Construction of Transportation Means - Decreasing Fuel Consumption and Exhaust Gas Emissions in Transportation - page 40

Flying
apparatus

Space ship Airplane

Lighter
than air

Heavier
than air

Balloon Airship

Rotating wing airplane
Helicopter
Winged helicopter
Gyroplane

Riding wing airplane
Airplane
Engine sailer
Sailer

Fig. 3.4 Review of flying apparatus

In safety technology, the first important task is to prevent accidents; the second
is to lower the number of injuries from accidents by using active and passive safety
technology; see Fig. 3.2 .
Designed for passive safety, modern cars use not only lightweight materials, but
also new vehicle geometries and components that can act as energy-absorbing
crumple zones. Modern light cars achieve the performance of a conventionally
designed heavy vehicle. More over, they usually provide a larger and highly safed
space for crashes [ 25 ].

3.2 Airplanes

Aviation began to develop about 120 years ago with the first winged airplanes
which were powered by four stroke engines. Fuel consumption at this pioneering
time did not play a decisive role. Development was fast and more than 2,100
airports were already in existence in the USA in 1932. In the decades after the
Second World War, light weight materials, jet engines, and computer technology
began to have more and more of an effect on the development of aircraft con-
struction [ 26 ].
Currently, general aviation is defined as all aviation other than scheduled
commercial and military aviation.
In 2010, there were 320,000 active general aviation aircrafts and helicopters
worldwide, including 17,770 passengers and 89,129 military airplanes, and 26,500
civil and 29,700 military helicopters.
In addition to this number, there were also 4,000 private jets, according to the
statistics of General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) [ 27 ].
The number of airplanes in the world has increased rapidly over the last dec-
ades. Worldwide general aviation billings rose by 1.2% to US $19.7 billion due to
large-cabin, long-range aircraft.
About 6,000 Instrument Flight Rules flights are in the air at peak travel times.