Avion issue 2 summer b by The Avion

Weekly

Weather

Tuesday 87 60% 74

Wednesday 86 50% 74

Thursday 86 40% 74

Friday 84 40% 73

Saturday 86 30% 74

A Deadly Year for Malaysia Airlines

Battling the Blaze: A Look Inside Life at Station 17

Airline loses two passengerliners in four months Anthony Carpeneti Staff Reporter

Zachary Wilkinson/The Avion Newspaper

Matthew Rutowski Advertising Manager The Daytona Beach International Airport sees traffic from all walks of life from flight training, to corporate charters, and of course our scheduled air carriers. The airspace is some of the busiest in the southeast region according to the FAA in the recent 2013 reports. DAB ran over 80,000 local operations last year, and almost 210,000 itin-

Trey Henderson Photo Editor

erant where 200,000 of which were General Aviation. This year alone, DAB has almost 150,000 operations completed to date. With the thousands of air carrier operations every year (over 5,000 in 2013), the FAA’s Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR’s) Pt. 139 requires that the airport authority staff an Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Unit, or ARFF for short. ARFF units are seen across the globe at major airports with air carrier operations to ensure

Forty five years ago last weekend, the men of Apollo 11 first stepped foot on the moon marking the unparalleled power of the human race. For the first time in history, a species has been able to leave their home planet and conquer a world not originally their own. July 20, 1969 was that defining day. The day that Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin changed

the protection of both life and property when it comes to airline operations. DAB’s ARFF team is actually not staffed by airport employees, but rather is another station of the Volusia County Fire Services office: Station 17. Most would think the boys at Station 17 have the easy job; with just a few incidents a year, it sounds like a retiree’s dream. However, the life of the DAB ARFF team is one in constant motion. Continued on A6 >>

Losing one plane in a year is bad, but when you have two deadly crashes in the span of a year, it is unbelievable. As we all know, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing back in March and we have yet to find it. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was the second one to go down, and this one was blasted out of the sky by Pro Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was, and still is, the regularly scheduled flight for Malaysia Airlines between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur. The last two flights before this one had the flight going south of the area it was shot down in. Some people have said that the flight went to the north to avoid running into thunderstorms that were in the area. There were two other flights in the same area when MH17

was taken down. The rebels allegedly weren’t aiming for MH 17. Instead, they were attempting to shoot down a Ukrainian Ilyushin IL-76 transport jet bringing in supplies to besieged Ukrainian troops in the region. A Russian built Surface to Air missile system called the SA-11 BUK took down the airliner. This system utilizes three separate vehicles to take down aircraft. The first system that is used is called a Snow Drift, and that vehicle receives early warning notifications from surveillance radars. The Snow Drift then shares its data with the Command and Control vehicle, while working in tandem with it. When the target is confirmed, data used for missile launch is sent to the TELAR launch vehicle, which fires the missile. Once the missile is launched, the solid fueled missile utilizes monopulse Continued on A2 >>

Years Later

humanity forever. The United States landing on the moon effectively ended the space race held between the US and Russia. Though the US was second to orbit the earth and second to land an unmanned lunar module, the act of planting a US flag on lunar soil solidified the United State’s superiority in the space race. After Armstrong’s famous first step, the US continued landing astronauts and scientists on the face of the moon until 1972.

man first steps foot on the moon Due to a rapidly shrinking budget and the decisiion not to continue producing Saturn V rockets, three final Apollo missions, Apollo 18 though 20, were eventually cancelled, marking the end of the Apollo Program. Though this may have been the end of the Apollo program, the remaining budget was redirected to NASA’s next major project: the Space Shuttle Program. Captivating millions around the world and gathering a dedicated fan base

for their grace and beauty, the Space Shuttles defined the space program for three decades. Instrumental in the construction of the International Space Station and iconic missions such as the Hubble repair mission, the Space Shuttle allowed humanity the flexibility to do things never before possible. All good things must eventually come to an end; and in 2011, the Space Shuttle Program came to its conclusion.

Though to some its severance was painful, the Space Shuttle will fly again in NASA’s next chapter of space exploration. Dubbed the Space Launch System, or SLS for short, NASA’s next launch platform will return man to the moon. On December 17, 2017, SLS will launch from Kennedy Space Center propelled by one of the very RS-25D SSMEs which brought STS135 to orbit thereby marking the transition into the future of manned space flight.

