threat to the longetivity of these industries. This study aims to present the environmental consequences of both air and water travel and discuss their implications.
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Flying off for a weekend break, cotton t-shirts made in Bangladesh, roses from Kenya‌ These are some of the products available to us in a well-connected, globalised world. Aviation and shipping contribute to economic growth, but they also lead to impacts on human health, the climate and the environment. Faced with future projections of growth, these two sectors have started to explore ways to reduce their impact.
Up in the Air Flying is seen as a safe and convenient mode of transport. The number of flights in Europe in 2014 was about 80 % higher than in 1990. And after a drop due to the economic recession from 2008 onwards, the numbers are picking up again. Increased numbers are partly due to a general trend towards longer flights and aircraft with more seats. Most of the growth is due to increased business by low-cost flights, which have lured passengers away from traditional carriers and opened new routes contributing to growth in the sector. This trend is expected to continue as low-cost carriers expand their fleets and start offering trans-continental flights, giving travellers more choice and more destinations. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN agency which regulates the sector, projects that the world’s commercial aircraft fleet will jump to around 47 500 by 2036, from around 26 000 in 2016. According to 2014 preliminary data compiled by the European Environment Agency shows that GHG emissions from international aviation increased by 22.7 % between 2000 and 2007, and then fell by 3.5 % between 2007 and 2014. Excepting the recent decline, emissions have been increasing steadily. They doubled since 1990 and were 18.3 % higher in 2014 than in 2000.
The ecological footprint of a single person taking a long-haul flight causes as much pollution as a motorist does in two months according to one study. In other words, a one-way transatlantic flight from Paris to New York in economy class generates around 381.58 kilograms of CO2, according to the ICAO’s emissions calculator. This is equivalent to emissions generated by the energy use of an average house for 10 days. The extra noise created with increased numbers of take-offs and landings at airports also has a negative effect on health, creating more than just annoyance and sleep disturbance for people living nearby. Recent research on children’s exposure to aircraft noise found evidence of reduced academic achievement and health damage. The aviation sector has addressed some of these issues by boosting fuel efficiency through improved engine and plane designs. However, the uptake of sustainable alternative fuels is very slow, and the recent collapse in global oil prices has eased the incentive on airlines to develop biofuel-based renewable fuels. Moreover, jet fuels used on international flights are also exempt from national taxes. Compared to fuels used in other heavily taxed transport modes such as road transport, this tax exemption makes the cost of flying relatively
cheaper and the user does not pay for most of the negative impacts on the environment and climate. Airlines are continuously upgrading their fleets. New planes are much more fuel-efficient and have quieter engines, but replacing the entire fleet by more fuel-efficient aircraft will take time. Newer aircraft fleets have led to reductions in emissions per passenger kilometre, but the pace of growth in recent years and projected growth in the years ahead mean that technological efficiency gains fall short of reigning in the absolute increase in total emissions from aviation.
a319 making its approach to Munich Airport, 2015
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“Although the aviation and cruise sectors are growing, the largest share of trips by tourists is made by car.[1]� - European Environment agency, 2016
777 approach into Toronto International, 2019
Highways of the Sea Thousands of cargo ships routinely travel long distances on the high seas to move millions of tonnes of goods between continents — everything from fresh fruits and television sets to grain or oil. The maritime transport sector plays a key role in Europe’s economy. Almost 90 % of the EU’s external freight trade is transported by sea making European businesses and consumers heavily dependent on goods imported from the rest of the world. Shipping is seen as the cheapest way to move goods around the world, but the sector remains a highly volatile one, prone to boom and bust economic cycles. While the sector’s share of GHG emissions is lower than those of road transport or air freight, its environmental impact is nevertheless growing. The shipping industry is estimated to emit around 1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year and this is projected to rise to 1.6 billion tonnes by 2050. The International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) latest figures show that if no action is taken, GHG emissions from shipping will increase by up to 250 % by 2050, representing 17 % of global emissions. The sector is heavily dependent on fossil fuels to power its engines, in particular bunker fuel, which is a less refined, more polluting and cheaper mix of oils, including diesel oil, heavy fuel oil and liquefied natural gas. As ships spend most of their time out at sea, the reporting and analysis of their emissions have been less precise. However, when sailing close to the coast, the impacts of the emissions are clear. The burning of bunker fuels emits sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, causing