Happy New Year 2024.

 Automobiles and Ships doing well?

These are the fields of advanced electronic engine conversion and strides, with rail and aviation following more so with existing power and bio fuels, but the car is now in main and extensive production and the demand is getting higher despite not much change in the lithium battery out put?

Where as shipping it is more profitable and easy to implement and with new designs quicker application, the only thing that is slowing down everything in this area is the Red and Arabian sea crises over commercial shipping being attacked by Houthi rebels in support of Gaza.

The ferry industry and offshore oil rig support are the first to benefit from the electric engine and now with Hydrogen as a mid standby between fossil fuels and electric many more nations will be abandoning and going for the new power sources to become more green and cheaper than the existing?

The only set back is overheating of the lithium batteries and several incidents have been reported recently, perhaps this is because of pushing the power too far and not staying within the required limits?

The Electric Engine?

A revolution in machine Technology!

Many countries have now committed themselves to the development of a carbon free source of power and in this century we will see great changes, as much as in past with the steam and petrol engines!

Getting rid of carbon emissions will certainly help the environment and despite as yet unknown side-effects this is perhaps one of the best developments for humanity truly since the wheel?

Many nations claim to already have the ability to produce cars and land vehicles, but the challenge comes with flight and with shipping? We will have to wait a few more years to see what happens and how it will effect and replace what is now conventional! 

The other area that will determine its future is that of keeping down the costs in production and what will be used to produce the electricity, hopefully not the continued burning of more fossil fuels?

Aerobatic/Racing Aircraft. One.

New Concepts?

Older ideas from the bi-plane era and smaller lighter material has moved us away from agricultural spraying to aerobatic displays and racing. Now some of these bi-planes did put on shows back in the 1920' to 40's in the various showmen and stunt shows, but they seemed to have died out with the introduction of the jet age in the 1950's, when speed was all the new thing-craze?

But in recent years there has been a demand for air racing and many successful light training aircraft have been super-charged to meet this demand. Thus so has stunt flying returned and aerobatic displays, we will not cover the types of aircraft in this blog because there are so many!

That will be something for you to check out for yourself, meanwhile there are also many other machines, home or kit builds that meet the requirement of Micro-lights that too are meeting this new demand, Gyro-copters are coming back into the airshows around the world.

Railways Future, One,

Still in demand?

Trains are still as popular as they ever where, from vintage steam to modern high-speed electrics to the most common diesels. Todays railways are getting a literal track revolution with the introduction of new types of materials and closer concreted sleeper sections, almost like building a model railway,

This whole new process has been developed to cut cost and time and it can be laid, while the older track is being removed. Many urban environments are choosing this option over the traditional methods and this is no longer limited to the modern world.

Railways are big business for the movement of freight, goods, materials and food and every nation that has a railway has the potential for great profit and expansion.

Signalling is perhaps the second difficulty for many to update, especially across the developing world? But with limited points and track crossings this may not be as bad as first would seem, radio cab communication and some of the older methods actually work better with the weather conditions than do the dependency on electricity with most modern one?

Corperate to Commercial Jets. Part-One.

Business to Small Airlines.

There is more of a demand today for the smaller commercial jet, than has ever been seen. 

The business jet offered from 8 to 20 seats, privacy and speed, but today with the success story of the Fairchild-Dornier 328J at 18-to 28 seats many manufacturers are now seeing a market for their aircraft?

Bombardier and Mitsubishi are taking the market off Boeing, Cessna, Gulfstram, Beech and Embraer, because they have designed the right size and seating capacity for the airlines. 

The Boeing 737-600 is still to big for many small airlines, while the Sukhoi S-100J Superjet still has to prove itself. Meanwhile the Airbus A319-100 and various versions have just not come up to the mark.

Cruise Liners.

Ever Bigger.

Comfort and pleasure and new experiences are now what is demanded in the cruise liner business. Comfort and styles with good food has been replaced by shopping and thrills. These ships are getting ever bigger and perhaps the future will see glass bottoms and more underwater as well as over water experiences.

Today there are many kinds of vessels operating in this role, by the big companies. but some people demand something more old fashioned and smaller ships from paddle steamers to steam ships are meeting these demands of luxury over gimmicks and avoid mass shopping to a more selective purchases.