Achievement by our AMS Students!!
The 'Create Tomorrow' Challenge 2011
is an annual engineering challenge to come up with an innovative idea related
to the theme of Green Technology in Aviation, one which can improve the way we
travel, think, live and connect within the Aviation World.
All of the 5 teams (3 groups of year
2s and 2 groups of year1s) from our course cleared the qualifying round and
participated in the finals.
TriJetBlast secured first place with
the idea of strategically placing wind-turbines of a specific
design and size to capture this wasted energy from aircraft jet blast on every
takeoff, without posing a hazard to aircraft operations and still complying
with standards on Aerodrome design set by the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO). As such, they were awarded with an all-expenses paid trip
to Airbus’ facility in Toulouse, France with Singapore Airlines!
A member from TriJetBlast – Javier
Goh from P1001 describing their 3- day trip to Toulouse, France.
Our team
visited many famous landmarks in Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de
Triomphe, and even the famous Louvre Museum where the ‘Mona Lisa’ was displayed
on the first day. After spending the whole day sight-seeing and touring the
Louvre, we had a dinner cruise along the River Seine, which runs right through
the heart of Paris. During the cruise, we also passed by famous landmarks such
as the Notre Dame. The French cuisine was quite sumptuous as well!
After
spending an afternoon on sight-seeing on the second day, we
had to catch our flight to Toulouse, Air France Flight AF6130, from another of
Paris’ Airports, Orly. We just managed to check-in at the last minute due to
the traffic jams on the way to the airport! When we finally got to our gate, we
took a bus down to the aircraft as it was parked at a remote stand, away from
the terminal building. The flight was rather short, lasting just 1 hour 30
minutes. We arrived in Toulouse just as the Sun set.
The third day was the main attraction of the
trip, we visited the Airbus Headquarters, as well as the Final Assembly Lines
(FAL) of the Airbus A330/A340 and the A380. In the morning, we were first given
a presentation on the Airbus company information, before going for a tour of
the Airbus Cabin Mock-up Centre, where Airbus has built full-size mock-up cabins
of all their aircraft types. Airbus uses these cabin mock-ups to let airline
customers visualise what kind of cabin interiors they may want to install in
their planes, and this helps Airbus sell airplanes to them. After having lunch
at the Airbus Sky Restaurant, we first visited the FAL of the A330/A340, and
then the A380 FAL, both on the other side of the airport. The immense size of
the building in which these airplanes are made is spectacular, capable of
holding up to 8 A380s in various stages of completion! With the visit over, we
visited the Airbus souvenir shop and had a nice dinner near the town centre. We
would be returning home to Singapore the next day in an A380, built right there
in Toulouse.