acid rain and generating fine particles. These pollutants are dangerous for both human health and ecosystems. Air pollution is only one of the environmental impacts of maritime transport. The sector has faced pressure over recent decades to do more to prevent oil spills, and dumping of waste and other pollutants at sea. Passenger cruise liners have come under increased scrutiny for their environmental impact. Demand for cruises continues to rise, resulting in the construction of megaships, which can carry more than 5 000 passengers and more than 1000 crew, making them floating cities at sea. These ships create large amounts of sewage, garbage, wastewater and air pollution, which critics say poses increased risk to the environment. Most harbours are not yet equipped to supply electrical power to ships. Consequently, ship engines or on-board generators are always kept running even when moored to meet the ship’s internal energy needs, which in turn worsens air quality in harbour cities. Furthermore, sensitive ecosystems, such as the Arctic and Antarctic or coral reefs, are facing the risk of damage due to increased tourist traffic via cruises. Although there are no agreed and binding targets, the industry and the IMO have taken some steps to reduce GHG emissions and pollution. New operational measures like slow steaming, sulphur emission control areas, better routing and banning discharges in and around sensitive marine areas are being adopted, and new hull designs to improve fuel efficiency and safety are being embraced. They are also looking at the use of cleaner fuels, including biofuels, as well as electric hybrid propulsion. A new global cap on the amount of sulphur permissible in fuel will be introduced from 2020, limiting the amount of sulphur in fuel to 0.5 %. The EU already restricts sulphur from commercial shipping to 0.1 % in a zone that extends from the English Channel to the Baltic Sea.
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Hamburg Harbour Freightert
A modern airplane’s fuselage is made from multiple sheets of different composite materials, like so many layers in a phyllo-dough pastry. Once these layers are stacked and molded into the shape of a fuselage, the structures are wheeled into warehouse-sized ovens and autoclaves, where the layers fuse together to form a resilient, aerodynamic shell. Now MIT engineers have developed a method to produce aerospace-grade composites without the enormous ovens and pressure vessels. The technique may help to speed up the manufacturing of airplanes and other large, high-performance composite structures, such as blades for wind turbines. The researchers detail their new method in a paper published today in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces.“If you’re making a primary structure like a fuselage or wing, you need to build a pressure vessel, or autoclave, the size of a two- or three-story building, which itself requires time and money to pressurize,” says Brian Wardle, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. “These things
are massive pieces of infrastructure. Now we can make primary structure materials without autoclave pressure, so we can get rid of all that infrastructure.” Wardle’s co-authors on the paper are lead author and MIT postdoc Jeonyoo Lee, and Seth Kessler of Metis Design Corporation, an aerospace structural health monitoring company based in Boston.
Gulfstream Factory, Savannah
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Air-France/KLM Maintanance Hangar, CDG
Carbon nanotube film produces aerospace-grade composites with no need for huge ovens or autoclaves
In 2015, Lee led the team, along with another member of Wardle’s lab, in creating a method to make aerospace-grade composites without requiring an oven to fuse the materials together. Instead of placing layers of material inside an oven to cure, the researchers essentially wrapped them in an ultrathin film of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). When they applied an electric current to the film, the CNTs, like a nanoscale electric blanket, quickly generated heat, causing the materials within to cure and fuse together. With this out-of-oven, or OoO, technique, the team was able to produce composites as strong as the materials made in conventional airplane manufacturing ovens, using only 1 percent of the energy. The researchers next looked for ways to make high-performance composites without the use of large, high-pressure autoclaves -- building-sized vessels that generate high enough pressures to press materials together, squeezing out any voids, or air pockets, at their interface. “There’s microscopic surface roughness on each ply of a material, and when you put two plys together, air gets trapped between the rough areas, which is the primary source of voids and weakness in a composite,” Wardle says. “An autoclave can push those voids to the edges and get rid of them.” Researchers including Wardle’s group have explored “out-of-autoclave,” or OoA, techniques to manufacture composites without using the huge machines. But most of these techniques have produced composites where nearly 1 percent of the material contains voids, which can compromise a material’s strength and lifetime. In comparison, aerospace-grade composites made in autoclaves are of such high quality that any voids they contain are neglible and not easily measured. “The problem with these OoA approaches is also that the materials have been specially formulated, and none are qualified for primary structures such as wings and fuselages,” Wardle says. “They’re making some inroads in secondary structures, such as flaps and doors, but they still get voids.”
