Man, has, most often, been intrigued with and challenged by Time . From birth to death, Time continues to rule his life and yet, inexplicably man is defiant. Somehow he equates himself with God, somehow he believes that he rules Time and he sets out, again and again, to prove that he is master of that elusive yet tick-tock machine counts his every second here on Earth . Einstein, the greatest scientist that ever lived, made this profound discovery that time is relative. However, he didn't quite explain it completely to us lesser mortals, yet his experiments with his mathematical equations continue to astonish and baffle us simultaneously . Simultaneously at the same time! Indeed, this word, if ever, comes closest to explaining the concept of Time the one Einstein had in mind and perhaps the Wright Brothers, on a lesser level, when they invented their airplane, that could lift itself of this earth and speed through air, to get elsewhere, perhaps a little behind Time, but nevertheless, there !
WHAT LED TO Air travel
Before I confuse you with some rhyme-scheme that comes my way now and then, somehow I sense that deep within the soul of the Wright Brothers, there was a yearning to match the speed of Time . To travel and exist as it did, indifferent places, here on Earth. So while they consciously fashioned this flying bird we now call an airplane, in an attempt to match those beautiful creatures that spread their wings and chirp and sing, somewhere deep down, they wrestled with Time . How to get there faster? How to make things easier? How to feel like an equal to this great Master that we are aware of yet cannot quite fathom or defeat it?
With this in mind, you can well understand why Air travel was born. Coming down from the spiritual plane to our normal earthly plane, Air travel, from the time it was conceptualized till date continues to be our greatest asset of Time . We save time. We get there faster. Life becomes easier and the magic of flying becomes a normal part of our lives . Now that is by far the most wonderful thing to have happened! Now the idea of flying no longer holds us spellbound as it did the spectators of the Wright Brothers aircraft . It comes as naturally to us as we breathe or just as naturally as the conception of a baby . We accept these miracles, we just don't realize them!
WELCOME THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
That we may fully appreciate what effort went into making Air travel as blissful as it is today, let us trace our steps back to where it all began. In North Carolinaplace, The Wright Brothers, were not the first to experiment the magic of flying . There were others before them as early as 100 years ! Some of them were Sir George Cayley at the turn of the 1800s, Hermannvon Helmholtzand Otto Lilienthal in Germany, Octave Chanute and even Da Vinci! All these men experimented again and again because flight also meant freedom. The need to soar into the clouds and land when and where you wish was in the minds of all these people. Many specifications and adaptations were applied and corrected, but till the Wright Brothers happened along, no one was able to conduct a successful flying experiment. No-one had till that day in time, that made history and progressed the world to greater heights, the first successful flight of the Wright Brothers was recorded . And man was ecstatic and exuberant! For a start they covered 852 feet in 59 seconds !
GETTING TECHNICAL
So what went into this airplane that made Air travel now a reality ? A little understanding of Aerodynamics will help us. During flight, the forces that work on an airplane are (1) the upward acting force known as the "lift" (2) the downward acting force known as "weight" (3) the forward thrusting force known as "thrust" and (4) the backward acting force known as "drag". Used in proportion as only the skill of a Pilot will adhere to, with the propellers, the airplane wings through air!
Of course other factors are also taken into consideration while flying - that of air density, temperature and humidity . These factors allow the Pilot to understand just how long a runaway is needed before take off . Thanks to technological improvements in this day and age that started almost a 100 years ago, the Pilots, equipped with sufficient information with regard to tail wings, elevators, foot pedals, throttle controls etc. can safely fly in any weather. It is up to the Pilot afterwards to navigate his flight with accuracy . The responsibility of a Pilot is tremendous and his knowledge of earth and sky are vast. His knowledge of the aircraft that he uses has to be as reliable and accurate as the News Headlines . Most often, what he also needs is his good judgment a combination of logic and instinct. After all, he flies with our lives and the motivated machine in his hands.
THE EVOLUTION OF Air travel
From that day and age, Air travel has been constantly evolving . It has become most useful in transportation. People reach each other across the miles in barely a couple of hours and goods are transported to and fro as and when needed . The significance of Time has certainly been reduced. With each flight, technology and luxury continue to progress. The hospitality and comfort one receives while air borne is unmatched, unless one thinks of the luxury cruisers . But the most important factor of Time brought closer is what keeps Air travel as a person's first and foremost mode of travel.Years of continued effort and Air travel all over the world is fast becoming a necessity more than a luxury and are affordable to any class of society .
