why aviation narrative

And now, it's not just America's air traffic that is important to manage. The same problems with congestion, delays, and environmental efficiency are being addressed in aviation all over the world. Although the tired Cessnas make up just a small part of this big picture, understanding how they fly has opened up so many other possibilities in aviation for me, and even though the industry as a whole sometimes moves a little slowly for my liking, the activities air travel makes possible are many. I'm glad to be a part of it and will continue to help in whatever way I can. Hopefully there's a story in aviation that inspires you as well.

Eventually, I graduated college and finished my studies in grad school, getting the opportunity to intern at Sikorsky, maker of Black Hawk helicopters that are used around the world for both combat and search and rescue. Even with helicopters, the same basic principles of flight apply. Supplies can be transported, soldiers rescued, medical services delivered.

During college, we had the opportunity to hear from speakers like Norm Augustine, president of Lockheed Martin, Sean O'Keefe, Adminstrator of NASA, and the most impressive speaker, Brian Binnie, pilot of SpaceshipOne, the first private spaceflight company. The same principles that explained how those dinky Cessna's could take flight would get an aircraft to leave the Earth's atmosphere and make spaceflight attainable for the public in the not-so-distant future.

Eventually, engineering classes focused on the whole aircraft--the structure of the plane, the propulsion systems, how to draw aircraft in computer aided drafting programs and do calculations in fluid dynamics. The Cessna was finally making sense. All from the desire to understand those simple aircraft that would fly over the beach.

So I made my choice, and spent the next few years learning the basics of physics, chemistry, math, all in an effort to better understand how wings create lift, experience drag, and generally to explain the shoddy-looking planes I saw growing up. Although engineering was difficult, I still was still able to spend a lot of time pursuing music, learning languages, and staying active.

As I decided what to study, the two images of sleek cars and not-so-glamorous planes kept knocking at my subconscious. I decided that I wanted to know exactly how these planes could perform. I decided to study aerospace engineering, combined with mechanical engineering to understand both sides of these images.

It was a clear decision with some reasoning behind it. Different from one of my roommates who chose aerospace engineering because it started with "A" and appeared first in the list of majors he was choosing from...

I saw these planes all the time, flying over the sleepy beach town that I had the good fortune to grow up in. They pulled signs advertising mini golf or water slides, flying over the water below. It was a constant distraction and one that I would think about as I decided what I would study in college and beyond.

What I didn't understand was the junky-looking airplanes flying around that took off from the local commuter airport. The planes looked so beat-up and unimpressive, but they could still go faster and move with more agility than the sleekest of cars. Even though a used Cessna could be less expensive than a BMW, it still appears to escape gravity despite clunky lines and a dented body.

In middle and high school, I was mesmerized by the performance and design of cars. They seemed to make sense, and you saw them everywhere. I could sit and try to draw them or memorize which company made which brand. Even though I didn't get too into the engineering side of cars early on, I understood the basics--transmission, engines, how sleek lines translated into speed.

But now, my role in aviation doesn't just deal with how airplanes fly but how they can be used. How to get family members to visit sick relatives, how to get business leaders to make important decisions on time, how to transport computers and important packages the next day. What we deal with in air traffic management is helping the country's economy to move forward.