Air Transport

Science is a great blessing to mankind. It has transformed our life to a great extent from what they used to be a few years back. The triumph of Science is seen everywhere. Science has changed the face of the earth, the world has changed more during the past 100 years than during 4000 years before. In fact, we have ceased to look upon trains or motor cars, electric fans or telegraph or radio as marvels of Science. Today, we see the greatest and marvelous gift of Science that is, ‘fly like a bird in the open sky. For a long, the man was satisfied with buses, trains, or even ships. He wanted to fly in the sky like birds. He craved wings. This desire of man led to the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers in 1903.

Airplanes are the gift of Science as a mode of air transportation. Science has made traveling a pleasure particularly air travel. Through air travel, Science has spanned the sky, measured the oceans, and wrested from nature many of her hidden treasures. It has annihilated time and distance and made the contact with the world easier and quicker. Early man used to go from one place to another on foot and then gradually he used animals as beasts of burden. Thus, road transport progressed and then railways and water transport were invented. However, the human being was not satisfied with all this. He invented airplanes. With air travel, the whole world is well-connected by a network of different airways.

In today’s world, man has become very fast going and is always occupied with many tasks at one time. He wants to save time in every respect, particularly, when he is to travel from one place to the other place. He doesn’t want to waste a single moment in transit. Under such circumstances, it is air transport only which has helped him in a big way.

Air travel is found to be most comfortable. There are no hindrances and traffic jams as is mostly there in road transport or problems associated with railways. In India, Tata Sons and National Airways began air operations in 1932 with light and single-engine aircraft for the purposes of mail transportation. It was only after World War II that full-fledged advanced types of aircraft started operating in India. They connected all important destinations. Then, in 1953, civil air transport was nationalized in India due to financial constraints being faced by the sector. Since then, tremendous progress has been made. Today, there are various domestic and international airlines carrying passengers to different parts of India and to various parts of the world.

Though air travel is considered as one of the best contributions of Science yet it has got various limitations. Firstly, it is very costly and only the rich people can avail the facility of air transportation. A common man can travel on the train only. Secondly, air travel can be risky and dangerous. This is because if there is any mishap or accident, there is no chance of survival. Accidents prove to be very fatal and loss of life and property in a huge manner. Also, air travel becomes dangerous whenever the weather condition is adverse.

There has been a constant desire of a man to develop more advanced and sophisticated airplanes. He has not been deterred by the hazards of accidents in traveling by airplanes. Man has seen the importance of airplanes in war times. Today, the United States of America has the most sophisticated fighter planes which can destroy enemy camps within seconds and at any time of the day or night. Today wars are won with the strength of airpower.

This wonderful invention of Science in recent years has progressed by leaps and bounds. The emphasis is on more speed, safety, passenger comfort, and convenience. There is more and more competition among various airlines to offer the most competitive rates and most convenient timings. The future of air travel is bound to get brighter in the times ahead. The efforts are being made to make air transportation more safe and economical through new researches.