In today's world with competitive services offered by various air lines, Air travel becomes the most effective mode of travel. British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Air India, Gulf Air, Lufthansa, etc operate all over the world, criss-crossing in the sky and reaching destinations with happy people and important cargo. Airplanes that require refueling and stopovers to check the engines et al, are now speeding up time with take-offs between each international-bound flight as little as 3 hours. Does make the trains look tardy don't they?
HEliCOPTER, THE WONDER MACHINE
While Airplanes are not the only mode of Air travel, Helicopters too have been invented for shorter durations of flying . Not only are they lighter and faster, they can land just about anywhere, without much fanfare . If you are wondering just who the first inventor of the Helicopter as we now know the name of this machine, was none other than the famous Italian sculptor and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci! However, it was in the 20thcentury that, November 13, 1907 to be precise that a Frenchman by the name of Paul Corn inspired a twin-rotored helicopter into the air for just a few seconds. Yet another Frenchman by the name of EtienneOehmichen flew the helicopter a kilometer for about for 7 minutes and 40seconds, creating a new historical record for this machine in the year 1924. So the progress of the machine kept on, looking in the area of vertical flight and another important name to be mentioned in this connection is the Spaniard, Juan de la Cierva . His kind of helicopter was called the "autogiro" and was not really a helicopter. Nevertheless, his important invention needs mention. Finally, by 1936, after many experiments in vertical flight, the entrance of the German Focke Wulf Fw 61 established the helicopter as another means of Air travel.
THE GENIUS OF NASA, HUMAN SPACE SHUTTLE
If you are thinking about the wondrous progress mankind has made in relation to Air travel, there is more. Man, never stops, don?t you know? In searching for further boundaries to conquer or understand as we civil folk would like to think, then the NASA Human space shuttle needs proper attention in this article . Taking us humans to go where no man has gone before (remember StarTrek) and exploring our Sun (at a very, very safe distance of course) our Moon and other planets like the wondrous and mysteriously ringed Saturn and the ever-large Jupiter and cold Pluto (now being debated about actually being a Planet) and elusive the Neptune.
With each layer of air, man breaks through in the name of travel . It is the eagerness to know just what lies beyond. Time ceases to exist when the world of space envelops . Air travel is the only means of conquering linear time . We may not know this consciously, but all of us, inside, do our own Air traveling, breaking barriers and connecting people quicker and more effectively.One may not feel the air as sprout our machined wings to fly through the sky, like the birds do, but we are getting there, slowly and surely . Till that day, when Time does cease to exist for all of us, Air travel continues to remain the closest to keeping Time under our physical control . Well, almost. Till the Time Machine is invented, Air travel will be here waiting to transport us to newer horizons and bigger dreams .
WHAT LED TO Air travel
Before I confuse you with some rhyme-scheme that comes my way now and then, somehow I sense that deep within the soul of the Wright Brothers, there was a yearning to match the speed of Time . To travel and exist as it did, indifferent places, here on Earth. So while they consciously fashioned this flying bird we now call an airplane, in an attempt to match those beautiful creatures that spread their wings and chirp and sing, somewhere deep down, they wrestled with Time . How to get there faster? How to make things easier? How to feel like an equal to this great Master that we are aware of yet cannot quite fathom or defeat it?
With this in mind, you can well understand why Air travel was born. Coming down from the spiritual plane to our normal earthly plane, Air travel, from the time it was conceptualized till date continues to be our greatest asset of Time . We save time. We get there faster. Life becomes easier and the magic of flying becomes a normal part of our lives . Now that is by far the most wonderful thing to have happened! Now the idea of flying no longer holds us spellbound as it did the spectators of the Wright Brothers aircraft . It comes as naturally to us as we breathe or just as naturally as the conception of a baby . We accept these miracles, we just don't realize them!
WELCOME THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
That we may fully appreciate what effort went into making Air travel as blissful as it is today, let us trace our steps back to where it all began. In North Carolinaplace, The Wright Brothers, were not the first to experiment the magic of flying . There were others before them as early as 100 years ! Some of them were Sir George Cayley at the turn of the 1800s, Hermannvon Helmholtzand Otto Lilienthal in Germany, Octave Chanute and even Da Vinci! All these men experimented again and again because flight also meant freedom. The need to soar into the clouds and land when and where you wish was in the minds of all these people. Many specifications and adaptations were applied and corrected, but till the Wright Brothers happened along, no one was able to conduct a successful flying experiment. No-one had till that day in time, that made history and progressed the world to greater heights, the first successful flight of the Wright Brothers was recorded . And man was ecstatic and exuberant! For a start they covered 852 feet in 59 seconds !
