Norwegian Air

Norwegian Air International is an airline company that is based in Ireland and operated in different locations than its base.  It uses this base of operations to get around certain labor laws that are in other countries.  While they have found a loop hole in the system they are possibly setting themselves up for failure in the future.  Currently Norwegian Air utilizes a Singapore based company that hires pilots in Thailand.  This creates an unfair advantage compared to other airlines around the world.  Currently Norwegian Air operates long haul flights across the Atlantic into certain parts of the United States and is looking to expand their operations further into the United States.  This has caused many of the U.S. domestic airlines to gather in protest of this. 

The domestic U.S. carriers are opposed to Norwegian Air operating in the U.S. because  Norwegian Air will be able to offer prices that are lower than the competitors because they employee workers that can be paid less and worked longer. 

The DOT denied NAI’s request to operate in the U.S. on the ground that NAI’s case is very complex and approval is only granted to cases where there is a clear-cut case.  I do agree with this, I feel that allowing Norwegian Air to operate in the U.S. would invite other companies to do the same thing.  This would drive domestic carriers out of business as they could not employ workers at such low rates.   Safety would also be a huge concern if NAI were allowed to fly domestic routes.  While people would love the ultra-cheap air fare, there would be a public outcry when an accident happened. 

I believe that if NAI were to be allowed to fly into the US it would be the end of domestic airlines as we know it.  Foreign airlines would pick and choose the flights that generate the most money and would drop those that did not.  This would cause many airports to shut down, especially regional airports where not as many passengers travel throughout the year. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2014/09/02/dot-norwegian-air-alpa-foxx/14810499/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/business/international/long-haul-expansion-by-a-norwegian-carrier-upsets-us-airlines.html?_r=0

The application of UAVs

UAVs have been a hot topic in the aviation industry as of late.  What is their purpose? Are they safe? Who should regulate them?  These are some of the questions that have been brought to our attention.  Make no mistake, UAVs are here to stay and with more advanced technology they will continue to be more intertwined in our lives.  It is my belief that UAVs will be utilized in more applications in civilian aviation that do not involve carrying people.  For instance, UAVs could be used in police surveillance as well as photography.  In addition UAVs could be used to deliver supplies to job sites or customer’s homes.  If fact amazon.com was recently working on utilizing UAVs to deliver orders to customers that lived within a certain distance from amazon’s distribution centers. 

I think it will be a very long time before UAVs are used to shuttle passengers to locations around the world.  There will always be a need to have actual pilots on board for the foreseeable future, incase there is a situation onboard that the system fails and the need for pilots to take over. 

Right now UAVs are regulated by the FAA, which currently does not have many regulations that obtain specifically to UAVs.  What I believe will happen is that UAVs will be a gray area with the FAA regulations until there is a tragic accident at which time the FAA will over react and place too many regulations on UAVs.

I do foresee UAVs being integrated into the NAS for the simple fact that UAV usage will continue to increase not decrease.  Some of the problems with this will be who will be qualified to fly these UAVs.  Are the pilots going to need to have the same certifications as pilots who fly aircraft?  Who is responsible when a UAV crashes and causes damage?  Will there be enough network power to provide control over the increase UAV usage and what would happen if the system crashes?  With increase UAV usage, the general population will have problems with UAVs flying over their houses and “spying” on their private lives. 

UAVs have transformed the military strategy.  The military is now able to provide areal coverage for ground units as well as carry out missions without putting a pilot’s life in danger.  It costs the military less money to send UAVs into the air than traditional military aircraft.  From an ethical standpoint there has been some debates over their usage.  One of the more resent debates I heard was that military UAVs could be used to take out individuals and four American citizens have been killed by UAVs overseas.  This has caused some debate as these American citizens did not have a trail before these strikes there conducted.  faq/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-drone-debate-in-one-faq/

Right now there are few jobs in the aviation management side of UAV application.  There are many jobs posted that are looking for pilots to operate the UAVs as well as I.T. personnel to oversee and upkeep the intergraded systems of UAVs.  I do believe that the role in the aviation management will be much the same as it is for manned aircraft that is working at the airport that UAVs would be based out of.  Aviation management would also manage UAV stations in the same way that FBOs are used for traditional aircraft