A new approach to making airplane parts
“Out of the oven, into a blanket”
Part of Wardle’s work focuses on developing nanoporous networks -- ultrathin films made from aligned, microscopic material such as carbon nanotubes, that can be engineered with exceptional properties, including color, strength, and electrical capacity. The researchers wondered whether these nanoporous films could be used in place of giant autoclaves to squeeze out voids between two material layers, as unlikely as that may seem. A thin film of carbon nanotubes is somewhat like a dense forest of trees, and the spaces between the trees can function like thin nanoscale tubes, or capillaries. A capillary such as a straw can generate pressure based on its geometry and its surface energy, or the material’s ability to attract liquids or other materials.The researchers proposed that if a thin film of carbon nanotubes were sandwiched between two materials, then, as the materials were heated and softened, the capillaries between the carbon nanotubes should have a surface energy and geometry such that they would draw the materials in toward each other, rather than leaving a void between them. Lee calculated that the capillary pressure should be larger than the pressure applied by the autoclaves. The researchers tested their idea in the lab by growing films of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes using a technique they previously developed, then laying the films between layers of materials that are typically used in the autoclave-based manufacturing of primary aircraft structures. They wrapped the layers in a second film of carbon nanotubes, which they applied an electric current to to heat it up. They observed that as the materials heated and softened in response, they were pulled into the capillaries of the intermediate CNT film.The resulting composite lacked voids, similar to aerospace-grade composites that are produced in an autoclave. The researchers subjected the composites to strength tests, attempting to push the layers apart, the idea being that voids, if present, would allow the layers to separate more easily. “In these tests, we found that our out-of-autoclave composite was just as strong as the gold-standard autoclave process composite used for primary aerospace structures,” Wardle says. The team will next look for ways to scale up the pressure-generating CNT film. In their experiments, they worked with samples measuring several centimeters wide -- large enough to demonstrate that nanoporous networks can pressurize materials and prevent voids from forming. To make this process viable for manufacturing entire wings and fuselages, researchers will have to find ways to manufacture CNT and other nanoporous films at a much larger scale. “There are ways to make really large blankets of this stuff, and there’s continuous production of sheets, yarns, and rolls of material that can be incorporated in the process,” Wardle says. He plans also to explore different formulations of nanoporous films, engineering capillaries of varying surface energies and geometries, to be able to pressurize and bond other high-performance materials.“Now we have this new material solution that can provide on-demand pressure where you need it,” Wardle says. “Beyond airplanes, most of the composite production in the world is composite pipes, for water, gas, oil, all the things that go in and out of our lives. This could make making all those things, without the oven and autoclave infrastructure.”This research was supported, in part, by Airbus, ANSYS, Embraer, Lockheed Martin, Saab AB, Saertex, and Teijin Carbon America through MIT’s Nano-Engineered Composite aerospace Structures (NECST) Consortium.
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Lufthansa Technik A380 hangar, Frankfurt
Gulfstream Factory, Savannah
Travel
Element 115
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Coronavirus Episode 1
A Travel Series
What are the safest desstinations to travel to in 2021?
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been giving you regular information about Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been giving you regular information about the situation with the publication of updated maps in real time on the coronavirus situation “Covid-19� in the world (WHO). The situation has been evolving constantly: first we communicated with you about the destinations to avoid, then, at the peak of the crisis and following the WHO recommendations, we advised you to stay at home. As soon as it became possible to travel, we informed about the safest destinations based on criteria such as the number of active cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, the number of deaths, health measures, recommendations put in place by the authorities to welcome you in hotels, tourist accommodations, shops and restaurants in compliance with health standards. If a vaccine against covid-19 may allow us to travel more safely, many of you want to travel to destinations that have remained safe throughout this pandemic. We have selected destinations in which hospitals have never been overcrowded, destinations that have experienced fewer cases of covid-19 and are also less likely to impose a curfew or restrictions during your stay. For practical reasons we have selected destinations that have not imposed a quarantine: some safe destinations such as the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway or Finland do not appear in this ranking for this very reason despite experiencing low cases of covid-19. Here is a list of destinations that have remained safer during these last months, in comparison to others and which are open to travellers. You will find all travel restrictions (covid-19 test or not and forms to be filled out for each destination listed). Please note that travel conditions, health measures of the various destinations as well as the number of cases of Covid-19 are listed and updated regularly.