GETTING TECHNICAL
So what went into this airplane that made Air travel now a reality ? A little understanding of Aerodynamics will help us. During flight, the forces that work on an airplane are (1) the upward acting force known as the "lift" (2) the downward acting force known as "weight" (3) the forward thrusting force known as "thrust" and (4) the backward acting force known as "drag". Used in proportion as only the skill of a Pilot will adhere to, with the propellers, the airplane wings through air!
Of course other factors are also taken into consideration while flying - that of air density, temperature and humidity . These factors allow the Pilot to understand just how long a runaway is needed before take off . Thanks to technological improvements in this day and age that started almost a 100 years ago, the Pilots, equipped with sufficient information with regard to tail wings, elevators, foot pedals, throttle controls etc. can safely fly in any weather. It is up to the Pilot afterwards to navigate his flight with accuracy . The responsibility of a Pilot is tremendous and his knowledge of earth and sky are vast. His knowledge of the aircraft that he uses has to be as reliable and accurate as the News Headlines . Most often, what he also needs is his good judgment a combination of logic and instinct. After all, he flies with our lives and the motivated machine in his hands.
THE EVOLUTION OF Air travel
From that day and age, Air travel has been constantly evolving . It has become most useful in transportation. People reach each other across the miles in barely a couple of hours and goods are transported to and fro as and when needed . The significance of Time has certainly been reduced. With each flight, technology and luxury continue to progress. The hospitality and comfort one receives while air borne is unmatched, unless one thinks of the luxury cruisers . But the most important factor of Time brought closer is what keeps Air travel as a person's first and foremost mode of travel.Years of continued effort and Air travel all over the world is fast becoming a necessity more than a luxury and are affordable to any class of society .
In today's world with competitive services offered by various air lines, Air travel becomes the most effective mode of travel. British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Air India, Gulf Air, Lufthansa, etc operate all over the world, criss-crossing in the sky and reaching destinations with happy people and important cargo. Airplanes that require refueling and stopovers to check the engines et al, are now speeding up time with take-offs between each international-bound flight as little as 3 hours. Does make the trains look tardy don't they?
HEliCOPTER, THE WONDER MACHINE
While Airplanes are not the only mode of Air travel, Helicopters too have been invented for shorter durations of flying . Not only are they lighter and faster, they can land just about anywhere, without much fanfare . If you are wondering just who the first inventor of the Helicopter as we now know the name of this machine, was none other than the famous Italian sculptor and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci! However, it was in the 20thcentury that, November 13, 1907 to be precise that a Frenchman by the name of Paul Corn inspired a twin-rotored helicopter into the air for just a few seconds. Yet another Frenchman by the name of EtienneOehmichen flew the helicopter a kilometer for about for 7 minutes and 40seconds, creating a new historical record for this machine in the year 1924. So the progress of the machine kept on, looking in the area of vertical flight and another important name to be mentioned in this connection is the Spaniard, Juan de la Cierva . His kind of helicopter was called the "autogiro" and was not really a helicopter. Nevertheless, his important invention needs mention. Finally, by 1936, after many experiments in vertical flight, the entrance of the German Focke Wulf Fw 61 established the helicopter as another means of Air travel.
THE GENIUS OF NASA, HUMAN SPACE SHUTTLE
If you are thinking about the wondrous progress mankind has made in relation to Air travel, there is more. Man, never stops, don?t you know? In searching for further boundaries to conquer or understand as we civil folk would like to think, then the NASA Human space shuttle needs proper attention in this article . Taking us humans to go where no man has gone before (remember StarTrek) and exploring our Sun (at a very, very safe distance of course) our Moon and other planets like the wondrous and mysteriously ringed Saturn and the ever-large Jupiter and cold Pluto (now being debated about actually being a Planet) and elusive the Neptune.
With each layer of air, man breaks through in the name of travel . It is the eagerness to know just what lies beyond. Time ceases to exist when the world of space envelops . Air travel is the only means of conquering linear time . We may not know this consciously, but all of us, inside, do our own Air traveling, breaking barriers and connecting people quicker and more effectively.One may not feel the air as sprout our machined wings to fly through the sky, like the birds do, but we are getting there, slowly and surely . Till that day, when Time does cease to exist for all of us, Air travel continues to remain the closest to keeping Time under our physical control . Well, almost. Till the Time Machine is invented, Air travel will be here waiting to transport us to newer horizons and bigger dreams .
