ALL HAIL BREAKS LOOSE

When I think of a type of weather event that could be potentially catastrophic for an aircraft, the obvious choice I go with is Hail. It can be one of the most destructive types of weather that can happen at any given moment. "Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze." (NOAA.gov). When the hail starts to fall down to earth's surface, it is because the updraft can no longer support the weight of the hailstones. 

Now there are certain regions that are a lot more susceptible to this type of weather, usually in places where you get hot weather from the south combining with cold fronts from the north. Places I think about when this comes to mind are the same areas that are very prone to Tornado's every year, which would be from Texas/Oklahoma, all the way up to Iowa and the majority of the Midwest U.S. 

How this can effect aviation and aircraft is because like I said before, it can happen at a moments notice, so if you have planes that are not protected or that are flying through storms like this, they can be severely affected and damaged by hail. This could be anything from dents and cracked/broken windows, to full blown engine failure because of hailstones being ingested into the intake of the engines. Most of the time you will not have planes taking off with this type of inclement weather because of the risk and lives involved if something were to happen. 

References: 

NOAA.gov, n.d. Severe Weather 101: Hail Basics. NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. Retrieved From: https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/hail/

 ATC ENTITIES

The two entities I have chosen for this discussion are the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and NATS (National Air Traffic Service). They both are the primary aviation know it all for the United States and the United Kingdom. The FAA regulates basically all aspects of aviation as an industry and makes sure every person operating or working on aircraft are compliant with all standards and regulations. They also carry out programs that are beneficial to controlling noise and some of the other environmental effects that come with the aviation industry. The FAA has a command center that uses its advanced Air Traffic Control systems to mitigate potential hazards during flights due to inclement weather by using its Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) and Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facilities which can relay information in a matter of minutes. 

NATS on the other hand basically does the same exact thing as the FAA when it comes to civilian aviation. It only controls UK held airspace, which is a whole lot smaller than the United States, and generally only controls around 6,000 flights a day. Outside the controlled airspace, the pilots have full authority over their aircraft and are solely responsible for the safety of themselves and everyone that is onboard that flight. Outside the controlled airspace, the military works with the civilian pilots to provide any needed assistance or services that may be needed so that they can provide a fully integrated service to everyone involved. 

References: 

FAA, 2020. Facts about the FAA and Air Traffic Control. Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved from: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/facts-about-faa-and-air-traffic-control

NATS,  n.d. Air Traffic Control. National Air Traffic Service. Retrieved From: https://www.nats.aero/about-us/what-we-do/atc-explained/

 Aviation Emissions Problem

Aviation is one of the larger contributors to greenhouse emissions in the world, and that includes Military and Civilian sectors. The amount of fuel burned per hour on some of these military fighter jets alone is mind boggling and eye opening. Why have we not come up with a clean cut solution in a more timely manner to stop, or even rapidly slow the rate of emissions being expelled into our atmosphere? One way we can start to go about this problem, is by using more SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels), which are fuel sources that are derived from renewable materials. SAF can include fuels of biogenic origin, fuels from hybrid feedstocks, liquid hydrogen, recycled carbon-based fuels, and electro-fuels." (Reichmann, 2021). These can be more sustainable than jet fuel in the future if we can just come together and come up with a solid plan to incorporate these fuels more and more into the scheme of things. As it stands right now, the blend ratio of fuel to SAF is 50-50, according to ASTM. Airlines in the future hope to get this blend ratio up to 100% in the near future, because when blended, these SAF's have the same characteristics as the jet fuel we normally use. But at the same time, the reason why the blend ratio is only at 50 percent right now, is because the supply of SAF is really low and takes more time to procure. 

Reference: 

Kelsey Reichmann, 2021. The Front Runner to Addessing Aviation's Emissions Problem: SAF. Retrieved from: https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/06/01/front-runner-addressing-aviations-emissions-problem-saf/

 Air Traffic Control Automation

Automation systems for ATC's are very pivotal because they allow the Air Traffic Controller to focus on more important tasks at hand, and less about the smaller things. Automation are used to enhance communications with the pilots, get more accurate information at an earlier and more streamlined time, as well as enhancing full visibility of what is going on all around the airport at any given moment."Communication, navigation and surveillance tools help ATC controllers to fulfil their primary responsibility of preventing collisions between aircraft." (Baker, 2018). This helps in the human factor area in the job of ATC's, being that they aren't being stretched thin by such high workloads, and they have these systems that act as a live feed surveillance that they can see the whole view of the airport in real time, while also having radar tags on aircraft to make sure that everything is operating how it should be. These systems are also very pivotal when it comes to helping multiple aircraft taxi to and from the runways at night. They can use these systems to figure out the most optimal route for each aircraft to take while at the same time making sure that no two aircraft are headed down the same taxiway at the same time. 

