Rural developments are key to the overall socio-economic success of Ghana. The Royal Senchi hotel, nearing completion just South of Adome Bridge, on the road to Akosombo, is a landmark investment in the area. Built with a great deal of 'African taste', this river-side-based operation, is creating nearly 200 new, direct-employment opportunities as well a great deal of secondary employment potential. The organisation behind the hotel has made a great commitment to the ecological protection of the surrounding areas and is keen to promote hiking and nature discovery as part of their roll-out plan - this will in turn boost the local economy, and ecology! Rural development potential is present in abundance around Ghana - it just takes innovative entrepreneurs to identify, and implement, appropriate developments, that will boost local, as well as international, opportunities. Photo courtesy of WAASPS Ltd www.waasps.comWednesday, November 28, 2012
Photo of the week Novenber 28th, 2012
Rural developments are key to the overall socio-economic success of Ghana. The Royal Senchi hotel, nearing completion just South of Adome Bridge, on the road to Akosombo, is a landmark investment in the area. Built with a great deal of 'African taste', this river-side-based operation, is creating nearly 200 new, direct-employment opportunities as well a great deal of secondary employment potential. The organisation behind the hotel has made a great commitment to the ecological protection of the surrounding areas and is keen to promote hiking and nature discovery as part of their roll-out plan - this will in turn boost the local economy, and ecology! Rural development potential is present in abundance around Ghana - it just takes innovative entrepreneurs to identify, and implement, appropriate developments, that will boost local, as well as international, opportunities. Photo courtesy of WAASPS Ltd www.waasps.com
Monday, November 26, 2012
Novenber 25th, 2012
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
Following on from last week’s article about motivation and ambition….
Let us consider the ‘potential energy’ that is locked up in the youth in all situations – regardless of rich or poor, urban or rural? Science tells us that ‘potential energy’ is that energy which is held in an object, waiting to be released. For example, a stone on the top of a hill, has the potential energy, bound up in it, to roll down the hill. All it needs is a push. Let us imagine for one moment that the stone is a child, and that the hill has two slopes – development and disorder. There are three possible outcomes: leave the stone where it is and hope that nobody else interferes with it (the non-involvement approach) or apply some small amount of energy to push the stone, either towards development or disorder (involvement approach). The amount of energy required to release the potential energy is much the same for either direction of travel.
The non-involvement approach leaves the child open to being influenced by other, perhaps non-altruistic, forces. Any involvement should impart energy in the right direction or disorder will result. The developed world has demonstrated this with the increasing number of young people influenced into non-socially-acceptable activities through gangs, gang-culture, drugs, etc. These unpleasant effects of the potential energy of the next generation of leaders, being released down the disorder side of the ‘youth mountain’, are far too common. In some developing nations young people may be influenced to join rebel forces, enter prostitution, smuggle drugs or commit crimes, when ambition and motivation are provided by non-altruistic influences – again towards the side of disorder and eventual breakdown of what is, all too often already, a fragile society. It appears, therefore, that effective development amongst the youth of today, and perhaps especially in developing nations, requires that an amount of energy needs to be imparted in the correct direction, to stimulate the release of the potential energy needed, for long-term development of such nations.
The consequences of non-action in the socially desired direction, will almost certainly involve the dissipation of a great deal more energy, time and resources, at a later date in order to ‘reverse-up the slope of disorder’. In brief, if we do not consistently provide potential sources of positive motivation, especially to those in their formative years, of developing nations, in such a way as to stimulate ambition for a brighter tomorrow and consequential self-motivation, we will continue to see lack-lustre results and a tendency towards social disorder. This is, after all, a simple restatement of entropy, which implies ‘All things tend towards disorder [unless energy is applied to delay or prevent it]’.
The above concepts are based on the idea that there are young people in ‘motivational stasis’, with potential energy waiting to be released through ambition-stimulated motivation, which, if suitably directed, can be inspired towards social and economic development.
How can this be done? If motivation is linked to ambition, what ambitions can be used to stimulate the ultimate goal of self-motivation? Ownership of a Ferrari is an ambition, as is being a lawyer (although I have never seen any possible reason for anybody to want to be a lawyer!), but are these relevant ambitions for the children of developing communities? Surely, the most sustainable ambitions are dependent on two basic elements: Exposure, and achievability of direction.
