Air Travel Safety and Probable Causes of Human Error

Air Travel Safety and Probable Causes of Human Error Should airlines have a specific criterion in hiring new applicants in order to ensure consistent quality service? Hashtag: #CertificatesOfDoom Air Travel Safety and Probable Causes of Human Error Commercial aircraft’s hull-loss accident rate is 1.5 per one million departures making it the safest form of mass transportation in the world. However, despite tremendous improvements in commercial jets technology, the safety of air travel constantly depends on human efficiency and reliability or in the qualifications of aircraft’s pilot and crew. UK statistics of transport accidents in 2003 suggest that there are 20 times more people being killed in car accidents than passengers of commercial airlines each year. Traveling  by air is also 4 times safer than rail travel. In fact, the average fatality for every 12.5 million passengers carried by UK airlines is one. Moreover, airline passenger’s overall survivability rate in the year 2000 was already 95.7% and probably much higher today due to continuous improvement in aircraft’s design, operation, maintenance, and air traffic control. Except for human error, this makes commercial airlines the fastest, reliable, and safest type of mass transportation in the world. Human error is the main contributor to aircraft accidents. In fact, despite the presence of automated flight management systems and adaptive cruise control in cockpits, the common cause of aircraft accidents is human errors. Specifically, these are pilot’s intentional violation of operating procedures, incorrect reasoning, slips or mistakes caused by fatigue, and wrong response to a critical situation. Slips caused by fatigue are easy to accept, but breaking the rules and making faulty responses and reasoning is a quite strange for a well-educated, highly trained, and adequately experienced aviation pilot. Are these pilots really skilled and competent or holders of #CertificatesOfDoom from an aviation college in Nairobi? Critical Essay Airlines Criterion and Academically Incompetent Pilots Airlines have a  specific criterion in hiring new applicants in order to ensure consistent quality service. On the other side of the coin, it is also a precautionary measure to prevent entry of â€Å"half-baked† pilots or those with poor quality aviation training, less piloting experience, and insufficient formal education. It is quite evident that an ideal airline pilot is one with adequate formal education, well trained and with long hours of flight experience. A pilot holding a deceitfully acquired academic certificate or #CertificatesOfDoom, therefore, has no business whatsoever in the aviation industry. The recent Twitter expose about some aviation graduates that bought their degrees and certificates in various fields of Aeronautics, is a sad indication that some pilots of commercial airlines are academically incompetent. Another is the shocking reality that these certificates were sold by the institution that we all hoped to teach good values and promote learning in young people. Free Sample Essay about Travelling Academically incompetent pilots must not be allowed to fly or work in the aviation industry. In particular, those who acquired their degrees without attending the class are dangerous people with no respect for human life. The aviation industry should keep them out or terminate those who are already in the industry. In time, their lack of academic knowledge will take its toll on their ability to reason, make right decisions, and correctly respond to life-threatening situations. Remember, human error is not only responsible for significant financial losses but to the thousands of people who were killed by one man’s incompetence.