22 Campus ATP-CPT Keeps ERAU Above the Rest JULY

Page

2014

The Avion

Executive Board Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor News Editor Photography Editor Advertising Manager

Zachary Wilkinson Michael Wildes Jeff Icker Trey Henderson Matthew Rutowski

Page Editors Front Editor Campus Editor Travel Editor Opinions Editor Comics Editor Entertainment Editor Feature Editor Copy Editor

Trey Henderson Trey Henderson Michael Wildes Michael Wildes Michael Wildes Michael Wildes Matthew Rutowski Suzanne Fernandez

Staff Contributors Reporters

Photographers

Anthony Carpeneti Mark Fetters Courtney Byrd Mark Fetters

Correspondents Matthew Liddell, Nathan Sonnenfeld, Christian Pezalla

Staff Advisor Wesley Lewis, Asst. Director, Media & Marketing

Contact Information Main Phone: (386) 226-6049 Ad Manager: (386) 226-7697 Fax Number: (386) 226-6727 Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor News Editor Business Manager Photography Editor Advertising Manager

editor@theavion.com managing@theavion.com news@theavion.com business@theavion.com photo@theavion.com advertising@theavion.com

Website: theavion.com

The Avion is produced weekly during the fall and spring term, and bi-weekly during summer terms. The Avion is produced by a volunteer student staff. Student editors make all content, business and editorial decisions. The editorial opinions expressed in The Avion are solely the opinion of the undersigned writer(s), and not those of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Student Government Association, The Avion, or the student body. Letters appearing in The Avion are those of the writer, identified at the end of the letter. Opinions expressed in the “Student Government” and “Student Life” sections are those of the identified writer. Letters may be submitted to The Avion for publication, provided they are not lewd, obscene or libelous. Letter writers must confine themselves to less than 800 words. Letters may be edited for brevity and formatted to newspaper guidelines. All letters must be signed. Names may be withheld at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The Avion is an open forum for student expression. The Avion is a division of the Student Government Association. The Avion is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The costs of this publication are paid by the Student Government Association and through advertising fees. The Avion distributes one free copy per person. Additional copies are $0.75. Theft of newspapers is a crime, and is subject to prosecution and Embry-Riddle judicial action. This newspaper and its contents are protected by United States copyright law. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, in print or electronically, without the expressed written consent of The Avion. Correspondence may be addressed to: The Avion Newspaper, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Daytona Beach, Florida 32114. Physical office: John Paul Riddle Student Center, Room 110. Phone: (386) 226-6049. Fax: (386) 226-6727.

Zachary Wilkinson Editor-in-Chief

On July 8th it was announced that Embry-Riddle’s Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program (ATP-CPT) was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. The course will prepare applicants for the FAA’s new ATP Airman test and provide them with a graduation certificate as well as the endorsement for the FAA’s new ATP test. The current ATP written test and regulations expire after August 1st, 2014. Embry-Riddle’s Aeronautical Science graduates qualify for the lower Restricted ATP minimums, which are 1,000 hours instead of the 1,500 required for ATP applicants who don’t have aviation

degrees from ABBI accredited Universities like Embry-Riddle. The new ATP-CPT course consists of a minimum of 30 hours of classroom time and 10 hours of simulator instruction. Course participants will use the newly acquired Level D CRJ-200 Full motion flight simulator. The lab portion of the course will focus on Aircraft Performance, High altitude operations, Meteorology, Physiology, Aircraft systems, Theory, and Operational Procedures. . The FAA outlined what they wanted in the course and Embry-Riddle’s Flight Department created the course to fit the bill .The approval process for the course took much longer than originally expected, as the FAA often wanted more changes made. It will replace

the current FA420 as the capstone course for the Aeronautical Science degree program. The Flight Department acquired the 2001 Flight Safety Simulator for $3.7 Million . It was previously used by Comair. A similar device purchased new would cost around 16 million dollars. Since its assembly in the Advanced Flight Simulation Center, the simulator has been used extensively for curriculum development and testing. Embry-Riddle is the only aviation university in the world to have a simulator of this type; paired with the ATP-CPT course, this keeps Embry-Riddle at the forefront of aviation training. The ATP-CTP course will be part of the Aeronautical Science curriculum, “We are very excited that our students

will be able to complete this training as part of their normal degree requirement,” said the Flight Department Chairman, Ken Byrnes, “Students will graduate with the requirements they need to take the ATP test.” Currently the intention is to use the Simulator for the ATP-CPT course alone and it is not likely that type-ratings will be offered in the simulator. Sweeping changes have been made in Aviation legislation since the 2009 Colgan Air crash. Post accident lobbying led to congress enacting legislation which called for stricter Duty-time requirements, the establishment of an FAA database for practical test failures, and most notably the infamous ‘1500 hour rule’.