Exposure: Young people need to be exposed to events and people (especially positive role-models) that can be used to stimulate careers and activities that the youngster can develop an ambition for. How can you want to be a pilot if you have never seen or heard of a plane or met a pilot; i.e., know that such an ambition even exists.
Achievability of direction: Once exposed to a potential ambition motivator, the young person must then have some concept of ‘achievability of direction’; i.e., once exposed to an ambition-motivator the resultant direction of effort should be achievable.
That does not mean that the end result must be obtainable, far from it, but the direction towards it must be.
Let us imagine ‘Buzz Aldrin’ (the astronaut) went into a school in the Afram Plains and spoke about his experiences in space. The resultant ‘I want to be a spaceman’ motivator would enter the minds of many children. Although being a ‘spaceman’ is probably unachievable for the vast majority of those stimulated by the exposure to a real ‘spaceman’, the resultant driving force for children to develop their skills and interests, towards the inherent direction of achievability in order to become pilots, air-traffic controllers, engineers and for the occasional child to actually become a ‘spaceman’ – or indeed ‘space-woman’ - is sufficient to impart the ‘change-mode’ for a ‘stasis’ child towards a ‘development’ child. This is perhaps not a relevant example for developing nations – but it could be interesting to experience!
Similarly, and perhaps more relevantly for the developing nations, a doctor speaking at a school – about being a doctor - exposes the children to the exciting concepts of medicine, and just may provoke an ‘I want to be a doctor’ response that could provide stimulation towards the direction of achievability of a career in care (nurse, radiographer, biochemist, lab technician, community health educator, etc.) and with that all of the self-motivation needed to avoid teenage pregnancy, involvement in drugs and to improve both attendance and achievement at school. Perhaps just enough to succeed, albeit that the goal of being a doctor is deflected in favour of a ‘more achievable’ outcome as time progresses. Nonetheless, certain individuals may well achieve the ultimate goal of becoming a doctor, imparting the motivational ambition to the next generation.
This concept was originally presented when I did my lecturers qualification in the 1990’s. Today, I stick to this as a fact, have applied it in the field and consider this as ‘proven by experience’.
When our aviation team of young women talks in a school or to a group of young people, there is a wave of energy that goes out, wraps around the crowd and bounces back at us. Many start to think about aviation, and its allied activities, as a career. Others see it as ‘If other Ghanaians can achieve a dream, I can be allowed to dream – I can be anything I want to’.
One school, not far from the airfield, appears to have more ‘wannabe pilots’ than the rest of the country put together – simply because they get to see airplanes, and young Ghanaians flying them, on a regular basis.
The amazing impact of aviation, and engineering, goes much further than just the aviation sector – we have seen young people take positive changes in their learning and desires to achieve in many different areas – simply by seeing ‘it can be done’.
Please, exposure your young people to opportunities and positive role-models, then let them find their own motivational-ambition. Furthermore, go out there yourself, and provide some material from your sector of activity for the young people of today to be energised in positive directions – before the less positive forces push them down the wrong slope, towards disorder.
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Following on from last week’s article about motivation and ambition….
Let us consider the ‘potential energy’ that is locked up in the youth in all situations – regardless of rich or poor, urban or rural? Science tells us that ‘potential energy’ is that energy which is held in an object, waiting to be released. For example, a stone on the top of a hill, has the potential energy, bound up in it, to roll down the hill. All it needs is a push. Let us imagine for one moment that the stone is a child, and that the hill has two slopes – development and disorder. There are three possible outcomes: leave the stone where it is and hope that nobody else interferes with it (the non-involvement approach) or apply some small amount of energy to push the stone, either towards development or disorder (involvement approach). The amount of energy required to release the potential energy is much the same for either direction of travel.
The non-involvement approach leaves the child open to being influenced by other, perhaps non-altruistic, forces. Any involvement should impart energy in the right direction or disorder will result. The developed world has demonstrated this with the increasing number of young people influenced into non-socially-acceptable activities through gangs, gang-culture, drugs, etc. These unpleasant effects of the potential energy of the next generation of leaders, being released down the disorder side of the ‘youth mountain’, are far too common. In some developing nations young people may be influenced to join rebel forces, enter prostitution, smuggle drugs or commit crimes, when ambition and motivation are provided by non-altruistic influences – again towards the side of disorder and eventual breakdown of what is, all too often already, a fragile society. It appears, therefore, that effective development amongst the youth of today, and perhaps especially in developing nations, requires that an amount of energy needs to be imparted in the correct direction, to stimulate the release of the potential energy needed, for long-term development of such nations.