Reference: 

Joe Baker, 2018. The Role of Automation in Air Traffic Control. Airport-Technology.com. Retrieved from: automation-air-traffic-control

 Human Factors in Aviation

When I think of Human Factors in the Aviation industry, what comes to mind is how these mental and physical barriers can prevent you and your co workers from getting the job done efficiently and correctly. So my working definition of Human Factors is; Anything physical, or mental that can cause lapse in concentration or judgement which will lead to damage or injury to you or others around you. On the aspect of how human factors can affect how certain jobs get done in your workplace, changing a turbine engine to me seems like something that has a high rate of risk and possible harm that can be done. This is a task which you will never do by yourself, or at least you shouldn't be trying to attempt something like this by yourself. There are many things that can go wrong when removing or installing an engine into the aircraft. This is why it is paramount that you or your co-workers do not have or show any of the traits that they call part of "The Dirty Dozen." 

Definitely one of the bigger challenges to deal with when removing and installing engines is complacency and lack of awareness. When you do a task so many times, complacency kicks in and you tend to want to take shortcuts or tend to not look at the tech data as much when doing this task, which can lead to harsh consequences. Lack of awareness is the other big challenge because most people when they are jobbing out, they tend to zone out or get tunnel vision on the task at hand and may not be aware that something bad is about to happen that can cause an injury or damage the aircraft/engine. These two, amongst other problems are the reason why engine work can be stressful and nerve racking sometimes. 

Reference:

FAA, n.d. Human Factors. Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved from: 

https://www.faasafety.gov/files/gslac/courses/content/258/1097/AMT_Handbook_Addendum_Human_Factors.pdf

 TSA's Crew Vetting Process 

TSA can be really strict when it comes to being a passenger on one of their aircraft, and who wouldn't be after the tragic events that happened on September 11, 2001. Since then, airlines have become a lot more protective with these flights, employing more federal Air Marshals, and arming the pilots as well as strengthening the cockpit doors to prevent entry for hijacking. Crew Vetting is one of the more important things to do when finding employees to operate your planes. Layers of security can be used to mitigate the threat of an insider attack by being extremely thorough with their hiring process and picking only the best of the best candidate for the job. "TSA receives individual flight crew manifests  from CBP via the secure DHS network and conducts a security threat assessment by running each name on the manifest against law enforcement, immigration, terrorist-related, and intelligence data sources, as well as against the Master Crew List established and maintained by TSA." (Dean, 2004). Once you pass this assessment, you will be added to the Flight Crew Manifest, which then means you are given the good to go on being part of the air crew. This just seems like your standard background check, but just a little bit more in depth because of the terrorist threats and hijackings that had happened previously. I think the layers of security that are currently in place are fairly basic, but do work substantially well for what they are supposed to do. The only way I could see to improve these security layers would be to deep dive into all their credentials and past experience, as well as be more strict when it comes to run in's with law enforcement such as DUI's and other misdemeanors. I believe it should be like the military when it comes to clearance to be part of the air crew, meaning that you should have to get the go ahead from the owners of the company before you are hired if you have previous charges with law enforcement. On top of that, I believe that they should interview and ask all your immediate family members a series of questions to make sure you are a person of good standing and character, also making sure that you are who you say you are. What are your thoughts? 

Sources: 

Lisa Dean, 2004. Privacy Impact for Crew Vetting Program. Retrieved from: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy_pia_cvp_2004.pdf

 A Problem with Aircraft Braking Systems

    One of the most crucial and important times during a flight is when you touch down at your final destination. This is why the braking system of these commercial aircraft is so pivotal, and cannot be neglected because it can be the focal point of a disaster that is just waiting to happen. The leading reason for failure of braking systems in these aircraft is hydraulic fluid leaks, whether that be externally or internally started, will start to introduce air into the system as well. The pilot will start to feel the brake become more spongy as this system leaks more and more fluid out, until if not found and fixed, causes complete loss of braking control. One of the leading causes for external leaks is the degradation of flexible rubber hose lines, which start to disintegrate because of the corrosive nature that hydro fluid has."Most hydraulic hoses should be replaced every five years. As these hoses age, they can deteriorate from the inside. Small pieces of rubber can flake off and contaminate the system." (Simon, 2015). When this progresses, it usually is started from the inner portion of the hose so you have no idea that it is deteriorating until that same hose ruptures or explodes due to extremely high psi and causes a mishap. Hard lines have some big issues as well, namely corrosion, cracks, wear and fatigue. This is why you always have to pay close attention when inspecting these types of hard lines both during pre flight and post flight. The same goes for aluminum hard lines because they tend to flex and move around during landing, which over time can end up in metal fatigue and failure under pressure. 

My fix for this problem is to use Stainless Steel braided lines for the brake system. This would alleviate the issue of using rubber or synthetic material that will no doubt deteriorate in a short amount of time, as well as throwing out the chance that a hard line can fail due to the movement and stress they get put under which can end up in failure more times then not. The Stainless Steel braided lines are like the best of both worlds because they are flexible, durable, can be flared to whatever size is needed, and have a coating that will last longer against the corrosion and wear problems that normal hard lines have. Maintenance costs may be a little bit more to switch out the whole system at first, but the down time and man hours you would save in the long run would essentially make it worth the initial investment because you get more bang for your buck and the aircraft is not down for maintenance as much because of the standard issues. What do you think? 

Source: 

Jeff Simon, 2015. Aircraft Maintenance: Beware Common Points of Failure on Brakes. Brake System Basics and Maintenance, Part 2. Retrieved from: 

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2015/september/22/aircraft-maintenance-brakes-common-points-of-failure