Google Cardboard: Emerging into the Virtual Reality Market Nathan Sonnenfeld Correspondent On June 26th – during Day 2 of Google I/O, an annual software developer-focused conference held by Google in San Francisco, California – Google revealed Google Cardboard, “a no-frills enclosure that transforms a phone into a basic Virtual Reality (VR) headset, and the accompanying open software toolkit that makes writing VR software as simple as building a web or mobile app.” Needing only a pizza box and your Android phone – a few items that can be found in your garage, at the hardware store, or online – and the free design files available on the Google Developer website – you can build your own DIY virtual reality headset. By making it even easier and less expensive to exper-

iment with virtual reality, Google hopes to encourage developers to build the next generation of immersive digital experiences – and make them available to everyone. Their focus on emergent markets was highlighted by Colt McAnlis – Games Developer Advocate at Google – who gave a presentation on “The next five billion gamers”. These future gamers (which McAnlis highlighted to include the 88% and 55% of the lower socioeconomic population of India and China, respectively – who are projected to be connected to the internet by 2025) are the key emergent market that Google is developing for during the next decade. Google’s competition in this market is still significant, however. Although media-driven claims that Google Cardboard is the new “Oculus Thrift”, as sen-

sationalized by the BBC, other early reviews have revealed that smartphone screens are not currently sufficient for a fully immersive virtual reality experience. Tested.com’s Norman Chan expressed that the 1080p LCD screen of his Nexus 5 is “just not designed for low-latency VR… the pixel response time and refresh rate are reminiscent to that of the first Oculus Developer Kit.” Chan continued to elaborate, “This is not that big of a problem when watching a YouTube video in the YouTube demo, but anything that facilitated fast head movement – like Google Earth and Street View – made me feel nauseous after 5 minutes. Not the case for Oculus, however. According to Chan, “the magic of the Oculus experience seems to be in the company’s control of both their hardware and

their software – even though I got the impression from my interview with them at E3 that they may have a broader vision for an Oculus-standard for VR.” Oculus VR brought affordable high-quality virtual reality simulation into the limelight, and it would be rash to discount them out of the virtual reality and gaming markets so early into Google’s emergence into mobile VR. Applications of virtual reality for training and education are currently being investigated by researchers in the Game-based Education & Advanced Research Studies Laboratory (GEARS Lab) in the College of Arts & Sciences room 401.31. If you are interested in helping with the lab’s research or would like to become a participant in a study with these technologies, email Dr. Christina Frederick at Frederic@erau. edu.

Photo Courtesy: Google

TRAVEL

July

22 2014

Page

The Avion

The Pearl of The Orient

Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

Mark Fetters Staff Reporter Hong Kong’ the Pearl of the Orient, located off the southern coast of China is one of two Special Administrative Regions within China.Its nickname ‘ Pearl of the Orient’ refers to the city lights from all the skyscrapers on both sides of Victoria Harbor. In the 1800s, British forces occupied Hong Kong Island before the Japanese invaded and took over the island in

1941. Due to food shortage and unemployment in 1945, the population was on a decline and the United Kingdom would regain control of Hong Kong in 1997 when the transfer of Hong Kong was handed over to China and became the first Special Administrative Region. Since then Hong Kong has developed, with more then 8,000 buildings with over 14 floors which is twice that of New York. Construction is still going on every where. Hong Kong is a very easy

and cheap city to get around from trains, buses and ferries. The most famous ferry service in Hong Kong (HK) is Star Ferries with a fleet of 12 ships and operating two routes with the most popular being from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. One of the best things about Star Ferry is the price. A one-way trip across the Harbor is a total of $0.36 USD making it a popular tourist attraction and a fun way to travel with great views of both Kowloon and

ash- is preserved in that ice core,” said Mark Twickler, a scientist at the National Ice Core Lab located in Denver, Colorado. Scientists have been able to record ice core data dating back 800,000 years ago. What scientists have been finding with the ice core data is unsettling; carbon emissions have increased to an all time high, breaking 400ppm (parts per million). Carbon emissions have stayed between 200 and 300 ppm for hundreds of thousands of years, but now it has reached into 400ppm and is still rising. Stretching into the frozen lands of Siberia and Alaska, permafrost, which formed 11,000 years ago, has begun to thaw. Permafrost is known as solid ice that’s been frozen for longer than two consecutive summers and covers 24% of Northern Hemisphere land. Not only is the melting permafrost alarming scientist, it’s what’s underneath the permafrost that’s raising alarm. Found underneath the melting permafrost is methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 to 25 times

stronger than carbon dioxide. Katey Anthony, a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has researched the amount of methane being released by these lakes and stated, “Each year, these lakes are already emitting tremendous amounts of methane, but when we look at how much carbon is in permafrost still frozen and the potential for that permafrost to thaw in the future, we estimate that more than ten times the amount of methane that’s right now in the atmosphere will come out of these lakes.” The startling loss of ice in the Arctic also points to the ever-growing concern of global climate change. “There is so much ice loss that the Arctic is in a new state. We’re finding that it’s thinner now, and that thinner ice is easier to melt than thick ice,” said Tom Wagner, a Cryosphere Program Manager at NASA. Wagner also said that due to the loss of ice, sunlight is not being reflected back to space as it would with ice, instead, it’s being absorbed by the water, thus increas-

Mark Fetters/The Avion Newspaper

Hong Kong Island. The Ferry drops you off in the Financial District on Hong Kong Island where you can shop until you drop. Next from there, is a walk over to the bus terminal where you can catch bus number 15. Bus 15 is one of the cheapest ways to Victoria Peak with one of the best views of the city offering panorama views from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon and on a clear day other parts of China. If going up by bus seems a little to boring for

you taste the more popular way is The Peak Tram which is over 120 years old and also provides great views of the city. Mong Kok, an area in west Kowloon is famous for the street markets and electronic shops. In most buildings, on other floors are several small shops where it is possible to find even lower prices on major electronics. I did feel a little out of place in this one building I went to, where I was in a shop on the 14th floor looking at watches.

