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How the times have changed

 26, 2011 FAA and EASA certified the Boeing 787 Dream liner. The FAA presented the U.S. Type Certificate, which verifies that the 787 has been tested and found to be in compliance with all federal regulations. A new step into the future of flight where computer systems have almost completely taken over the controls of the Boeing 787. Over the past hundred years flight technology has changed tremendously. Ranging from when the Wright brothers took their first flight on December 17, 1903, where there were little to no controls at all on the plane to help navigate. Up until the most recent Boeing 787, which was only approved for flight this year, which has a complete glass front, in which case the entire dashboard is a large computer.

            In my recent visit to Purdue University’s aviation department I noticed how different the types of planes are for the average flyers. My first flight was this summer in a Cessna 152, a plane that was made in 1985, but highly popular in small airports, like the Plymouth Airport. The dashboard included several round instruments that let the pilot know what the altitude was, temperature, angle of accent, and a few other key things. Not very high tech compared to the planes that the aviation department at Purdue had. Where two years ago they acquired sixteen new Cirrus’s, which had the “glass fronts” quite similar to the ones on the newer jet planes. Both small planes made not too far apart are very different in the level of technology they have for pilots.

            Purdue’s Aviation department realizes the rapid increase in the technology used in these planes and they use this information in preparing for how they run their flight program. Although they have sixteen new Cirrus’s they still keep a few Cessna’s and Piper’s so that training pilots will know what to do in their future professions. Whether this is in the new Boeing 787 with their glass fronts, which the new Cirrus’s would help with. Or if these new pilots got jobs at lower, regional businesses, as private pilots, where having the knowledge of how to fly the Cessna’s and Piper’s with the round dial instruments would help, because most smaller jets do not have the most updated glass fronts.

            Purdue is advanced in this decision because most schools have either one or the other. They either have a flight force with all old planes, with the round dials and buttons. Or they have the newer planes, like the Cirrus’s with the new “glass front” style technology. Having one or the other as a learning basis can seriously set back a new pilot trying to get a job. This reason because they could either get a job for a small regional business, or as a private pilot, which have planes that use the older systems, but they could have gone to a school that only the newer planes and technology. In this case they would not know what to do. Also a new pilot could get a job for a more well known business, like Delta or Jet Blue, where they would be flying the newer modeled airplanes, like the new Boeing 787 with the “glass front”. Although if they were given an education in smaller planes with the older technology and round instruments then there would also be a lot of confusion and extra work that would have to be done to learn how the fly these different systems. 

Perfect Match

In a compelling novel about how a family deals with and survives a tragic event, Jodi Picoult explores the boundaries of love and resilience in a family. In Perfect Match Nina Frost learns that her son has been sexually assaulted and deals with the entire process of helping to bring the person who did this to him to justice. Throughout the novel she pursues many suspects, ultimately leading her to bring the guilty one to justice. This process puts a very large strain on the family and the home life especially at one point, when her husband, the boy's father, becomes a suspect.  There are many turning points in the story that tear at the fabric of the family. In the end though, the family catches the culprit and he is arrested and put away, although for the family that is not the end. Nina and her family have to then from that point learn how to move past this tragic event that ripped apart their family and learn to put it back together.

            This relates with my story about a girl, Emily, who is twenty-two just out of college with Honors, got a job at the most prestigious paper in the city, but joins the wrong group of friends. While being pressured into robbing a convenient store, Emily is torn between the decisions, but in the end goes with them to fit in. After being caught, but let go, Emily and her family then  have to learn how to move on from that and get to a point where they can all accept each other again.

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Don't be Fooled.

You may see them, on Halloween, while you are out with your friends gallivanting around the streets Trick or Treating. Masks are worn by almost every person out on Halloween. People use them to hide an identity, they are used as an escape or a facade to shield their true identity from people. Masks are an interesting thing. 

Halloween is not the time where masks are used. There purpose is not limited to completing or perfecting a costume. Many people use masks in their everyday life. These masks are not pieces of plastic that you can drive and pick up at IParty, these masks are not colorful pieces of paper with feathers glued on to them, and tied to peoples heads. The masks used everyday by people are a different variety. These types of masks are hidden from everyone, you cannot see them simply hanging off peoples faces, they do not show as easily. People hide behind these masks as their own art of pretending. They do not want to be judged or recognized for how they truly feel. These people want you to believe that they have confidence and everything is sunny and unruffled in their lives. A strangers belief in this facade may even convince the person themselves that they are fine. These masks are there also as a protection, while hiding behind them you might start to believe the lies that you show everyone and forget about the world and truth you are hiding from.

Rejection and ridicule are two main things that encourage people to keep their masks. Why would you want to let your feelings pour out, only to be shot down and rejected by your friends? Most people hide behind these masks that they create for themselves because they fear that they may never gain the acceptance and love that they so desperately desire. They believe that their true selves could never be accepted by anyone and they hide behind a fake persona they create for themselves, which they believe people will more willingly accept.

At some point wearing these masks becomes a routine for people. They are so used to pretending that soon they begin to cut themselves out from their friends and the general public. After a period of time from wearing their masks they begin to believe that that is how they must act and letting people understand their true feelings would be a mistake.

The responsibility to help these people then lies on others. For others to realize and recognize these masks when they see them. Do not be fooled by these people because your recognition of these masks may be the thing that help these people understand that there is nothing wrong with being who you really are and letting the world know your true self.

Ten Thousand Feet

Ten thousand feet above sea level is where I feel most at home. Growing up with a pilot as a father has been a catalyst for many unique opportunities. I have known for a while now that flying was my personal pursuit in life, and have been eager to follow this dream. It was never really a question for me, after my father first showed me the inside of the cockpit in a plane I could not stop thinking that it was the most interesting thing to do. How I could not dream of anything better than to be ten thousand feet in the air and flying around, and get the opportunity to do that for the rest of my life.

While other children were at home making hot chocolate and building snowmen during winter break, I was in Amsterdam wandering through the Van Gogh Museum, marveling at his anomalous style and technique. In leiu of tanning I spent the spring in Athens, Greece, lost in ambulatory musings about our disparate cultures. I have been the recipient of many invigorating chances to experience the world and its cultures.

It has been my dream to be a pilot since I was in fifth grade. I oftentimes find myself gazing out at the sky around me, anxious for a future I could spend in the air; a captain of the sky. I have stayed faithful to my dream, with my parents encouraging me to pursue it. On every trip my father takes me to the cockpit and shows me the myriad of charts and checklists he works through before every flight. He has pointed out all the glimmering buttons that surround the small room, and some of their purposes. I now know how to turn on and off all of the lights in the cabin. The walls of my room are covered with posters of flight maps and flight controls. Books on Cessna’s and aviation knowledge line my desk.

             At 5:54PM I stood in the luscious green lawn waiting, adrenalin coursing through my veins, anxiously waiting as my instructor approached me. My first flight was the summer before senior year. The first plane I flew was a Cessna 152. As soon as it took off my feelings were validated: Flying was what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Flying felt so real and at home for me; I loved being able to rise above the clouds and look down into the soft blue of Plymouth Harbor and fly over Plymouth Rock. I was not the only one impressed. My instructor was pleased to see that when it came down to landing the plane and taxiing I already knew what to do. 

After that flight it became irrevocable. Flying is the future that I want for myself.

           

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