Since the beginning of the pandemic Madeira has been the safest destination in Europe. The archipelago was able to take health measures very early on to protect its inhabitants and has remained in the green zone with one of the lowest rates of active cases in Europe. Before you arrive in Madeira, you will take a test to ensure that you are not a carrier of Covid-19. A simple and efficient website www.madeirasafetodiscover.com allows you to fill in all the information necessary for a safe stay before your departure. Madeira is recognized worldwide for the beauty of its landscapes and its lush nature. Wearing a mask on beaches, during sports activities (walks along the levadas, trekking, hiking, cycling) is not compulsory. Madeira is surrounded by the ocean which brings pure air up to 100 times less germ-laden than the air we breathe in European capitals. Hotels and restaurants bearing the “Safe and Clean� label will welcome you under very high hygiene conditions set up by the national tourist office. Portugal is one of the first countries to have developed insurance specifically for Covid-19. For less than 40 euros, your trip, reimbursements for hotels, flights and repatriation are covered in the event of Covid-19. Consult our travel guide dedicated to Madeira and discover the best Instagrammable spots, the most beautiful beaches, best things to do with children and nature wonders of this paradise.
Madeira Islands, Portugal
Quarantine: No. Test required: Yes. Curfew: No. Hotels, shops restaurants: Open. Travelling to Madeira: Passengers flying to the Madeira archipelago have to present a negative test to COVID-19 carried out within 72 hours prior to departure or they can perform it upon arrival. Mask not compulsory for beach, sports activities, nature walks. Form to be completed before your trip. Mandatory travel documentation: Form to be completed before your trip: https://madeirasafetodiscover.com Nearest airport: Book your flights to Funchal. Latest information: https://madeirasafetodiscover. com Covid-19 death per 100,000 inhabitants: 0.
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These last few months have been hard and what you need most is to get away from it all, rest in the sun, and admire breathtaking landscapes ? If you answered yes to all of these statements, Martinique is for you. With nearly 15 times fewer severe cases of Covid-19 than countries in Western Europe, Martinique is considered one of the safest destinations in Europe. A true dream destination, Martinique is also one of the best destinations for gourmet or sporting holidays, exceptional hikes on the island of flowers or unusual activities such as canyoning on the massifs of the Mount PelĂŠe volcano or swimming with turtles and multicoloured fish and also to discover the seabed of this unique destination in the world. This island in the Lesser Antilles is a gentle blend of steep hills, paradisiacal beaches, exotic gardens, Caribbean shops and cafes. A true gift of nature, Martinique will seduce you with its spectacular natural landscapes. Up to 15 times less affected by Covid-19 than some countries in Europe, Martinique is a safe destination for a dream holiday in 2021. Book your flights to Fort de France (regular connections from major cities) as well as your accommodation and your tours and activities in Martinique.
Venice in the Shadows
Martinique, Lesser Antilles
Test required: Yes. Travellers over eleven years old must justify a biological virological screening examination (for example a negative PCR test) carried out less than 72 hours before the flight. This negative result is a guarantee of safety: it is mandatory and will be requested upon boarding. Quarantine: No. Curfew: No. Hotels, Shops, Restaurants: Open until midnight.Travelling to Martinique: Travellers over eleven years old must justify a biological virological screening examination (for example a negative PCR test) carried out less than 72 hours before the flight. Nearest airport: Book your flights to Fort-deFrance. Mandatory travel documentation: The passenger must also present a sworn statement that he does not show symptoms and that he is not aware of having been in contact with a confirmed case of covid-19 within fourteen days before the flight (to be written on a free sheetof paper if the document is not transmitted by the airline). Latest information: https://www.martinique.gouv.fr Covid-19 death per 100,000 inhabitants: 11.
Corfu, Greece With up to 4 times fewer severe cases of Covid-19 (deaths) than the most affected countries, Greece is seen as one of the safest destinations in Europe. If you are looking for a place that combines nature, sun, sustainable tourism, relaxation, gastronomy, paradisiacal beaches or culture, look no further, Corfu is for you. This destination, along with Madeira and the Azores is one of the paradise destinations in Europe which has been relatively preserved by the Covid-19. The island is the perfect destination for an unforgettaQuarantine: No (In the event of a positive result, ble holiday under the Greek sun. travellers will be contacted and placed on a 14-days It bears the marks of Venetian, quarantine, with expenses covered by the Greek state). French and British cultures which Curfew: Yes. A nationwide nightly 2100-0500 dominated Greece for centuries. curfew remains in force. Hotels, shops restaurants: Open (with curfew). Come and discover this rich hisTravelling to Greece: Entry from EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries is torical past, rest on its paradisiallowed. acal beaches, taste its wine and Nearest airport: Book your flights to Corfu. Mandatory travel documentation: Before entering virgin olive oil and treat yourself the country, all travellers must complete a Passento unique experiences such as a ger Locator Form. Latest information: https://reopen.europa.eu/en/ private Corfu full-day wine tasting map/GRC/7001 excursion or a 5-hour private CorCovid-19 death per 100,000 inhabitants: 41. fu & Achillion palace tour. Do not miss the old fortress of Corfu and its secret beaches such as “The canal of love�, the very iconic and photographic Vlacherna Monastery or the old Phanteon Kerykra.