It is possible to negotiate for a lower price but beware that what you might be buying may be counterfeit. At 8pm, every night the city puts on a Symphony of Lights show using a total of 44 buildings on both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon using music, laser lights, multimedia lights, music and on special occasions fireworks. Hong Kong has so much to offer for anyone’s interest and is really an amazing city to be able to visit.

Global Climate Change: Ice on the Move

Courtney Byrd Chief Copy-Editor Firstly, let me clarify that yes, I know global climate change is an extremely controversial topic. For this reason, I am only providing documented statistics from scientists and photographers around the world. This article contains staggering amounts of information hinting at climate change happening not in the near future, but now. Found in the heart of Antarctica and Greenland, hidden beneath the ice lies the story of our Earth’s atmosphere. Here, scientists have begun to collect ice cores that contain data that is monumental for global climate change research. Ice cores are drilled out of sheets of ice or glaciers and contain information about Earth’s past temperatures as well as the amount of gases that were present in the atmosphere. “You get one year of snow on top of the next year of snow. It compresses so everything that fell out of the atmosphere- dust, salt from the ocean, volcanic

Photo Courtesy: Todd Paris/ AP Katey Walter Anthony of University of Alaska igniting trapped methane under the ice in a pond on the Fairbanks campus. Greenhouse gases trapped below the permafrost will likely escape into the air above in years to come.

ing the water temperature that allows surrounding ice to melt at a much quicker pace. Scientists are not the only ones helping to show the public signs of global climate change. Photographers have been on the rise, photographing ever decreasing ancient glaciers over the years. “Everywhere you go you see

these gigantic volumes of ice disappearing in a matter of weeks, months or years. The ice is telling us that there’s some kind of altercation of the climate underway right now,” said photographer James Balog. Balog says being that he’s a mountaineer, photographer and scientist, he wanted to document the substantial amount of glacier loss. “I

never imagined that you could see glaciers this big disappearing in such a short time.” With carbon dioxide exceeding historical levels, methane being leaked into the atmosphere from melting permafrost and glaciers disappearing, there’s no question of when global climate change will start-it has already begun.

OPINION

Page

The Avion

JULY

22 2014

Return of the Economic DARPA’s Self-Guided .50-Caliber Bullets and Political City-State Nathan Sonnenfeld Correspondent

Photo Courtesy: https://www.flickr.com/ blueseedproject Blueseed concept barge anchored half an hour from Silicon Valley, in international waters, to accommodate ~1000 startup entrepreneurs without the need for a US work visa.

Nathan Sonnenfeld Correspondent Contrasting the current political-economic struggles of Italy and Greece to the wealth and influence of the ancient Greeks and Renaissance Italians, Marcia Christoff Kurapovna of The Wall Street Journal argues a persuasive case for Italy and Greece to return to the city-state system of governance. “Neither county has functioned as a centralized state since their unification movements of the mid-19th century, the result of ideals more romantic than realistic”, Kurapovna states, espousing regional diversity as the facilitator of the innovation of these historical cultures. “Ancient Greece’s first great economic boom took place around 500 B.C., the result of political power shifting into the regional democratic clusters. The great poleis – Athens, Corinth, Thebes, and the colonized areas of Hellenic Asia – fueled prosperity and expansion by specializing their industrial production within four areas: agriculture, food processing, mining, and pottery. It was a time of technological revolution too”, Kurapovna expounds, “The strengthening of the independent polis also meant the beginning of investment in industry, an activity that had previously been frowned upon. The introduction of coinage followed, the result of the new emphasis on local economies that were then starting to expand and trade with each other. As wealth spread, aristocratic patronage declined and was replaced with economic-civil relationships. An explosion in interregional trade between city-states followed.” Economic competition between city-states – such as innovative Athens and collectivist Sparta in Greece – liberal

Florence, mercantile Genoa, and cosmopolitan Venice – held their regions together and became the engine of progress and power. Their rivalries stimulated such a sprint for wealth that overseas exports began to far exceed imports. In republican states such as Florence, Tuscan cities formed alliances that also became free-trade zones. “Trade,“ Kurapnova refines, “flourished during this time, driven by the modernization of transportation and the division of labor. The modern-day entrepreneur came on the scene, emerging out of [their] guild-run craft economies.” City-states have not completely disappeared in modern times. “Oligarchic free-market havens like Singapore and Hong Kong and the direct-democracy cantons of Switzerland are direct descendants,” Kurapnova articulates, “Near-autonomous regions such as Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, are also similar. All boast highly educated populations, low crime, low unemployment, and efficient economic models operating as highly skilled micro-empires.” “Even Italy has its own modern city-state. The autonomous province of South Tyrol is essentially the fiefdom of its animated lord-governor, Luis Burnwalder, who has been in office for 23 years – and who draws a salary higher than President Obama’s. Since the 1990s, South Tyrol has become one of the most prosperous regions in Italy and in the whole of Europe. It has almost no unemployment and is debt-free, Its GDP per capita is 30% higher than Italy’s national average and twice as high as in Sicily. As punishment for this success, Rome required South Tyrol to pay tribute. Since 2010, the region has been forced to five 10% of its budget, or about 500 million [euros], to the financially strapped central government.”

