'Masterly' New York Times 'Riveting' Scott Kelly 'Remarkable' The Times When Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, his goal was simple: to offer paying customers a trip to space by the end of the decade. Seventeen years, countless delays, and one catastrophic crash later, his space tourism dream may finally be on the verge of reality. Now, a New Yorker journalist offers the definitive portrait of the adventurers leading the way to the stars. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with Virgin's lead test pilot, Mark Stucky, Test Gods describes the making of a modern astronaut: from starry-eyed youth to NASA, the Air Force, and Virgin Galactic; and through dozens of gruelling test flights to his first successful trip beyond the earth's atmosphere. The result is the most vivid exploration of an astronaut's inner life since Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. It offers an intimate and unique insight into the new space race.

After the Apollo program put twelve men on the moon and safely brought them home, anything seemed possible. In this spirit, the team at NASA set about developing the Space Shuttle, arguably the most complex piece of machinery ever created. The world's first reusable spacecraft, it launched like a rocket, landed like a glider, and carried out complicated missions in between. Bold They Rise tells the story of the Space Shuttle through the personal experiences of the astronauts, engineers, and scientists who made it happen--in space and on the ground, from the days of research and design through the heroic accomplishments of the program to the tragic last minutes of the Challenger disaster. In the participants' own voices, we learn what so few are privy to: what it was like to create a new form of spacecraft, to risk one's life testing that craft, to float freely in the vacuum of space as a one-man satellite, to witness a friend's death. A guided tour of the Shuttle--in historical, scientific, and personal terms--this book provides a fascinating, richly informed, and deeply personal view of a feat without parallel in the human story.

This book presents a selected number of international aviation-specific cases, with an emphasis being placed on Greece, as a number of investment opportunities arise and its economy is recovering from a nine-year turmoil. Aviation has come a long way since its inceptions and is regarded as the safest mode of transport; an achievement that has been built on accumulated experience. The incorporation of redundant systems is aimed at eliminating potential failure causes. Indeed, the introduction of sophisticated computers and cutting-edge technology has led to a decrease in accidents per se. The paper by J.A. Richter though suggests that the "safety-first" culture spearheaded by air carriers may be at risk. Market insighters claim that the aviation sector will continue to grow at a rate around 3% with the Asia-Pacific area showing the highest increase. The latter may be in part due to the introduction of policies that are fostering the role of market forces in the aviation industry. The paper by M. A. Abdullah et al using stochastic frontier analysis argues that production inefficiencies have occurred, which may be the outcome of global competition and suggest that air carriers ought to adjust to a more competitive international market. In anticipation of a constant rise in passenger numbers, aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus have opted for different approaches in terms of meeting anticipated market demands. In doing so, Airbus introduced the double-decker A380 aircraft, with Emirates being its main customer followed by the leading European flag carriers. The marketing of the A380 has inadvertently affected airport service providers, Regulatory Bodies and Air carriers. As Greece is at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, author S. Topouris examines the possibility of the new Athens International Airport, AIA, to serve as an A380 scheduled airport. Athens International Airport is the successor of the former Hellinikon Airport, which terminated operations on March 28th, 2001, as it had reached its saturation point. Owing to Greece's geographical particularities and the numerous scattered islands, aircraft and vessels are the primary modes of transport showing an increased trend. The study by P. Meimaris et al, provide preliminary data pertaining to the amount of emitted greenhouse gases, GHG, from civil aircraft flying within Hellenic Air Space, HAS. This work equally acknowledges the effect of wildfires in amplifying the percentage of GHGs within a region. Greece's geostrategic location amidst the crossroads of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle-East is facilitating a higher amount of passenger and freight movements to a number of European metropolises. The cities of Athens and Piraeus act as European gateways for both air carriers and maritime companies, respectively. Acknowledging Europe's White Paper on Transport, this work introduces a bold approach of minimizing greenhouse gases by turning part of Greece's railway system into a high-speed network, which is deemed to augment its economy in the long-term. The work by V. M. Kafasis elaborates on the emerging opportunities in Greece's aviation industry, resulting from the introduction of Law 4568/2018 pertaining to the licensing, operation and utilization of waterdromes. The development and operation of seaplanes is expected to offer a flexible alternative, which, in turn, may foster inter-connectivity and enhance remote area accessibility, while improving financial performance indicators. The successive European Air Liberalisation Acts inadvertently affected a number of European flag carriers. The 2008 financial crisis that spread across Europe had a profound impact on Cypriot Economy, in particular during the (2011-2012) period. Author C. Hailis discusses the effect of the financial crisis in Cyprus' aviation market, while providing an insight on Cyprus Airways.