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Switzerland, 2016
Cavtat, Croatia With 2 times fewer severe Covid-19 cases per million inhabitants than the most affected countries, Croatia can seen as a safe destination in Europe. Mandatory document: Before entering the country, Cavtat - a place where life all travellers must complete the EnterCroatia form. Test required: No. is a simple pleasure! This small Travelling to Croatia: Citizens of EU Member town is situated in the KonavStates or Schengen Associated countries, as well as their family members, are allowed to enter Croatia le region, 20 km south of Duwithout restrictions brovnik. Hotels, private accomNearest airport: Book your flights to Dubrovnik.. Latest information: https://reopen.europa.eu/en/ modation, restaurants, culture map/HRV/7001 and history, art and music, the Covid-19 death per 100,000 inhabitants: 96. family RaÄ?ić Mausoleum, Bukovac house - it’s all there... and more! Places like Cavtat offering so much to the visitors are quite rare. Its scenery, the rich cultural and historical heritage along with the range of services offered to tourists, meet the demands of the present-day tourists, thus making it one of the most attractive destinations on the Adriatic coast. Want more inspiration? Discover the most beautiful beaches in Croatia, the best hidden gems, the must-see destinations and the best things to do in Croatia.
History Faceoff: Who Was First in Flight? While the Wright Brothers are commonly thought to have been the first to fly an airplane, some believe the honor rightly belongs to two other pioneering aviators. Read about the case for each and decide for yourself.
TWA Hotel, JFK
Tens of millions of people around the world received their first introduction to Alberto Santos-Dumont when they tuned into the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and watched as a nattily attired, mustachioed man impersonating the pioneering aviator took to the skies in a vintage biplane. The assertion by Olympic organizers that the Brazilian Santos-Dumont was the true inventor of the powered airplane may have surprised most viewers, but not those in the host country. While living in Paris in the 1890s, Santos-Dumont poured money from his family’s coffee-planting fortune into experimenting with lighterthan-air crafts such as hot air balloons and motor-powered dirigibles. According to “Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight” by Paul Hoffman, the high-flying bon vivant even had a personal airship that he would fly from his apartment near the Arc de Triomphe to his favorite restaurant and keep tethered to a lamp-post as he dined inside. Backers of Santos-Dumont claim the 1906 public demonstrations were the first powered flights because his wheeled craft took off unassisted unlike the Wright Flyer, which was launched off a rail and aided by the strong winds at Kitty Hawk to lift it off the ground. Henrique Lins de Barros, a Brazilian physicist who has written two books on Santos-Dumont, told Reuters in 2003 that the Wright Brothers’ flight did not fulfill all the standards in place at the time, which including taking off unassisted, publicly flying a predetermined length in front of experts and landing safely. “If we understand what the criteria were at the end of the 19th century, the Wright Brothers simply do not fill any of the prerequisites,” he said.
