Friday, March 27, 2009

My Choice




My choice of topic today is the infamous Boeing 747 series. The Boeing company is the world's largest aircraft manufacturer. It's headquarters is here in Chicago, Illinois. It is also the world's second largest aerospace and defense contractor. The Boeing company was started by William E. Boeing. He was from the west in Seattle, Washington. He had own an lumbering company. Then one day he saw a manned flying machine and he liked it a lot. So he started to invest in making planes. He called his investment the Boeing Airplane Company. So the military bought 50 planes from the company, which had jumpstarted the company. Now fast foward to 2009 and they're the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world. The Boeing company has many planes that they make, such as the 737, 747, 767, 777, 787. All of these planes are made in series. The most famous series is the Boeing 747 series. The 747 series is the most famous series for multiple reasons maybe because of their double deck, or spacious leg room, or maybe because one of its models have 400 seats. Airlines are well aware the more people they have the more money they make. So airlines spend money to make money, thus making the Boeing 747-400 the most famous/favorite plane in the world. So until next time this Gerald signing off saying, be light, fly high, and ball right.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Begining of Flying High








Hello peoples today I am going to go over an brief history of how aviation started of as we know it today.The first form of an aircraft was the kite designed in the 5th century B.C. Lawerence Hargrave a British-born Australian inventor created a rigid-wing aircraft with flapping blades operated by a compressed air motor it flew 312 feet (95m) in 1891. Kites played an important role in the development of aviation, they were used to test aerodynamics and flight stability. From 1903 to today, it's amazing how far aviation has come. On December 17, 1903 at 10:35 a.m. the Wright brothers (Orville and Wilbur: Orville at the controls) made the first heavier than air machine powered flight which lasted 12 seconds and spanned 120 feet. This was a very successful flight. Yet not all flights were victorious on September 17, their aircraft crashed, injuring Orville and his passenger (Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge) Selfridge later died of a concussion and was the first person to be killed in a powered airplane. Yet the show must go on and Wilbur Wright went to France in August 1908, December 31, 1908 he completed a 2 hour 20 minute flight which demonstrated full control over his flyer. After this event the United States Military had purshased the flyer.
Well known in the aviation field Glenn Hammond Curtiss won the first american award the Scientific American Trophy, for an airplane flight when he went on to win the first international speed event at about 47mph, on August 28, 1910. Before World War 1, airplane design greatly improved Pusher biplanes. Pusher biplanes are two-winged airplanes with the engine and propeller in front of the wing. Now this is how aviation came about from a kite floating high, to a plane flying high. So until next time be light, fly high and ball right.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Credible Vs. Non- Credible Sources

On my way searching for information about aviation I came across a couple of issues. The first one was how and where I would get information regarding aviation. The next issue that came up that my instructor brought to my attention was that "is the websites that provide you with information are they 'Credible' sources or 'Non-Credible' sources." Thus, bringing me to my next post.



Credible vs Non-Credible Sources

Credible:

With the creation of this post I looked up the definition of credible and sources and I came out with this.

Credible is defined as "capable of being believed"

Source is defined as "any thing or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained."

So putting these two definitions together I came out with my own definition of Credible Sources. My definition is believable websites that have structure and seniority such as websites that end with "edu,""gov,"and"org."

Non-Credible Sources:

Now on the other hand my instructor mentions Non-Credible Sources. I also look up the definition for non; credible and source we already know the definition of.

So the word non was defined like this, an adverb which is a synonym similar to no or not. So my personal definition of NON-CREDIBLE SOURCES are websites that are not believable and do not have structure or seniority such as websites that have a lot of advertisements and/ or end with "com."

So here are some examples of Credible Sources:

http://www.tuskegee.edu/

http://www.museumofaviation.org/

Now here are some examples of Non-Credible Sources:

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.ask.com/

I know you might be wondering for non credible sources why did I list two popular search engines. On one hand they can be quite useful on finding out information about aviation, but I dont know if the information is solid or false, because of the fact that none of the information lists an author. So thanks for reading my peace, so until next time be light, fly high, and ball right.








Monday, March 9, 2009

Personal Reflection


Hello peoples today in my blog I would be talking about why I personally chose aviation. As many people who personally knows me knows that I love traveling. Since I was in the womb I have been traveling across America. When I was younger I use to fly from Denver Colorado, Chicago Illinois, Los Angeles California, and Jackson Mississippi via flight. Since I can remember I got excited by flying. I guess because when a plane is the process of taking off it has to go at a very fast pace to get up in the air. While it's gaining its top speed on ground you are being propel deep into your seat and if you’re blessed enough to sit by a window you will see the background moving in a slight blur. I also like when the plane is in the process of landing and if your blessed enough to sit at a window by the wing you can actually see the wings lifting up to create more drag then lift to slow the plane down enough to land at a respectable speed. But while the plane is landing its back at the same speed as of when it had took off so for a couple of seconds the background (outside) is in a blur. Then it stopped abruptly, which propelled you out of your seat. That also excites me. Thus, I was motivated to become a pilot. I know and realize that a lot of people are terrified of flying because of the bad media take that flying has, but me personally I don't care. Why live your life in fear and limit yourself. So I feel that I'm killing two birds with one stone. One being the excitement of speed and another is traveling/sight seeing. Thanks peoples so until next time be light, fly high, and ball right.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Flying High

Hello my name is Gerald Watson Jr and I am an active senior at The Academy of Communications and Technology A.C.T for short. Today in moy blog I will be discussing the topic "Flying High." What I mean by this title is the study of aviation, how it works, and why does it works. So far what I know about aviation is that there is a lot of energy involved. Also involved with the success of aviation is continuing forces working against each other. The forces include gravity, lift, drag, and thrust. For an aircraft to achieve flight thrust has to be greater then drag and the force of lift has to be greater then gravity. So right now I know its multiple forms of aircrafts such as airplanes, jets, autogiros, ornithopters, helicopters, gliders, hot air balloons and etc. All of these aircrafts have one thing in common, they "defy the laws of gravity" on for a certain period of time. The most popular aircract is a airplane. In the near future I would love to be flying a plane as a career. I thank the pioneers such as the Wright brothers for harvesting this extremely useful tool. So until the next time be light, fly high, and ball right.