Past communicable diseases, such as the recent Ebola epidemic, have resulted in many deaths and highlight the potential economic cost of disruptions to air travel and the U.S. and global economies. This book examines the extent to which selected U.S. airports and airlines have plans for responding to communicable disease threats from abroad and to which a national aviation-preparedness plan guides preparedness; and the challenges that U.S. airports and airlines have faced when responding to threats and any actions taken to address them.

An international community of specialists reinvented the propeller during the Aeronautical Revolution, a vibrant period of innovation in North America and Europe from World War I to the end of World War II. They experienced both success and failure as they created competing designs that enabled increasingly sophisticated and 'modern' commercial and military aircraft to climb quicker and cruise faster using less power. Reinventing the Propeller nimbly moves from the minds of these inventors to their drawing boards, workshops, research and development facilities, and factories, and then shows us how their work performed in the air, both commercially and militarily. Reinventing the Propeller documents this story of a forgotten technology to reveal new perspectives on engineering, research and development, design, and the multi-layered social, cultural, financial, commercial, industrial, and military infrastructure of aviation.

Love it or loathe it, Heathrow is the United Kingdom's largest and most important airport by a distance. It currently serves over 190 routes to more than 80 countries. Over 100 billion of imports and exports are handled every year, making it the UK's primary port by value. This fascinating book traces the often controversial development of the airport over the last 70 years from the most humble of beginnings. Thanks to the author's in-depth knowledge the arguments for and against the building of a third runway are thoroughly and objectively described. There have been, and indeed still are, those who advocate building a brand new hub airport for London but it is a fact that Heathrow has long been the cornerstone of the local economy, providing jobs for over 70,000 staff. This entertaining, controversial and superbly illustrated book is about much more than the bitter third runway battle. It contains many amusing anecdotes and a wealth of statistics that serve to make Heathrow such a key part of the country's infrastructure.

The space industry refers to economic activities related to the manufacture and delivery of components that go into Earth's orbit or beyond. The space industry is a subset of the U.S. aerospace industry and U.S. strength in aerospace has helped to provide U.S. strength in space. Bolstered by a large research and development establishment, the commercial space industry has a manufacturing component and a services component. This book focuses on the global commercial space manufacturing sector (launch vehicles, spacecraft, satellites, and parts and equipment). The space industry also builds space ports, ground stations, and ground equipment. Together, the space and ground infrastructure enables a much larger space services sector that includes satellite telecommunications and broadcasting services and satellite remote sensing. The space industry, broadly defined, is an important part of the U.S. industrial and technology base.

Each day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controls the take-offs, landings, and flights of over 50,000 aircrafts. To accomplish this mission safely and efficiently, the FAA must have a sufficient number of adequately trained air traffic controllers working at its air traffic control facilities. Over the next decade, the FAA will need to hire and train nearly 17,000 controllers to replace over 15,000 current controllers, most of whom will be retiring. This massive hiring effort will occur as the FAA begins to implement the next generation air transportation system (NextGen), which will integrate new technologies and procedures into air traffic operations and fundamentally change the role of air traffic controllers from controlling individual aircraft to managing air traffic flow. This book explores the current air traffic safety and control issues facing the Federal Aviation Administration today.

Most view the environment in its simplistic sense - that it is the overall summation of all things natural. In this context, the pervasive common view is that this "state of nature" will remain without change as long as we interfere with it as little as possible. This misconception can be rejected on two counts, the first being that the value of the environment does not lie in its existing state but in the opportunities it offers humankind, and the second being that it is not sufficient to ensure that the environment is passively preserved by us but there needs to be active initiatives in educating the populace of the world on the environment and the benefits that would accrue to it by our actions such as reducing the population of the world and creating employment opportunities. This book examines these theories in relation to aviation and carbon trading.

The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) provides federal grants to airports for airport development and planning. The airports participating in the AIP range from very large publicly-owned commercial primary airports to small public use general aviation airports that may be privately-owned. AIP funding is usually limited to construction or improvements related to aircraft operations, typically for planning and construction of projects such as runways, taxiways, aprons, noise abatement, land purchase, and safety, emergency or snow removal equipment. This book discusses the Airport Improvement Program within the broader context of airport capital development finance. After a brief history of federal support for airport construction and improvement, the book describes AIP funding, its source of revenues, funding distribution, and the types of projects the program funds.