The U.S. Presidents and Their Era

The U.S. Presidents and Their Era Learning the list of U.S. presidents in order   is an elementary school activity. Most everyone remembers the most important and best presidents, as well as those that served in wartime. But many of the rest are forgotten in the fog of memory or vaguely remembered but cant be placed in the right time frame. So, quick, when was Martin Van Buren president? What happened during his tenure? Gotcha, right? Heres  a refresher course on this fifth grade subject that includes the 45 U.S. presidents as of January 2017, along with the defining issues of their eras.   U.S. Presidents 1789-1829 The earliest presidents, most of whom are considered to be Founding Fathers of the United States, are usually the easiest to remember. Streets, counties, and cities are named after all of them across the country. Washington is called the father of his country for good reason: His ragtag Revolutionary army beat the British, and that made the United States of America a country. He served as the countrys first president, guiding it through its infancy, and set the tone. Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of Independence, expanded the country tremendously with the Louisiana Purchase. Madison, the father of the Constitution, was in the White House during the War of 1812 with the British (again), and he and wife Dolley had to famously escape the White House as it was burned by the British.  These early years saw the country carefully begin to find its way as a new nation. George Washington (1789-1797)John Adams (1797-1801)Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)James Madison (1809-1817)James Monroe (1817-1825)John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) U.S. Presidents 1829-1869 This period of U.S. history is marked by the searing controversy of slavery in the Southern states and compromises that tried and ultimately failed to solve the problem. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 all sought to deal with this issue, which inflamed passions both North and South. These passions ultimately erupted in secession and then Civil War, which lasted from April 1861 to April 1865, a war that took the lives of 620,000 Americans, almost as many as in all other wars fought by Americans combined. Lincoln is, of course, remembered by all as the Civil War president trying to keep the Union intact, then guiding the North throughout the war and then attempting to bind up the nations wounds, as stated in his Second Inaugural Address. Also, as all Americans know, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth just after the war ended in 1865. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)William H. Harrison (1841)John Tyler (1841-1845)James K. Polk (1841-1849)Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)James Buchanan (1857-1861)Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) U.S. Presidents 1869-1909 This period, which stretches from just after the Civil War until the early part of the 20th century, was marked by Reconstruction, including the three Reconstruction Amendments (13, 14 and 15), the rise of the railroads, westward expansion, and wars with Native Americans in the areas where American pioneers were settling. Events like the Chicago Fire (1871), the first run of the Kentucky Derby (1875) the Battle of Little Big Horn (1876), the Nez Perce War (1877), the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge (1883), the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) and the Panic of 1893 define this era. Toward the end, the Gilded Age made its mark, and that was followed by the populist reforms of Theodore Roosevelt, which brought the country into the 20th century. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)James A. Garfield (1881)Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)William McKinley (1897-1901)Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) U.S. Presidents 1909-1945 Three momentous events dominated this time period: World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II. Between World War I and the Great Depression came the Roaring 20s, a time of immense social change and huge prosperity, which all came to a screeching halt in October 1929, with the crash of the stock market. The country then plunged into a somber decade of extremely high unemployment, the Dust Bowl on the Great Plains and many home and business foreclosures. Virtually all Americans were affected. Then in December 1941, the Japanese bombed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. was drawn into World War II, which had been wreaking havoc in Europe since the fall of 1939. The war caused the economy to finally turn up. But the cost was high: World War II took the lives of more than 405,000 Americans in Europe and the Pacific. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president from 1932 to April 1945, when he died in office. He steered the ship of state through two of these traumatic times and left an enduring mark domestically with New Deal legislation. William H. Taft (1909-1913)Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) U.S. Presidents 1945-1989 Truman took over when FDR died in office and presided over the end of World War II in Europe and the Pacific, and he made the decision to use atomic weapons on Japan to end the war. And that ushered in whats called the Atomic Age and the Cold War, which continued until 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union. This period is defined by peace and prosperity in the 1950s, the assassination of Kennedy in 1963, civil rights protests and civil rights legislative changes, and the Vietnam War. The late 1960s were particularly contentious, with Johnson taking much of the heat over Vietnam. The 1970s brought a watershed constitutional crisis in the form of Watergate. Nixon resigned in 1974 after the House of Representatives passed three articles of impeachment against him. The Reagan years brought peace and prosperity as in the 50s, with a popular president presiding. Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974)Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977)Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) U.S. Presidents 1989-2017 This most recent era of American history is marked by prosperity but also by tragedy: The attacks of Sept.11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and including the lost plane in Pennsylvania took 2,996 lives and was the deadliest terrorist attack in history and the most horrific attack on the U.S. since Pearl Harbor. Terrorism and Mideast strife have dominated the period, with wars being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq soon after 9/11 and ongoing terrorism fears throughout these years. The 2008 financial crisis was the worst in the U.S. since the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. George H. W. Bush (1989-1993)Bill Clinton (1993-2001)George W. Bush (2001-2009)Barack Obama (2009-2017)Donald Trump (2017- )

