Flying Safely Into The Future: 2 Innovations
Air travel is often considered the safest way to get from one point to the other. However, many people doubt this notion due to the highly fatal and highly destructive nature of plane crashes and related incidents.
Aviation specialists are always looking for the next best way to improve the safety of passengers on-board an aeroplane, thereby granting the aviation industry a safer future. This article discusses three innovations that have the potential to make air travel much safer for you in future.
The Airframe Parachute System
An airframe parachute is a parachute designed for the entire aircraft. Airframe parachutes are designed to reduce the speed at which an aircraft descends to ground level in an emergency situation (e.g. if the pilot loses control of the plane). By reducing this speed, an airframe parachute will reduce the impact of collision between the plane and the ground. Thus, the structure of the aircraft is likely to be protected from severe damage in the event of a crash, and passengers are likely to suffer less serious injuries.
Airframe parachutes have been in existence for a long time and they are commonly used on lighter airplanes. Many commercial airlines haven't adopted the use of airframe parachutes. Perhaps if they did, passengers would not be as skeptical about the safety of air travel.
The "Self-Healing" Aircraft
This is another innovation that (if fully developed and embraced) might impact the future safety of air travel significantly.
The working principle behind this innovation is relatively simple. FRP (fiber-reinforced polymers) used to make various components of the aircraft (e.g. the wings) are filled with a high-performance hardening material and an epoxy resin compound. If the FRP material is damaged in mid-flight (e.g. as a result of collision with wayward objects), the resin compound and the hardener contained within the fibers are released. The two mentioned components are responsible for the "self-healing" mechanism that gives back the FRP material much of its original structural integrity.
Perhaps the best thing about this innovation is that it has the potential to lower the cost of air travel. If the "self-healing" mechanism is adopted, many metallic plane components are likely to be replaced with their FRP equivalents. Because FRPs are lighter than metal, planes will be much lighter and they'll have a reduced aerodynamic drag. This translates to improved fuel efficiency for the aircraft. If the airline makes savings on the cost of jet fuel, you're likely to enjoy lower air travel fares.