To improve aviation safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to have in place the initial capabilities of a risk-based approach to safety oversight, known as a safety management system (SMS), by the end of fiscal year 2010. FAA is also implementing new procedures and technologies to enhance the safety, capacity, and efficiency of the national airspace system. Data are central to SMS and FAA's ability to test the impact of these changes on safety. This book addresses the FAA's current and planned use of data to oversee safety; the preliminary information on aircraft icing and winter operations; information on modifying the age standard for commercial pilots; potential strategies to address air ambulance safety concerns; and a look at increased efforts to address runway incursions.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), aviation currently accounts for about 2 percent of human-generated global carbon dioxide emissions, the most significant greenhouse gas and about 3 percent of the potential warming effect of global emissions that can affect the earth's climate, including carbon dioxide. This book discusses the IPCC's medium-range estimate forecasts that by 2050 the global aviation industry, including aircraft emissions, will emit about 3 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and about 5 percent of the potential warming effect of all global human-generated emissions.

The successful launches of SpaceShipOne raised the possibility of an emerging U.S. commercial space tourism industry that would make human space travel available to the public. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has responsibility for safety and industry promotion, licenses operations of commercial space launches and launch sites. To allow the industry to grow, Congress prohibited FAA from regulating crew and passenger safety before 2012, except in response to high-risk events. This book evaluates FAA's safety oversight of commercial space launches, response to emerging issues, and challenges in regulating and promoting space tourism and responding to competitive issues affecting the industry. This book also highlights the federal role in commercial space launches and the government's response to emerging industry trends, both domestically and internationally. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

Short Brothers was established in 1908, the first British aircraft manufacturer, with the company moving to Rochester during the early years of the First World War. At Rochester Shorts produced some of their most famous aircraft, beginning with a number of designs for the Royal Naval Air Service. During the inter-war years the company specialised in large flying boats, these undertaking pioneering flights while establishing a series of regular over water air routes operated by Imperial Airways. At Rochester the Company designed and manufactured the Stirling bomber and Sunderland flying boat. 'Shorts: the Rochester Years' not only looks at the development of those aircraft, but is a fascinating account of the early years of long-distance aviation and the airmen that used the River Medway at Rochester as a launch pad for flights of hitherto undreamed of distances.

2020 Space Hipsters Prize for Best Book in Astronomy, Space Exploration, or Space History Come Fly with Us is the story of an elite group of space travelers who flew as members of many space shuttle crews from pre-Challenger days to Columbia in 2003. Not part of the regular NASA astronaut corps, these professionals known as “payload specialists� came from a wide variety of backgrounds and were chosen for an equally wide variety of scientific, political, and national security reasons. Melvin Croft and John Youskauskas focus on this special fraternity of spacefarers and their individual reflections on living and working in space. Relatively unknown to the public and often flying only single missions, these payload specialists give the reader an unusual perspective on the experience of human spaceflight. The authors also bring to light NASA’s struggle to integrate the wide-ranging personalities and professions of these men and women into the professional astronaut ranks. While Come Fly with Us relates the experiences of the payload specialists up to and including the Challenger tragedy, the authors also detail the later high-profile flights of a select few, including Barbara Morgan, John Glenn (who returned to space at the age of seventy-seven), and Ilan Ramon of Israel aboard Columbia on its final, fatal flight, STS-107.   Purchase the audio edition.

What happens when a functional building is decommissioned? This book investigates liminal spaces: areas we occupy between here and there; structures that exist only as a place to be passed through, rather than as a destination in themselves. Its onus is buildings that have fallen to the wayside, and no longer channel continuous flows of human traffic. Combining architectural insight with a study of the transitory human condition, Airports on Hold analyses a number of obsolete airport infrastructures. As well as exploring how design impacts on an airport's success, this book investigates the relationship between small and medium airports and territories through a series of case studies. The research included herein has been compiled from the author's experiences at numerous universities. Especial thanks go out to the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University IUAV of Venice, the University of Genoa, and the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, for supporting the creation of this book.

From its earliest flights in 1926, carrying mail and occasionally a solo passenger to Chicago, to its acquisition by Delta in 2010, Northwest Airlines soared to the heights of technological achievement and business innovation--and sunk to the depths of employee discord, passenger dissatisfaction, and financial bankruptcy. Its story, rich in singular successes and failures, also has the sweep of the history of American business in the twentieth century. "Non-Stop: A Turbulent History of Northwest Airlines" captures both the broad context and the intriguing details as it weaves together the accounts of individuals who gave the airline its unique character: from founder Lewis Brittin and pioneering female executive "Rosie" Stein to the CEOs who saw the company through its glory days and its final tumultuous decade.