Thinking Globally; Do you think the US should convert to the metric Essay

Thinking Globally; Do you think the US should convert to the metric system - Essay Example The system has proved beneficial in baking for the reason that baking is a science where accurate measurements are required to generate consistent and quality baked products (Strianese and Strianese 118). Other than the baking industry, metric system is important in the pharmaceutical, automotive, engineering, and science industry. These industries have decided to go metric system because it is very crucial in world trade. Metric terminology is being used in the medical field. The metric system is taught early during the training of doctors because the drug dosage is usually specified in metric units. Presently, approximately ninety percent of global population utilizes the metric system. The metric system is still being introduced and utilized in majority of the industries in the United States; the most remarkable industries using the system include the food and beverage industry. For instance, when an individual purchases a beverage such as coffee or soda, the measurement usually appears on the beverage package in metric terms and customary measurements always used (Strianese and Strianese 119). As stated before, the metric system is used in the baking industry because it gives exact measurements. Thus, it is useful in this industry because the ingredients are generally weighted instead of being measured. The change to the metric system is evident in the United States; in the food and beverage industry, very few bottles of wine are sold using the customary U.S. measures (Strianese and Strianese 119). The metric system offers standard rules for â€Å"communicating the amounts of its units through prefixes. For example, a milligram is one-thousandth of a gram (weight), a milliliter is one-thousandth of a liter (volume), and a millimeter is one-thousandth of a meter (length)† (Strianese and Strianese 120). The customary system does not have this form of predictability and uniformity (Strianese and Strianese 120).

Critical Thinking Case Study (Marketing) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Critical Thinking (Marketing) - Case Study Example He is confident that a new product can be delivered despite budgetary cuts. 2b. Pat Lambert Pat believes that the retail version of the original AcuScan scanner will be a big hit. If not the perfect version, a prototype can be developed by August, to which further changes can be made. If this deadline is not met, the competitor will launch their product before AcuScan Inc. and grab the market share. The features are slight changes to the original AcuScan and need additional databases and modifications to make Operation Optimize possible. Kelly is making things difficult because on talking to one of the engineers Pat discovered that such a new product is very much possible to me made within the stipulated time and existing resources. 2c. Kelly Thomas Kelly initially thought that the new product requires minor alterations to the existing. However, later he discovered that the new product is too much of an innovation on the existing one and would require a lot of time and effort. Kelly believes that others don't understand the mechanics of product engineering and what goes into making a new product. In this time frame, with the existing workforce he can only deliver a certain feature of the product and not the entire product itself. 2d. Chris Martinas Chris like Cliff believes that the retail version of the scanner will position AcuScan on a path to success and regain its leadership position in the technology landscape. He believes that product engineering is Kelly's domain and only when Kelly and Pat both work together, would it be possible that the new product comes into being. 3a. Cliff Cliff's argument is logical as well as emotional in nature. He understands that innovation in the dynamic landscape of technology is a must...and grab the market share. The features are slight changes to the original AcuScan and need additional databases and modifications to make Operation Optimize possible. Kelly is making things difficult because on talking to one of the engineers Pat discovered that such a new product is very much possible to me made within the stipulated time and existing resources. Kelly initially thought that the new product requires minor alterations to the existing. However, later he discovered that the new product is too much of an innovation on the existing one and would require a lot of time and effort. Kelly believes that others don't understand the mechanics of product engineering and what goes into making a new product. In this time frame, with the existing workforce he can only deliver a certain feature of the product and not the entire product itself. Chris like Cliff believes that the retail version of the scanner will position AcuScan on a path to success and regain its leadership position in the technology landscape. He believes that product engineering is Kelly's domain and only when Kelly and Pat both work together, would it be possible that the new product comes into being. Cliff's argument is logical as well as emotional in nature. He understands that innovation in the dynamic landscape of technology is a must for any organization to do well.

