Needs a Legitimate and Provocative Title, like, I don’t know . . .

Deadly Innovation

Innovation is used all across different industries to describe the addition of new, better, and more efficient features to products. You can see it from food containers all the way to airplanes. Manufacturers use it to evoke a sense of better in our world. But in certain situations is there a need for better?

Innovation in aviation starts with the Wright Brothers, who are widely recognized as the pioneers of airplane design. Their first motor airplane set the stage for all innovation after that. You can still see small similarities in modern day aircrafts. The wings and tail shape can be spotted in everything from small planes to big planes. If this invention was so great why did we need to make it better? Firstly while the Wright brothers did something amazing for their time the aircraft could only go about 30 mph maximum. Which is slower than most cars these days, so we innovated. World War I was starting around the time of early aircrafts so most of the innovation started there. People were making small military planes made of flimsy materials not suitable for heavy aircrafts. By the end of World War I sheets of metal were being used to encapsulate the frames of planes and even small commercial airliners started to appear. These planes started off as transporting people for extra cash to a sprouting industry. In the 1930s we see our planes take shape into smaller versions of what we see now, but still there was the problem of passenger capacity. Again a World War skyrocketed the need for innovation, but this time it was World War II. We started to see bigger planes able to carry about 100 people form. With larger wingspans and better engines we were able to make airplanes better. Post World War II we start seeing the 700s line Boeing is still actively producing today. In 1967 we see the Boeing 737, a magnificent innovation in aviation that has been able to sustain itself for almost 80 years. Despite the success of this plane Boeing has been steadily releasing planes, either due to cost, size, and purpose.

We have reached a point where we have beautiful planes like the Airbus 380 which can seat up to 800 people or the Antonov AN-225 Myra that can carry other planes. While these planes are amazing innovations the Airbus 380 has been taken out of production and airlines are discontinuing the use of them. Why? Because they are simply too big for our uses. You will not see these planes at your local airport, you will see them at major international airports like John F. Kennedy in New York, Los Angeles Airport, or Dulles Airport in Virginia for long haul flights. Most airliners and airports cannot handle the sheer size and fuel capacity, it’s too expensive. These planes have been certified time and time again to be reliable, but we don’t need them. Right now we have innovated so much we have strict rules to prevent crashes and planes that will amaze us for a very long time.

The United States hasn’t had a major crash since 2009. When we do have crashes most are pilot error, about 88% in all U.S aviation and 50% of major airliner crashes. Mechanical failures are due to incorrect maintenance and faulty parts. Our planes at their core are amazing, our processes are the thing that is flawed.

References

Boeing History . Boeing. (n.d.). https://www.boeing.com/history

Konz, C., Happel, C. C., Turano, D., Daniel, G., Bigger, M., Design), O. R. (Cover, & Leishman, J. G. (2023, January 1). History of aircraft & aviation. Introduction to Aerospace Flight Vehicles. https://eaglepubs.erau.edu/introductiontoaerospaceflightvehicles/chapter/history-of-aircraft-and-aviation/

Accident location. DCA09MA027.aspx. (n.d.). https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA09MA027.aspx

I’m having a lot of trouble reaching 1,000 words while sticking to the definition. I feel like I went through the history of innovation or my opinion in aviation rather than the definition of innovation. For my feedback can you focus on my argument and how I can reach the 1,000 word requirement.

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