What was it like to pilot a crippled airliner, to be in the vanguard of the new profession of stewardess, to ride in the cabin of a luxurious Stratocruiser for the first time? These are the experiences that come alive as Jack El-Hai follows Northwest from its humble beginnings to its triumph as the envy of the airline industry and then ultimately to its decline into what aggrieved passengers and employees called "Northworst."

"Non-Stop" hits the airline's high points (such as its contributions during World War II and the Korean War) and the low--D. B. Cooper's parachute getaway from a Northwest airliner in 1971 and a terrorist's disruption of the airline's last year. Touching on everything from airline food and advertising to smoking regulations and labor relations, the story of Northwest Airlines encapsulates the profound changes to business, travel, and culture that marked the twentieth century.

It's impossible to tell the story of Court Line without telling that of Autair, founded by helicopter pioneer William 'Bill' Armstrong. Autair itself was an offshoot of his global helicopter operation, but Bill also had his finger in many aviation 'pies' including a multitude of operations in Africa, where so many aircraft and airlines were created, bought and sold with such prolificacy that even he could not remember the names and how many there were! There is also the background to Court Line's shipping concerns and the Caribbean operations of the hotel chains and regional airline Leeward Islands Air Transport which Court owned for a while. Covered in detail is the introduction, demonstration and use of the Lockheed TriStar wide-bodied airliner, the first of the type used in the Inclusive Tour business. Court Line Aviation and Tom Gullick's Clarksons Holidays brought to the forefront the concept of value-for-money Inclusive Tour holidays following the 'vertical integration' business model whereby owning and controlling each step of the holiday allowed the company to make a small profit at every stage. The orange, pink, turquoise and yellow jets brought flashes of colour to dreary British airports, and quickly streamed a multi-coloured rainbow across European skies to Mediterranean destinations and even further afield. Truly they did indeed put Colours in the Sky!

The majority of Chinese steel has been used to meet domestic demand in China. However, as its steel production continues to grow, over-capacity is becoming a major concern to Chinese industrial policy makers, as well as steelmakers outside China. Although industry statistics indicate that the Chinese steel industry is not export-oriented, its consistently high output keeps U.S. steelmakers concerned that excess Chinese steel might overwhelm the global market once domestic demand is adequately met. These concerns become increasingly acute as the United States and the rest of the world are in the middle of a slow recovery from the economic recession started in December 2007. This book provides an overview of China's steel industry and discusses the issues and implications with regard to the U.S. steel sector.

Celebrating Kent State's historic contributions to flight in northeast Ohio and beyond In this detailed and well-illustrated study, A Century of Flight at Paton Field explores the hundred-year history of the longest surviving public-use airport in Ohio. Intertwining the story of the airport's development with the history of flight education programs at the University, the book highlights a vast cast of characters and an examination of aviation's development on the local level throughout the last century. What was once Stow Field, a small airport in a rural community, stands at the center of this story. It was Kent State's participation in the federal government's Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) in the years leading up to World War II that led to state funding for purchase of the airport, along with support for a similar acquisition by four other state schools. This step prepared the way for the creation of collegiate aviation in Ohio. At Kent State, it brought in Andrew Paton, who created the first flight training curriculum and established a vision for the role the airport could play in a university-run program. In the period between the two World Wars, Stow Field was also the site of aviation exhibits that drew as many as 80,000 people, the christening of Goodyear's first helium blimp, and the area's first commercial airline service. As Kent State's airport is now enjoying both a new vitality and long-awaited investment, Barbara F. Schloman and William D. Schloman place this in context with the at-times-uncertain survival of Kent State's aviation program. This comprehensive history will appeal to graduates of that program and all aviation history enthusiasts, as well as those interested in the history of the region more generally.

