Break Loose

Cool Changes in Air Travel

Ever since the first powered airplanes flew in 1903, inventors and engineers have enhanced the way we travel through the skies. Early airplanes were dangerous to fly. The earliest innovations were the additions of seats for the pilots and reliable control systems.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were not the first men to fly a controlled aircraft. That honor goes to Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont, who built the first successful dirigible in 1901. Dirigibles, also known as airships, were popular modes of transportation from the early 1900s until the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. They are still used today but not for passenger flights.

Santos-Dumont built his own successful airplane in 1906, about the same time that Orville and Wilbur had perfected their design. Santos-Dumont also built a helicopter.

Many advances in airplane technology followed the development of reliable airplanes. One of the first great innovations was the introduction of a mechanical autopilot system in 1912. Autopilot systems allow planes to fly longer and stay on course.

Air traffic control towers came along in 1920, when London's Croydon airport constructed a tower. The Air Ministry dubbed the 15-foot-tall building an "Aerodrome Control Tower". The Civil Aviation Traffic Officers communicated by radio to pilots, and they tracked the aircraft on paper maps with pins and flags.

The British government developed RADAR to track enemy aircraft during World War II. But it didn't take long for the technology to make its way into commercial aviation. The first civilian RADAR installation used for air traffic control was constructed in Washington, D.C. in 1952. The success of RADAR led to its adoption for air traffic control around the world. Air traffic controllers used RADAR to guide pilots in to their landings, although eventually airplanes were designed with their own on-board guidance systems.

Another early innovation in aviation was the development of pressurized cabins. Boeing introduced the Stratos 307 in the 1930s, and they were used for the first commercial flights capable of soaring above bad weather. Although only 12 Stratos 307s were built, they led the way for all modern pressurized aircraft.

As the commercial airline and airport industries grew, sophisticated flight tracking and booking systems had to be developed. Early airlines used blackboards to plan their flight schedules. Passengers paid for their tickets on the days they flew, and in person.

American Airlines changed all that in 1961 when they brought the computerized SABRE system online. It was the first Global Distribution System (or GDS) used to plan flight itineraries for passengers. Airline ticketing systems were expensive to build and operate, and only a few were ever successful. They licensed computing time to other airlines and travel agents around the world.

Because GDS technology was so expensive, the first advance in flight bookings that brought prices down was the development of the QuikTix system by Bredimus Systems. Independent itineraries could be booked and modified at a fraction of the cost of the big systems. When the airlines began raising prices for using their GDS technology,the Internet beckoned and software was developed to book and manage itineraries from the convenience of everyone's home.

There are too many innovations to list here. But these are some of the coolest technical advances in aviation.

If you'd like to learn more, here are a few websites with additional information.