TWA Hotel, JFK
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Munich, 2016
More than two years before the Wright Brothers glided over the dunes of Kitty Hawk, a night watchman at a local manufacturing plant reportedly soared over the industrial city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in his handcrafted flying machine. A full-page article on page five of the August 18, 1901, edition of the Bridgeport Sunday Herald reported that four days earlier a German immigrant named Gustave Whitehead had flown a distance of one-and-a-half miles at a height of 150 feet over Bridgeport and the neighboring town of Fairfield. An accompanying hand-drawn illustration depicted Whitehead in his bat-like contraption, known as No. 21 or “Condor.” Whitehead later reported that he returned to the skies on January 17, 1902, and flew for seven miles over Long Island Sound. Whitehead’s claim, however, was plagued by a lack of documentation. Scientific American had noted that a single blurred photograph of the immigrant’s plane in flight had been seen at a 1906 aeronautical show in New York City, but that snapshot, if it existed, became lost to history after the report. When an attempt was made in the 1930s to interview the two eyewitnesses named in the Bridgeport Sunday Herald piece, one could not be found and the other, James Dickie, said he believed “the entire story of the Herald was imaginary.” Still, the persistent claims stuck in the craw of Orville Wright, who in 1945 wrote a rebuttal entitled “The Mythical Whitehead Flight” in U.S. Air Services magazine in which he stated that Whitehead “lacked the sufficient mechanical skill and equipment to build a successful motor” and “was given to gross exaggeration.” The case for Whitehead’s primacy received new life in 1987 when the CBS news program “60 Minutes” aired a segment entitled “Wright Is Wrong?” after aviation buffs successfully flew a replica of his craft. The controversy reached new heights in 2013 after Australian aviation historian John Brown announced that he had found a photograph of the exhibit mentioned in Scientific American in 1906 that showed the missing snapshot of Whitehead in flight. Brown’s research led Paul Jackson, editor of the esteemed aviation publication Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, to endorse Whitehead as being first in flight in the foreword to its 100th anniversary issue that March. (Two years later the publication’s corporate owners issued a public statement that Jackson’s assessment was solely his personal opinion.) Connecticut legislators subsequently passed a bill signed into law that declared their state “first in flight.” The Wright Brothers meticulously documented their experiments, although they maintained great secrecy while they pursued patents and contracts for their flying machine. Unlike Santos-Dumont, the brothers kept a low profile and did not make a public flight until 1908, two years after the Brazilian aviator dazzled Paris.
Most aviation historians believe the Wright Brothers met the criteria to be considered the inventors of the first successful airplane before Santos-Dumont because the Wright Flyer was heavier-than-air, manned and powered, able to take off and land under its own power and controllable along three axes in order to avoid crashes. Backers of the brothers also note that by 1905, a year before Santos-Dumont’s first powered flight in Europe, the Wright Brothers had been able to take flights that lasted as long as 40 minutes. Historian David McCullough, author of “The Wright Brothers,” swatted down the claim that Whitehead was first in flight in a 2015 interview with radio station WNPR. “There’s no evidence for it whatsoever,” he said. “Mr. Whitehead is never known to have flown anything and when he tried to demonstrate later on, it didn’t work at all in front of people. There’s something like 35 noted historians of aviation specialists who have signed statements that say it’s an interesting story but there’s nothing to support it.” Other Whitehead skeptics add that the original Bridgeport Sunday Herald story was likely an exaggeration and that the recently discovered photograph is too blurry to offer any conclusive proof that the German immigrant had ever been airborne. Although unified in their belief that the Wright Brothers were first to fly an airplane, some of their boosters have their own ongoing historical feud, one that can be seen everyday on American highways. Ohio and North Carolina have each staked a claim to the legacy of the brothers. Both states featured the Wright Flyer on their commemorative state quarters, and while Ohio’s state license plates include the tagline “Birthplace of Aviation,” North Carolina’s boast “First in Flight.”
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Humans Aviation & Covid
What are the consquences of Covid-19 sars covid 2 pandemic on the livelihood of those in the aviation industry?
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NOT so human overview
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About 400,000 airline workers have been fired, furloughed or told they may lose their jobs due to the coronavirus, according to Bloomberg calculations. The aviation industry has suffered more than most as the pandemic destroys ticket sales and strips companies of cash. Airlines the world over have drastically cut back on flights due to border restrictions and a lack of appetite for travel, particularly internationally, because people are worried about contracting the virus and spending lengthy periods in quarentine British Airways, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Emirates Airline and Qantas Airways Ltd. are among the carriers announcing thousands of dismissals and unpaid leave programs. Many more are expected in the U.S. after a ban on job cuts -- a condition of a $50 billion government bailout -- is lifted at the end of September. Delta Air Lines Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. have already warned about 35,000 employees that their jobs are at risk.
Aviation-lovers enjoying some family quality time at Toronto international airport in 2019.
Em Matz kitschkrieg, Frabnkfurt 2020
Even the pilots and cabin crew who manage to keep their jobs are, in general, facing salary cuts. The 400,000 job-loss figure is for airlines worldwide and covers pilots and cabin crew, who have found themselves on the front lines of the virus fight when they are at work. It includes planned cuts by U.S. carriers and was compiled from company statements, Bloomberg News stories and other media reports. Job losses in related industries including aircraft manufacturers, engine makers, airports and travel agencies could reach 25 million, according to the International Air Transport Association. The hotels and lodging sector in the U.S. sees 7.5 jobs lost for every one in aviation. Airbus SE and Boeing Co. are cutting more than 30,000 positions.