Analogous to this concept of city-states, is the concept of seasteading. The Seasteading Institute, which one of our ERAU Prescott graduates – Andrew Stover – is currently an Ambassador for, is a nonprofit working to enable and empower seasteading communities (floating cities), which will allow the next generation of pioneers to test new ideas for government, economics, technology, and society. Whether (1) attached to an already existing nation for economic and logistic support, (2) located just outside of the borders of a region (an example being Blueseed, a company creating a seasteading community of start-ups on a cruise ship-style vessel located near Silicon Valley in order to facilitate international technological entrepreneurship), (3) or in international waters for complete independence – the motifs of economic competition, individual freedom, and innovation hold true for seasteading just as with the citystates of ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy. Kurapnova acknowledges that Ancient Greece and Renaissance Italy were scarcely free from war, violence, and corruption – just as their modern counterparts – but the model they provided for dynamic economic independence cannot be ignored. As Kurapnova suggests, it was regional competition, entrepreneurial freedom, and the leadership of visionaries that brought those countries out of their respective dark ages and onto the world stage – and it “is high time these two Mediterranean countries put these aspects of their glorious histories back in business.” Internationally, we have seasteading to look toward. If competition is the engine of progress, it is time that we all get back in business.

On July 10th, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) confirmed their first successful live-fire tests demonstrating in-flight guidance of .50 – caliber bullets. Developed by Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, with funding from DARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordinance (EXACTO) program, the specially-designed ammunition and real-time optical guidance system help track and direct projectiles to their targets by compensating for humidity, wind, target movement, and other factors that could impede successful hits – allowing the bullet to change path midflight. Under the Tactical Tech-

nology Office, and led by Mr. Jerome Dunn – the current Program Manager for the project – the EXACTO system seeks to “improve sniper effectiveness and enhance troop safety by allowing greater shooter standoff range and reduction in target engagement timelines”, greatly extending day and night-time operational range over current sniper systems. Technology development in Phase II of the program included the design, integration, and demonstration of aero-actuation controls, power sources, optical guidance systems, and sensors. Now that DARPA has conducted their first livefire test, they seek to refine the technology further to enhance and improve performance before imple-

menting EXACTO on the battlefield. Other DARPA Tactical Technology Office (TTO) programs include the DARPA Robotics Challenge (from June 5th through 6th in Pomona, California – U.S. and international teams will be competing for the $2 million prize to be awarded to the team that best demonstrates human-supervised robot technology for disaster response), the LeggedSquad Support System (LS3) program, and the Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements (SEEME) program, among many others.\ For more information on DARPA’s research & development, and to seek opportunities for funding for your own DARPA-inspired projects, please visit www.darpa.mil

Photo Courtesy: http://www.darpa.mil/ Graphical design of the EXACTO 50- caliber round and optical sighting technology which is expected to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems.

Hurting Defenseless Robots Nathan Sonnenfeld Correspondent At the Lift Conference on February 4th through 6th in Geneva, Switzerland – a workshop will investigate the psychology of hurting and killing robots designed to socially interact and bond with humans. Kate Darling, Intellectual Property (IP) Research Specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Yale Information Society, has recently focused her research on the near-term effects of robotic technology, with a particular interest in social in ethical issues. Darling is partnering with Hannes Gassert – entrepreneur, writer, and activist at the interface of technology, media, and culture – to develop and moderate the workshop. In small groups, Darling and Gassert will help participants design social experi-

ments, record their reactions, and contemplate potential future social and legal norms to deal with these robotic companions that we humans have a noticeable amount of rapport with – due to their almost convincing way of displaying a sense of sentience. In the sample trailer for the workshop “Harming and Protecting Robots”, shared in her article about the workshop and Lift conference on the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies (IEET) website, participants interact with a green, robotic, miniature dinosaur adorned with costume jewelry, wide eyes, and a wagging tail. Participant reactions from knocking over the helpless dinosaur range from empathetic laughs, to squeals of emotional anguish – likely due to mirror neurons in the brain, first identified by Giacomo Rizzolatti, MD. Rizzolatti, with his colleagues at the University of Parma, discovered that watching

an action and performing that action can activate the same parts of the brain in monkeys – down to a single neuron. Studies following this showed the same mirroring of neuron activation in humans. While computer scientists and software engineers continue to improve the expression of sentience and intelligence in social robots, discussion of these ethical topics will only increase in importance as we learn how to incorporate them into our daily lives. In the future, will it be ethical to harm a house-cleaning robot that doesn’t fold the laundry the way we like it, if it has sentience? What affect does harming a social robot have on our own psychology, even before robots achieve sentience? As engineering, science, and business students on the forefront of technology, it will be our decisions that dictate the future of human-computer interaction.