Essay --

Introduction The Berlin Plus Agreement was signed on 16th December 2002 by Javier Solana, the European Union High Representative for the Common and Security Policy and George Robertson, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The main purpose is to enhance a bilateral cooperation on international security. The first mission held through the Berlin Plus agreement was promoted by the EU in Macedonia and Bosnia (2003). Named Concordia it provided concrete evidence of the importance of the Berlin Plus to be effective in order to safeguard Europe. After Concordia, a small but successful operation, the Berlin Plus Agreement was once again used for a military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. EUFOR Althea was launched on 2nd December 2004 and has been going on until nowadays. Nevertheless these were the only missions undertaken within the framework of the Berlin Plus Agreement. Europe Common Foreign Security Policy (CFDP) was created in response to the lack of means from the EU during the Balkan Wars in the early 1990's. The Berlin Plus Agreement is a treaty created to legitimize the use of NATO means and expertise by the EU. Nevertheless politics had a huge impact in the effectiveness of the Berlin Plus Agreement. Before the creation of CSDP in the St Malo Act in 1998 – held during the Washington Summit - political tensions between Turkey and Cyprus/ Greece which had been going on since 1981 reached a climax after Greece became part of the then European Community (EC). Restrictions arouse between the EU and Turkey, their relationship worsened. The tension resulted from the EU recognition of Cyprus independence, whereas Turkey refused to legitimize it. The outcomes of these tensions were to jeopardize t... ...hree months) and a mission that would mean dealing with a real threat to national security. Furthermore the question about France ends up being very central in the CSDP question since France is the state that most pressures the EU to take part in military missions. Would CSDP exist if France was not there to pilot missions? Many European officials take the Foreign Policy of the EU for granted. The EU has been successful in the three missions engaged independently from NATO. Furthermore the main distinctiveness of the EU is its civilian comprehensive approach. Therefore this should be the main engagement of the EU. Even though the EU needs to have some security and defence protection for its borders, it should bear in mind that NATO exists to protect and defend its Member States and nothing less. Therefore NATO should not be ignored by the EU when CSDP is engaged.

