Automation updated

I want to update my view on automation. At first, I didn't see the need for it, I thought it was a waste of money, now I think it's wonderful. In fact it could end up saving money. There's an article I saw about unmanned aircraft. Right now unmanned aircraft is being used by the milatary, so it's not too far of a wait. And it can't be done without automation

In this article, it says that  Today, the U.S. military trains twice as many ground operators for its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as pilots for its military jets. Its UAVs started off by flying surveillance missions, then took on ground attack; now they are being readied to move cargo and evacuate wounded soldiers. And for commericial flight, automation has helped airlines; what started out as 5 pilots is now done to a pilot and co-pilot.

Do we even need those two? Many aviation experts think not. "A pilotless airliner is going to come; it's just a question of when," said James Albaugh, the president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airlines...Some problems have to be fixed first, Fully automated planes can't yet visually identify nearby planes, and as for the remotely piloted ones, the civilian variety can't communicate with ground stations, because they haven't got enough bandwidth.

One factor that's often cited for keeping a pilot in charge is what's known as shared fate. That's the reassurance passengers get from knowing that the human in the cockpit wants to live just as much as they do.

So this may be ancient history in a few years.

Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III "Sully"

The hero of the Hudson as he is called. Captain Sully is most known for saving all 155 people on board of the Airbus A320, after a birdstrike caused both engines to shut down, and thus forced landing in the Hudson river. Sully was the Captain of US airways flight 1549, which was on Janurary 15, 2009. Not only is Sully an influential person in aviation, but was also named TIME magazines top 100 most influential hero's and icon of 2009.
Sully's aviation career got off to an early start, by the age of 16 he had already learned to fly in a Aeronca 7DC. And at the age of 18 he enrolled at US Air Force. Sully was employed by US Airways from 1980 to 2010. In his new position with US Airways, sully is a manager pilot, in addition to flying for US Airways, he will join the safety team. During his 40 years of flying he has over 19,000 of flight time.
I believe Sully is influentian to aviation because not only did save the 155 people on board, but he also went infront of congress and flat out told them that its not easy now a days to become a pilot. In this article Sully and his copilot explain there pay has been cut big time, and the pension is long gone.This is an intresting quote from the Copilot Jeffrey B. Skiles, "unless federal laws are revised to improve labor-management relations experienced crews in the cockpit will be a thing of the past." And Sullenberger added that without experienced pilots "we will see negative consequences to the flying public."
Sullenberger himself has started a consulting business to help make ends meet. Skiles added, "For the last six years, I have worked seven days a week between my two jobs just to maintain a middle class standard of living."

China's Airline Industry

What if I told you that China is projected to beat us in our own game. Yup, you heard me an article in aviation week said that China is projected to have the number 1 airline for commerical air travel by 2030.  Statistics from the FAA show U.S. carriers had 704 million domestic and international passengers in 2009, and the forecast is for 1.21 billion by 2030. However,  the Civil Aviation Administration of China has projected that Chinese carriers passenger numbers will increase from 230 million in 2009 to 700 million by 2020 and 1.5 billion by 2030.
Although China's internation airlines suffered last year, it's domestic travel still increased 22%, and is forecasted to be a growth of 17% this year.
There are 3 main state owned carriers in china, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines. All three reported heavy losses in 2008, as higher fuel prices took their toll, but the government, knowing how important is to the indusrty responded with bailouts. The other airlines in China, either merged or shutdown.
Something intresting I read is that the Chinease government, not the airlines get to choose which aircraft to order for the airlines. I can see why alot of companies can fail because of that.
Similiar to what the American Aviation indusrty is waiting for; NEXTGEN, China is expected to get their own NEXTGEN, except they will get their's much sooner than the US. They are expected to  open up its low altitude airspace completely in 2015 to encourage more flights from private jets. Boeing's own projection is that China will spend US$600 billion on 5,000 new planes in the next 20 years. And it is targeting to win at least half of these new aircraft orders. That is surely to create many jobs in China, as they will be looking to expand both domestically and internationally.

New Flight Charters

The corporate aviation company that I picked is New Flight Charters. A brief overview of the company is that it was founded in 2003 and flies under part 135 and operate under air carrier certificate CCJA746C. They fly a bunch of different aircraft from the Bombardier CRJ 200,  to the King Air 100, to a Citation Mustang. All and all I counted over 65 different types of aircraft. The large cabin jets are from $4000-7000 per hour and the midsize jets are from $2,600-3800, the turboprops are a little cheaper and go from $950-1400 per hour.
New Flight Charters fly from large cities in the U.S like,  L.A, San Francisco, South Florida, New York, and Chicago, just to name a few (you can choose over 4,000 places to take off from in the U.S). And they also guarantee the lowest price. I could not find specific job requirement, however they say that they are the most qualified and have 26 Years Chartering Experience, 32 Years FAA-Certified Aviation Experience, 83 Years Executive Management Experience, and 16,700 Hours Personal Flight Experience.
The President of the company is Rick Colson, and also they have three charter managers, Blake Smith, Nanette Poorman, and Michelle Murphy. They all are very experienced in aviation and some even have flight experience in big aircraft.
To be continued...