How to / How does....

How to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

1. Get out Peanut Butter, Jelly, a spreading knife (butter) and two slices of the bread of your choice.

2. Lay the two pieces of bread next to each other on your table. Flip one piece of bread horizontally as if to “mirror” the other slice.

3. Using the knife spread the peanut butter on one piece of bread.

4. Using the knife spread the jelly on the second piece of bread.

5. Put the two pieces of bread together so that the jelly and peanut butter meet and mix.

6. Enjoy.






What makes an airplane fly?
Two main parts make it possible for an airplane to fly. The wing (which is the shape of an airfoil) and an power plant (or engine). A stationary aircraft on the ground will increase it engine power (full thrust) in order to increase its thrust through the air. As the aircraft speeds up, the air passing by the airplane begins to flow around the wing. The airfoil shape of the wing forces air to split around the top and bottom of the wing. The bottom wind is more direct and travels a “short” distance to the trailing edge of the wing. The top wind, however, has to travel over the airfoil shape (a longer distance) to the trailing edge of the wing. This variation in distance traveled creates low pressure on of the wing which forces the wing upward. This upward motion is referred to as lift. Try it yourself! Next time you’re traveling down the road extend your hand (wing) out the car window. If you keep your hand level, your hand will stay stationary and not be pushed either up nor down. The wind pressure over and under the wing (hand) is equal. If you put your hand at an angle with your thumb higher than your pinky finger, you’ll notice your hand gets pushed upward. This is because the air traveling under your hand has a greater pressure than the air flowing over the top of your hand. Your hand (our experimental wing) has just created lift. This same process takes place constantly during flight in any fixed wing aircraft. Now you know. Now you grow. Now you go share this information and teach them about what makes an airplane fly.

Blog Post #2

The Aviation Industry's Future is Stable.

Many question the stability of today's aviation industry.  I wholly believe this is completely unfounded pessimism.  It is true that the US airline carriers have seen a lot of turnover, mergers and route cuts, employee furloughs and salary cuts but you cannot base the entirety of an industry on one one sector.  For example, the US military spends millions if not billions every year on purchasing new aircraft, aircraft systems, and repair.  This means that every year millions (if not billions) are poured into the bank accounts of our top military aircraft manufacturers like Boeing & Lockheed Martin.

To better understand the multiple sectors of this industry we'll break them into five sectors:

1. Civilian Commercial Transport (Large carriers, small regional carriers & charter companies)
2. Worldwide Commerce (Cargo and Package carriers such as Fed Ex or UPS)
3. Military Transport (USAF, USN, US Army and Marines)
4. Civilian Private/Sport (Air Race, stunt aircraft, private owned aircraft like Cessna)
5. Non-Industrial Uses (News Helicopters, crop dusters)

Even with the recent problems that have seemed to plague the US airline carriers, the number of airline travelers (passengers) has been on a steady climb since the great fall following the events of September 11th, 2001.  Demand for quick, point to point air travel is still heavy and is forecast to remain so over the next decade.  Because of this, the civilian transport sector, albeit rough, is stable.

Worldwide commerce? Well your alternative is the USPS, need I say more?

Every year the US government spends millions, if not billions, on new aircraft, new navigational and tactical systems and routine maintenance of aircraft within it's four branches of service.  Some of the leading military aircraft manufacturers in the US are the Boeing company and Lockheed Martin.  With so much money being stuffed into their pockets, our military transport sector is far from weak.

Combining the last two: Non-Industrial use and private/sport sectors we round out the remaining parts of the Aviation industry puzzle.  In my opinion, you must think of these sectors as a having a stronger multiplying affect.  Meaning one job or project, affects another, affects another and so on so forth.  In short, these private operators purchase aircraft (helicopters, crop dusters) which in turn drives greater revenue for the sector over all. How? These aircraft need a place to land, park, a place to fuel up, places to eat etc... The multiplier affect on this sector alone proves its stability.

In the end we'll always need aviation and Aviation will always need us.