Month: August 2016

Swiss Air Force: An Inside Look
Aviation

Swiss Air Force: An Inside Look

To be able to fly a military aircraft, aspirants have to go through a tough selection process. Eventually only a fraction of the applicants will be able to call themselves pilots. One of these people is Sebastian Blanke, Lieutenant of the Swiss Army, currently an aspirant to becoming a pilot. He shares his experiences exclusively with Leonardo Times. As a child, many people have the dream of becoming a pilot. I wasn’t any different. Huge, complex, and fast technical systems like airplanes always fascinated me. As I grew older, the dream grew with me. Finally, at the age of seventeen, I decided to pursue my dream and try to become a pilot of the Swiss Air Force (SAF). The very first step on the journey to the cockpit is SPHAIR. It is the platform of the SAF, which offers every Swiss cit...
Eco-Runner
Specials, Student projects

Eco-Runner

The Eco-Runner competes in an annual event called the Shell Eco-marathon. A staggering 3000 students, spread over 200 student teams from all over Europe, compete in different classes within the competition. The Eco-Runner is a novel car designed to compete under the category of one of the most futuristic engineering concepts: cars using Hydrogen as its energy source. From Delft to Moscow and back, on one liter of hydrogen? What was deemed once impossible is not so anymore. Team Eco-Runner has been successful in achieving this goal and has remained a consistent performer at the Shell Eco-marathon. This marathon is one of the premium competitions in the world that attracts many engineering students to put their skills and knowledge to the test. The task of the event is t...
Flying Through the Glass Ceiling
Specials

Flying Through the Glass Ceiling

There continues to be a considerable gender gap across engineering fields. Discriminatory workplace dynamics persist in discouraging women from pursuing an engineering-related degree and career. Can women overcome these obstacles or will the engineering world continue to dissuade them? Whenever you find yourself around other engineering students or working in a project group, I urge you to take a step back and observe the gender diversity. It’s quite fair to say that there are, in general, more men than women. Now have a thought as to why that is. Are women simply ill-suited for engineering? If your immediate answer isn’t “NO”, then I highly suggest you re-evaluate your internal moral compass. Nevertheless, to what do we owe this gender imbalance? The lack of a Y chromosome seems to have...
The Current State of Electric Aircraft
Aviation, Propulsion

The Current State of Electric Aircraft

As the Solar Impulse arrives in Abu Dhabi, it is interesting to examine the electric aircraft on a conceptual level, as well as its current progress. Without judging the Solar Impulse team’s achievements, it is fair to say their main drivers were most certainly adventure and innovation. The latter being a pillar of aerospace engineering. It is the reason why aircraft continue to become more efficient year after year, and allow more and more people to reach distant places throughout the world. Electric aircraft are one of the newest domains upon which innovation is focused. Few can predict how far they will go. This article presents the Solar Impulse along with a history of electric aircraft, their uses and the challenges to come.   Solar Impulse The Solar Impulse adventure wa...