Reasons for United States Possible Attack on Iran Essay

The topic on the possibility of United States launching a military attack against Iran has dominated much news for several years since the Bush administration and during which some quarters speculated that such an attack would be ordered before the administration left office. As early as 2005, a number of articles had started revealing the imminent plans by Pentagon to order military operations against Iran. While people and the media may speculate and give their opinions about many aspects of the imminent war, the most important issue to understand is the reasons which may spark the attack. It is therefore the objective of this paper to discuss the reasons why US would engage in a military land war with Iran. 2. 0 The Euro-Based Oil Bourse This is one of the major reasons which revolve around the plan by Tehran government in 2005 and 2006 to start competing with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the largest physical commodity futures exchange in the world based in New York and the London based International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) by using the euro-dominated oil trading mechanism (Clark, 2004). The logic behind this is that by using this mechanism in international oil trades, the euro is going to take dominance and establish a firm ground which will serve to overshadow the strength of the U. S dollar in the global oil market. The U. S government therefore considers this a real threat by Tehran government which warrants intervention to protect the dollar from being toppled off from its long term monopoly in the critical international oil market. It is worth noting that lack of an oil pricing standard that is euro-dominated also referred to oil â€Å"marker† in the oil trading industry is one of the technical challenges facing the euro-based trading system in oil transactions. The oil markers currently in operation today are the U. S dollar dominated which include Norway Brent crude, West Texas Intermediate crude, and the UAE Dubai crude. In the spring of 2003, Iran laid down a requirement that all the transactions for its Asian and European oil exports be conducted using the euro currency though the pricing of oil was still predominantly controlled by the dollar. Following an official announcement in 2004 that Iran had intentions to develop an Iranian oil Bourse, it raised the concerns that a stiff competition would ensue between the Iranian oil bourse and the U. S owned NYME and the IPE (Clark, 2004). The macroeconomic implications of such a development would cause a shift in the international commerce in both Middle East and the European Union which is the largest importer of oil from OPEC producers. Consequently, the financial hegemony enjoyed by the IPE and NYMEX would be greatly challenged and thus the U. S is likely to avoid this through military action. 3. 0 The Ambitious Nuclear Program of Iran The Tehran’s nuclear ambition is another possible reason as to why the U. S may launch a land military attack on Iran. This has been seen from the latest series of sanctions on Iran by the Obama administration which mainly targets the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps which is the most powerful social, political and economic institution in Iran. The organization also has a large number of companies and banks and therefore makes it an appropriate target for these sanctions (LANDLER & COOPER, 2010). However, the critical thing to focus on with regard to this issue is whether these sanctions have the capacity to compel Iran to halt its nuclear program. If the history of political and economic sanctions against countries is anything to go by, then Iran may not change its course despite the sanctions and this may lead to war. The reason for the sanctions is to â€Å"contain† Tehran which depicts a link which leads from diplomatic pressure to military action (Nadal, 2010). Tehran views this threat as real considering that its two neighbors to the west and to the east have a large number of U. S troops. 4. 0 Conclusion A possible military action on Iran by the US cannot be overlooked since the reasons surrounding this possibility would also have major effects on the economy and the security of the US. Considering the economic problems facing the US, the attempts by Iran to establish the euro-based oil bourse may seem as an attempt to suppress the dollar in the international oil market. The nuclear program also would threaten the security not only of the US but also of the world if it is not either regulated or completely halted. To aver the nuclear weapons development, Washington ought to try and alter the perceptions of threat harbored by Iran against America. References Clark, W. (2004). The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://www. globalresearch. ca/articles/CLA410A. html LANDLER, M. , & COOPER, H. (2010). U. S. Eyes New Sanctions Over Iran Nuclear Program. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://www. nytimes. com/2010/02/10/world/middleeast/10sanctions. html? _r=1 Nadal, A. (2010). Sanctions against Iran and the Next War. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://www. campaigniran. org/casmii/index. php? q=node/10518

Project Completion Report Example

When a company undertakes a project, it uses financial resources for a specific purpose and project completion reports are created to clarify some matters that are related to the outcomes of a project. A typical project completion report example features a number of points such as general project information, findings, administrative project closure, and recommendations. All these points have a purpose to summarize the results of a project along with pointing out some important aspects that include performance, costs, and overall evaluation. A project completion report example provides insights about the most common structure and contents of this type of professional business paper. General Project Information InGen Corp., the research and development department, has allocated $1,2 million for the project in order to develop a music player that would be the most suitable for the target audience, active people who are involved in the professional sports. Planned start date is 01/05/2017 and the planned finish date is 05/05/2017. The project funds were allocated to the temporary project team created from the inside personnel of the research and development department. The original budget was not exceeded and the planned deadline was met timely. Findings Project outcomes can be considered positive as the work group was able to identify the preferences of the target audience, which provided the required information and allowed the work group to successfully develop the most suitable design for the upcoming release of a new music player for active people. Additionally, it was found out that new design allows the company to save up to 30% of material expenses on each separate item. In order to complement the new design with an appropriate technical specifics, the company requires shrinking the size of the memory holder by 20%. As for the costs of development, the work group was able to stay within the limits of the $1,2 million budget and save $275 thousand. Saving was achieved because most celebrities that took part in the survey did not demand any kind of dividends. Administrative Project Closure After the prototype players were created, the project team delivered the blueprints to the main production line and it is capable of producing the new product without any additional adjustments or expenses. CEO confirmed that the new product meets all the requirements set by the research and development department, which allows starting the production by the end of the third quarter of 2017. During the work process, the team experienced an issue as system malfunction almost led to the information leak. Additionally, while the final list of the survey participants was already created by the start of the project, not all of them arrived. Recommendations The main recommendation for the project is to improve the stability and security of the internal network because it is not isolated this can lead to the information theft. IT department should solve the issue as soon as possible. Additionally, communications department should verify the number of participants several times before sending the final list to the project teams.