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mpty Terminal 1, Toronto Pearson Airport
Mary-ellen Nickersont, Toronto 2020
“The biggest eye-opener during the pandemic was that we all had to stick together and depend on the systems that we had contributed to for years, to remedy the consequences of people losing their livelihood” – Matz kitschkrieg (Fra-port, 2020)
“The Beauty of Machines”
“The Beauty of Machines”
“The Beauty of Machines”
“The Beauty of Machines”
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Beauty is among those conceptions which are apparently easy to explore, but about whose true nature no one will ever be clear. Of course we strive, as our fathers and grandfathers strove from different premises, to attain a perfection answering to the ideal presentation of beauty. Naturally we can never discover whether our own ideal image comes near to absolute beauty; we have to believe it. Kant regards a material object as beautiful if its appearance arouses the feeling of a pleasant emotion — provided that this feeling is not traceable to baser instincts in the beholder. He calls it ‘a sensation of a finer sort, so called either because one can enjoy it for a longer time without satiation or exhaustion, or because it as it were presupposes a sensitiveness of the soul making it receptive to virtuous emotions, or because it is evidence of talent and superiority of intellect.’ We are not disposed to quarrel with this definition, since we find that our own experience confirms it. We also feel justified in making use of the great philosopher’s definition for the aesthetics of technology, and in drawing the following conclusions from it. To say that the perception of beauty in technical things in general, and in the construction of machines in particular, is something arrived at only in the most recent times is one of those presumptuous and superficial exaggerations in which this hasty, readily forgetful age abounds. Let us see how far such an assertion is founded on fact. Three stages of development can be clearly distinguished in the history of the construction of machines, each having characteristics which are of decisive significance in the assessment of the concept of beauty. The first period begins with the initial efforts to put into practice the thought processes on which a given machine was to be based; it covers
various unsuccessful, but continually improving, experiments until the point is reached at which the inventor is satisfied with the reliable working of his latest model. Watt’s steam engine, Fulton’s steamship, Stephenson’s Rocket locomotive can obviously be looked on as goals of that kind, standing at the end of a long, or not so long, series of trials. Once satisfied in principle that the machine will work without trouble, we try to aim further, to produce a perfected model which gives the highest performance with the most economical means; this struggle for mechanical efficiency represents the second stage of development. Efficiency rises steadily, getting nearer and nearer to a theoretically calculable, but never attainable value; finally it reaches a level near the limits of practical possibility, and can only be improved in the course of a comparatively long period of development work on small details. Broadly speaking, the invention of the machine has been perfected. Now we can think about putting the new-won aids to work on a wider scale. The harvest-time begins, in which we draw profit from the earlier experiments to the greatest possible extent. The purely mechanical-technical, theoretical-constructional processes are eclipsed by aims on a national-economic level. The third, and at present the most recent, period in the history of machine construction is the period of quantity production and standardization. Very many kinds of machine construction are undoubtedly already well into this last stage of development. Certainly most modern machines arouse in us that feeling that Kant regards as the criterion of ‘beauty.’ A good modern machine is thus an object of the highest aesthetic value — we are aware of that. In colloquial speech we may describe such a machine as ‘beautiful’ — the philosopher weighs up his concept more cau-
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industrial effects which the mighty Industrial Revolution brought with it. They coined the catchword of factory-work, which degraded men to the level of slaves of the machine. They obviously never thought about the unfortunates who must have built the pyramids they admired so much, or the galley-slaves who served as prime mover for the proud fleets of the Romans. Only quite recently has a real feeling for machines penetrated to wider circles and with it a general sense of the machine’s aesthetic effect. And what caused this conversion? The machine had long ceased to be a foreign body in a man’s life; it had not only become a part of the general life-style, it had become an indispensable object of the daily life of every individual, even every layman. Only that can explain how it was that such early mechanical inventions as water-wheels, windmills, bells, guns, mail-coaches and ships had for a long time been accepted and utilized by poets, thus being valued at their true aesthetic worth; they had been among mankind’s valuable aids for many years when the first steamship made its appearance. It is only fair to say that the road to an understanding of technical beauty was made more difficult for the layman by examples of ill-designed machines, not to mention those monstrous efforts to create a technical style with artistic means. Everyone knows that there is no single solution to any technical problem; even with the best of systems there will always be a number of