On March 27, 1977, 583 people died when KLM and Pan Am 747s collided on a crowded, foggy runway in Tenerife, the Canary Islands. The cause, a miscommunication between a pilot and an air traffic controller. The pilot radioed, "We are now at takeoff", meaning that the plane was lifting off, but the tower controller misunderstood and thought the plane was waiting on the runway. In Fatal Words, Steven Cushing explains how miscommunication has led to dozens of aircraft disasters, and he proposes innovative solutions for preventing them. Cushing examines ambiguities in language and other causes of miscommunication between pilots and air traffic controllers. He looks at instances when a pilot or tower controller slips from technical aviation jargon into colloquial English, when a pilot inadvertently "tunes out" repeated instructions, when radios are misused, when a word is used that has different meanings, and when different words are used that sound alike. For example, he shows how a confusion involving to and two led to a fatal crash at a Southeast Asian airport. To remedy these problems Cushing proposes, for the short term, a visual communication system to supplement voice communication, one that would include a visual touchscreen interface. The technical details of a visual touchscreen prototype are included in an appendix. For the longer term, Cushing outlines an intelligent voice interface to filter conversations for potential confusions and provide real-time feedback to help clear up confusing language. Fatal Words is an accessible explanation of some of the most notorious aircraft tragedies of our time, and it will appeal to scholars in communications, linguistics, and cognitivescience, to aviation experts, and to general readers.

This book not only records the significant events of Canadian aviation but also pays tribute to the 'forgotten flyers who flew by guess and by God or with calculating caution - for the sheer love of flying - in the early days.' 'Pioneers of the Air' recounts the first tentative experiments with that overgrown monster, the flying machine - at this stage, the glider. Next come the Barnstormers, the first professional airmen, trying desperately to wrest a living from the air, pioneering in the field of practical flying as little more than vaudeville performers. These were the days of daring aero-acrobatics and tense and crowded air-meets. The First World War saw a tremendous advance in technical manoeuvres and in pilot skill; the first aviation school was established in Toronto, where the War Birds learned to fly. An unparallelled boom in aviation followed the war. Public interest had been aroused by the celebrated achievement of Canada's Air Force, and many young men, the restlessness of the war still in them, were obsessed by the itch to fly again. The Dollar-a-Minute days marked the beginning of passenger travel and a steady increase in experimental flying, to bear its practical fruit in days to come. The next chapter is one of heroic enterprise - the conquest of the Atlantic and the spanning of the Continent. No less epic is the history of the bush pilots who tamed the Canadian North. We must be grateful to Mr. Ellis for rescuing from obscurity this important chapter in our history.

This hilarious book confronts every aspect of a flight attendant's absurd world--from the endless array of passenger demands, to the secret language of flight attendants, and a unique version of the Safety Demo Shuffle. Fasten your seatbelt and prepare yourself for a side-splitting perspective on the trials and tribulations of air travel.

Air Transportation: A Management Perspective by John Wensveen is a proven textbook that offers a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of air transportation management. In addition to explaining the fundamentals, the book transports the reader to the leading edge of the discipline, using past and present trends to forecast future challenges and opportunities the industry may face, encouraging the reader to really think about the decisions a manager implements. Written in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand style, the Eighth Edition modernizes the text focusing on newly emerging management trends, innovative technology, and an increased emphasis on global changes in the industry that will change the future of aviation. New and updated material has been added throughout the text including mini case examples and supplemental presentation materials for each chapter. Air Transportation: A Management Perspective is suitable for almost all aviation programs that feature business and management. Its student-friendly structure and style make it highly suitable for modular courses and distance-learning programs, or for self-directed study and continuing personal professional development.

Human error is implicated in nearly all aviation accidents, yet most investigation and prevention programs are not designed around any theoretical framework of human error. Appropriate for all levels of expertise, the book provides the knowledge and tools required to conduct a human error analysis of accidents, regardless of operational setting (i.e. military, commercial, or general aviation). The book contains a complete description of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS), which incorporates James Reason's model of latent and active failures as a foundation. Widely disseminated among military and civilian organizations, HFACS encompasses all aspects of human error, including the conditions of operators and elements of supervisory and organizational failure. It attracts a very broad readership. Specifically, the book serves as the main textbook for a course in aviation accident investigation taught by one of the authors at the University of Illinois. This book will also be used in courses designed for military safety officers and flight surgeons in the U.S. Navy, Army and the Canadian Defense Force, who currently utilize the HFACS system during aviation accident investigations. Additionally, the book has been incorporated into the popular workshop on accident analysis and prevention provided by the authors at several professional conferences world-wide. The book is also targeted for students attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University which has satellite campuses throughout the world and offers a course in human factors accident investigation for many of its majors. In addition, the book will be incorporated into courses offered by Transportation Safety International and the Southern California Safety Institute. Finally, this book serves as an excellent reference guide for many safety professionals and investigators already in the field.