JULY

22 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

Page

The Avion

Monkey Do… Again? Matthew Liddell Correspondent

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may not have been a phenomenal movie, but it was certainly one of the bigger surprises of 2011. Andy Serkis gave an impressive motion-capture performance as the main ape Caesar, and it offered a decent and engaging set-up for the original 1968 film. And now we have Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which attempts to keep this new prequel franchise rolling with Caesar and spectacular visual effects once again headlining the show. But even with a better cast, better performances, and more realistic effects, Dawn can’t seem to get out of Rise’s shadow, leaving the audience to wonder just why this story is being told in the first place. Dawn picks up ten years after the events of Rise, leaving the world decimated by a man-made flu and apes with a growing sentience and intelligence. Caesar and his tribe of simians have created a large society on the out-

skirts of San Francisco, totally separate from the struggling humans who roam the inside of the city. A chance set of events leads them back into each others’ company, leading to panic, confusion, and a whole lot of gunfire as each group pushes each other closer to the brink of all-out war. The humans this time are lead by Jason Clarke, Keri Russell and Kodi SmitMcPhee, who all demonstrate strong performances against the digital apes. It certainly helps that actors like Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell were physically present when filming scenes with the apes, but it’s still impressive how much they sell the apes as real creatures. The only struggling performance comes from Gary Oldman as the humans’ leader, as he really doesn’t come off as threatening or controlling in the same was a Kebbell does as the ape leader Koba. Everything about the apes and the world surrounding them is a massive step up from Rise, and the apocalyptic San Francisco looks quite

gorgeous at times. There are a few inventive shots throughout the film as well, with the standout being a 360 degree turn from atop a tank mid-firefight. It demonstrates an impressive technical feat as well as a story-telling understanding, really showing off the battle and its carnage in one riveting swoop. Also standing out is the score from Michael Giacchino, which has the bravado and intensity needed for some scenes and also the sillier, xylophone-tapping sounds of the original classic for others. But for all of the film’s technical prowess and improvements, the story is where things ultimately fall flat. It feels less like a singular movie and more like the second-tolast episode of a series right before the finale. I was interested to see how it would all conclude, given that Rise already ended with a pretty definitive conclusion in light of the original film. Unfortunately, my hopes were let down by an ending that does absolutely nothing to further the story in any

way whatsoever. I felt like I hadn’t learned anything about Caesar or the humans that I hadn’t learned in Rise, and everyone was left in the same exact state of mind as they were the first time around. Many interesting advancements in the last 30 minutes toward the original film are neutered by the ending, and it just leaves everything feeling like one big retread of old ideas. Despite Dawn’s glaring issues and lackluster attempts to leave everything for a potential third movie, it’s hard to deny that it’s a film with a strong sense of direction, acting, and design, and if the box office numbers and critical reception are any indication, there are many people who will find Dawn to be a fantastic summer blockbuster. With all that in mind, I still recommend people see it to make up their own minds, as there are still many things to enjoy about the film. Just keep in mind that you’ll be seeing the promise of an explosive finale, but not the finale itself.

Daytona Beach ARFF

The Avion

ARFF Continued from A1 >> Lieutenant Bill Whalen of the Daytona Beach ARFF unit is a 13-year veteran at VCFS coming from a prior firefighting life in Port Orange. Lt. Whalen has been with Station 17 for over 5 years now, and loves every day of it. The Avion wanted to find out what exactly does a member of Station 17 do on a regular basis? On some occasions, students see the trucks rolling as ARFF units participate in training, test equipment, and respond to a call; but what does that all entail? The Avion spent half a day with Lt. Whalen and his partner, Fireman Matt Mork to follow along and see what goes on across the runway. Lt. Whalen first sat down for a brief on the operation, outlining an entire shift at Station 17, from start to finish. The 24 hour duty day is one filled with training, record keeping, equipment inspection, as well as tours and demonstrations, similar to ours. At the beginning of the shift, firemen first prepare and check all equipment to ensure proper operation. This is one of the more exciting parts of the day, when the ARFF team gets to flow some water and drive the trucks. “You need to be sure that all your gear is fully functioning and ready before anything happens, so that’s the first thing we check on shift” Whalen said. After the trucks are washed down and the station is clean, the team takes a minute to double check their message board for any discrep-

ancies, announcements, NOTAM’s, or schedule advisories. FAR Pt. 139 is stringent on record keeping regarding airport certification and maintenance: ARFF is no exception. Firemen of DAB’s ARFF unit not only have to complete training and certification as firefighters and paramedics of VCFS, but must also adhere to all training curriculums and mandates from the FAA. This includes everything from driving tests, to report completion varying in frequency, anywhere from once a day to once a year. “We do an average of at least two hours of train-