constructive possibilities to reach the same end. To work out the harmonious solution calls for a delicate feeling for design, for the management of lines and surfaces. We can safely say that this feeling for form is generally richly developed. (Our illustrations give examples from the most widely differing branches of modern machine construction, which beyond doubt can be described as aesthetic). What role individual surfaces and lines play in the total effect, what means are employed, or have to be avoided, in the achievement of a good form, what the engineer can himself consciously contribute to a shapely design, all this must be sorted out in detail when opportunity arises. How our views on the beauty of machines will develop in future can be forecast with some certainty on the basis of our reasoning up to date. We know that machine has gone through the three prescribed development periods; the aesthetic effect alters with technics progress. Development proceeds as a rule more peacefully as the machine advances nearer to perfection accordingly the styling also changes more steadily and more slowly. We can show this by reference examples from everyday life. Motor-locomotives, which at present have reached the transition from the first to the second stage, cannot yet be said to be technically perfect and so aesthetically unobjectionable; but their technical improvement, and with it the perfection of their styling, is progressing rapidly. The steam locomotive, in contrast, has already reached the third stage — after the end of the second stage, technical improvement is generally reckoned to have come to an end, apart from details; thereafter the exterior form will change only slowly, and not in a striking way. Thus the fact that the steam locomotive has hardly undergone any improvement in technical beauty in the past decade is in no way surprising; it is a logical conclusion from the relationship between the aesthetic and the technical, which has been more closely laid down here. Standardization and normalization ought to represent the climax of technical development. It follows that machines which have already reached the final stage will not in future experience any essential or sudden change. That is not to say that particular types of machine have come to the end of their development. The steam locomotive — to stay with our earlier example — is renewing itself in the turbine engine or the high-pressure engine; but both of these are mechanically separate forms of the earlier types, to such an extent that they in their turn will have to go through the three development stages on their own account, both technically and aesthetically.
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to be avoided, in the achievement of a good form, what the engineer can himself consciously contribute to a shapely design, all this must be sorted out in detail when opportunity arises. How our views on the beauty of machines will develop in future can be forecast with some certainty on the basis of our reasoning up to date. We know that machine has gone through the three prescribed development periods; the aesthetic effect alters with technics progress. Development proceeds as a rule more peacefully as the machine advances nearer to perfection accordingly the styling also changes more steadily and more slowly. We can show this by reference examples from everyday life. Motor-locomotives, which at present have reached the transition from the first to the second stage, cannot yet be said to be technically perfect and so aesthetically unobjectionable; but their technical improvement, and with it the perfection of their styling, is progressing rapidly. The steam locomotive, in contrast, has already reached the third stage — after the end of the second stage, technical improvement is generally reckoned to have come to an end, apart from details; thereafter the exterior form will change only slowly, and not in a striking way. Thus the fact that the steam locomotive has hardly undergone any improvement in technical beauty in the past decade is in no way surprising; it is a logical conclusion from the relationship between the aesthetic and the technical, which has been more closely laid down here. Standardization and normalization ought to represent the climax of technical development. It follows that machines which have already reached the final stage will not in future experience any essential or sudden change. That is not to say that particular types of machine have come to the end of their development. The steam locomotive — to stay with our earlier example — is renewing itself in the turbine engine or the high-pressure engine; but both of these are mechanically separate forms of the earlier types, to such an extent that they in their turn will have to go through the three development stages on their own account, both technically and aesthetically.
CR
MD-11
DC-9 J-700 Dash-8 ERJ145
737
A380
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Credits Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Faculty of Design and Art Bachelor in Design and Art – Major in Design WUP 20/21 | 1st-semester foundation course Project Modul: Editorial Design Design by: Anton Ropers Magazine | Element 115 Supervision: Project leader: Prof. Antonino Benincasa Project assistants: Andreas Trenker, Emilio Grazzi Photography: Laird Kay (All pages) Anton Ropers (Pg.6, 24, 25) Emirates Logo (pg, 24) Format: 210 x 297 mm Fonts | Font Sizes & Leading: Body Text Minipax 9,5/13 pt Caption Text Bodoni MT 7/8.5 pt Title Text Garamond Bold 28/39 pt Layout Grid: 6 Column Grid Module proportion: 1,414 : 1 CPL | Character per line - Body Text: 64 characters including spaces Printed: Bozen-Bolzano, January 2021 Digital Printing