“

You need to be sure that all your gear is fully functioning and ready... so that’s the first thing we check on shift.

ing per shift” Whalen explained. “Training is a big part of our day: everything we do is training really, but there is plenty of requirements we have to meet on a daily basis here from the FAA” the Lt. said. Unlike some government jobs or FAA careers, there is no mandatory retirement age for firefighters, but rather a grueling personal fitness test to ensure that each team member can meet certain strict physical requirements to perform their jobs effectively. The test takes almost all year to prepare for, giving the workout room lots of daily use at Station 17. “Fitness is real important for a firefighter, and that test is designed to be

tough for anyone” Whalen remarked. Because of that, the firefighters take a part of every shift to workout and stretch their bodies. Next, Whalen started going over the equipment used by the ARFF team. The trucks stationed at Station 17 carry everything from a traditional crowbar to roof mounted cannons and nozzle systems for some of the biggest blazes. Since the trucks are configured for a one-man operation, everything is mounted or installed with purpose. For example, the interior of the truck in configured with a driver’s seat in the middle of the cab with the associated gauges and switches situated all within reach of the one seat. It looks a bit odd at first, like the dashboard of a spaceship with switches, lights, gauges, radios and even two joy sticks all surrounding the driver. Based on the inherent danger associated with a burning or even exploding aircraft, firefighters are trained to fight the fire from the truck. One could say the fireman becomes one with the truck, working to combat burning AV-Gas or Jet fuel seeping from a torn fuselage to protect the fireman and put out the fire more efficiently. “These trucks are so much fun to drive, probably the most fun thing to drive as a firefighter” Lt. Whalen says. “I feel like Optimus Prime behind the controls of this thing!” he describes. These units are equipped with everything a normal fire truck would have, including first aid supplies and power tools. One tool can even hook up to the hose of the truck and puncture through

JULY

22 2014

Zachary Wilkinson/The Avion Newspaper

Crew Members of Station 17 need to be ready for a call at a moments notice. Firefighters have 180 seconds to be suited up and in the truck flowing water on the burning aircraft.

the skin of an aircraft to drench the interior with water. Jaws of life come standard of course, helping the firefighters create a means of egress when necessary for trapped passengers. Traditional trucks require an engineer to run the pumps and flow water through the hoses from the trucks, however the ARFF units make a one man show easier than ever. When the fireman needs to approach the fire on foot from the truck, he or she can simply hop out and grab the hose & nozzle and run without needing to spread the hose first and return to the truck to activate the pumps. Instead, a quick release safety is installed towards the truck end of the hose, which activates the pump and runs water to the nozzle when released. With a brisk tug of the hose pulling the pin when unraveled, the hose charges with water eliminating the need to run back and forth. Next, Lt. Whalen demonstrated what exactly his Oshkosh Striker could do with 1500 gal-

lons of water in the tanks. ARFF 2 took to the pavement, lights aglow, as the Lieutenant explained the different features these units come equipped with such as underside and overhead sprinklers protecting the truck itself, along with the ‘Purple K’ dry chemical and foam

“

These trucks are so much fun to drive... I feel like Optimus Prime behind the controls of this thing!

“

Page

which can be flowed with the water to douse the burning craft. As water flowed through the cannons the truck could be felt rumbling below the seat with hundreds of gallons per minute running through the system. For training purposes, the ARFF unit has an aircraft fuselage staged in a grassy portion of the airport property to practice firefighting techniques and improve proficiency.

Lt. Whalen and Fireman Mork brought out ARFF 2 and ARFF 4 to demonstrate the different firefighting techniques used to combat the blazes, utilizing the fuselage. “The primary focus is to always protect a means of egress for the trapped passengers in the burning plane” Whalen said. With training being such a pronounced practice at Station 17, one could imagine that community outreach and education is also important. Aside from the typical extinguisher classes, Lt. Whalen also works hand in hand with many on-airport companies and institutions to broaden the training and include more than just ARFF staff. Professor Williams of the Applied Aviation Sciences Department is an Assistant Professor of Safety Science who teaches upper level Aviation Safety courses here at the Daytona Beach Campus. Prof. Williams takes his class to visit Lt. Whalen over at the station at the end of Continued on A7 >>

Matthew Rutowski/The Avion Newspaper

Zachary Wilkinson/The Avion Newspaper

Aviation

JULY

22 2014

ARFF Continued from A6 >> the course each semester and show them exactly what goes on at the ARFF Unit here at Daytona. “It’s a great way to give the students an end-ofcourse application to every-

thing they’ve been learning all semester” Williams said. The class takes part in a tour at the station along with different exercises designed to show them how life works at Station 17. Lt. Whalen has it down to a science by this point after running this program for quite a while now. Whalen hopes that these

initiatives will spark some interest to do a similar program, on a larger scale. With the cooperation of Airport Operations, ARFF and Embry-Riddle Lt. Whalen believes that a training event could be extremely beneficial to all parties involved. As is true with most things, improvements are necessary

as the years pass. For that reason, a new station is planned to be built at the current location of station 17. A copy of the plans hang on the wall in the day room of the current building. The new station will include larger bay doors for the trucks, along with both men’s’ and women’s’ dormitories. The station will be larger,

Air Greenland

It is 8am in morning, at least according to the airport clock. The sun has lit the sky continuously for weeks, blurring the line between daytime and the non-existent night. No, the stars are not out of alignment. This is just a normal June day for Nuuk, Greenland, as cargo is loaded and passengers board flights bound for remote locations. In a country of only 57,000 residents, rough terrain and never-ending ice sheets, air travel is not a luxury but a necessity. Cars and trucks roam the very few roads, which exist only within populated areas. There are no highways, no trains - no ground transportation between towns. Popular with Eco Tourists, Greenland’s beautiful and expansive landscape leaves air and sea as the only modes of long distance travel into and within the region. The sole domestic airline is Air Greenland, which also owns the only major ferry boat company, currently operat-

ing one ship. Flying mostly Dash 7 and 8 airplanes, Air Greenland provides a vital link between 13 domestic destinations, comprised of small towns and villages. The use of turbo-prop aircraft is no accident. Only two of the civilian airports in Greenland (both former US military bases) have long enough runways to accommodate large jet aircraft. Other airports in Greenland are limited in size by geographic features. Passengers traveling from Europe arrive at one of the two larger airports, then transfer to smaller aircraft. After two hours of flight and a brief stop in Kangerlussuaq (one of the former US bases,) the flight from Nuuk arrives in Ilulissat, a small town north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun will not set for the entire the summer. Passengers are met at the airport by pre-arranged transportation. No taxi cabs or rental cars are to be found. The airport in Ilulissat doubles as a departure point for sightseeing flights, operated by Air Greenland helicopters. Air Zafari, a

The Avion and laid out with the current needs of the ARFF team in mind allowing for more space in common areas and more usable storage. The spirit at Station 17 is alive and well, even with just a two-man staffed shift. Although 3 would be a bit more ideal, budget needs prevent the third man from

standing guard with the exception of high traffic periods like race weeks. As days progress and the sun rises and sets, be sure to keep an eye out for the members of DAB’s ARFF unit positioned next to the tower. You’ll never know when you can get a glimpse of them in action!

Matthew Rutowski/The Avion Newspaper

Zachary Wilkinson/The Avion Newspaper

Christian Pezalla Correspondent

Page

small fixed-wing operator, also flies from Ilulissat, providing tourists an up-close and breathtaking view of the ice sheets. To the south of Nuuk sits the town of Narsarsuaq, a launching point for tourist adventures and a former World War II base for allied planes. Once a small village with no air service, the town Narsarsuaq roared to life in 1941, as the US Army built the airport which stands today. The short flying range of WWII era aircraft made fuel stops critical and Narsarsuaq an optimal choice. The US and Danish governments continued use of the base after the war, later converting it for civil aviation. A small museum remains to commemorate the days when only piston planes roamed the skies. With Greenland’s challenging terrain, long distances and cold weather, the importance of aviation and Air Greenland cannot be overstated. Flying there is not just an option - it is a critical resource and vital link.

Malaysia Continued from A1 >> guidance and tracking radar signals originating from the TELAR. The missile has 154 pounds of high explosive for a warhead, while approaching the aircraft at 2100MPH. Seeing how the missile was approaching MH17 at nearly Mach 3, there was no chance of the passengerliner avoiding the projectile. While the rebels were using the launcher, there is no proof they were using the other vehicles.

Civilian airliner attacks are rare, but they have happened before. The last time an aircraft was brought down by a missile near Ukraine happened on October 4, 2001. Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 was heading from Tel Aviv, Israel to Novosibirsk, Russia when it was flying over the Black Sea near Ukraine, while at the same time, Ukraine was holding war games. An errant missile shot down the aircraft. The incident resulted in the death of all souls on board. One of the worst accidents in history occurred on September 1, 1983 when the

Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines Flight 007 in which 269 people were killed. This incident occurred because the aircraft had badly strayed off course and flew through prohibited Soviet Airspace twice. Around that time, a US Air Force aircraft was on a reconnaissance mission in the area and the Soviets mistook Korean Air for the US Air Force jet and took it down. It is a tragedy when an aircraft is shot down, especially when it is a civilian aircraft that in not involved in the current matters of the country it is flying over.

Photo Courtesy: Associated Press

Photo Courtesy: Associated Press Christian Pezalla/The Avion Newspaper

Photos of the MH17 wreckage displaying the substantial damage dealt to the aircraft.

Comics and Games