The consequences of non-action in the socially desired direction, will almost certainly involve the dissipation of a great deal more energy, time and resources, at a later date in order to ‘reverse-up the slope of disorder’. In brief, if we do not consistently provide potential sources of positive motivation, especially to those in their formative years, of developing nations, in such a way as to stimulate ambition for a brighter tomorrow and consequential self-motivation, we will continue to see lack-lustre results and a tendency towards social disorder. This is, after all, a simple restatement of entropy, which implies ‘All things tend towards disorder [unless energy is applied to delay or prevent it]’.
The above concepts are based on the idea that there are young people in ‘motivational stasis’, with potential energy waiting to be released through ambition-stimulated motivation, which, if suitably directed, can be inspired towards social and economic development.
How can this be done? If motivation is linked to ambition, what ambitions can be used to stimulate the ultimate goal of self-motivation? Ownership of a Ferrari is an ambition, as is being a lawyer (although I have never seen any possible reason for anybody to want to be a lawyer!), but are these relevant ambitions for the children of developing communities? Surely, the most sustainable ambitions are dependent on two basic elements: Exposure, and achievability of direction.
Exposure: Young people need to be exposed to events and people (especially positive role-models) that can be used to stimulate careers and activities that the youngster can develop an ambition for. How can you want to be a pilot if you have never seen or heard of a plane or met a pilot; i.e., know that such an ambition even exists.
Achievability of direction: Once exposed to a potential ambition motivator, the young person must then have some concept of ‘achievability of direction’; i.e., once exposed to an ambition-motivator the resultant direction of effort should be achievable.
That does not mean that the end result must be obtainable, far from it, but the direction towards it must be.
Let us imagine ‘Buzz Aldrin’ (the astronaut) went into a school in the Afram Plains and spoke about his experiences in space. The resultant ‘I want to be a spaceman’ motivator would enter the minds of many children. Although being a ‘spaceman’ is probably unachievable for the vast majority of those stimulated by the exposure to a real ‘spaceman’, the resultant driving force for children to develop their skills and interests, towards the inherent direction of achievability in order to become pilots, air-traffic controllers, engineers and for the occasional child to actually become a ‘spaceman’ – or indeed ‘space-woman’ - is sufficient to impart the ‘change-mode’ for a ‘stasis’ child towards a ‘development’ child. This is perhaps not a relevant example for developing nations – but it could be interesting to experience!
Similarly, and perhaps more relevantly for the developing nations, a doctor speaking at a school – about being a doctor - exposes the children to the exciting concepts of medicine, and just may provoke an ‘I want to be a doctor’ response that could provide stimulation towards the direction of achievability of a career in care (nurse, radiographer, biochemist, lab technician, community health educator, etc.) and with that all of the self-motivation needed to avoid teenage pregnancy, involvement in drugs and to improve both attendance and achievement at school. Perhaps just enough to succeed, albeit that the goal of being a doctor is deflected in favour of a ‘more achievable’ outcome as time progresses. Nonetheless, certain individuals may well achieve the ultimate goal of becoming a doctor, imparting the motivational ambition to the next generation.
This concept was originally presented when I did my lecturers qualification in the 1990’s. Today, I stick to this as a fact, have applied it in the field and consider this as ‘proven by experience’.
When our aviation team of young women talks in a school or to a group of young people, there is a wave of energy that goes out, wraps around the crowd and bounces back at us. Many start to think about aviation, and its allied activities, as a career. Others see it as ‘If other Ghanaians can achieve a dream, I can be allowed to dream – I can be anything I want to’.
One school, not far from the airfield, appears to have more ‘wannabe pilots’ than the rest of the country put together – simply because they get to see airplanes, and young Ghanaians flying them, on a regular basis.
The amazing impact of aviation, and engineering, goes much further than just the aviation sector – we have seen young people take positive changes in their learning and desires to achieve in many different areas – simply by seeing ‘it can be done’.
Please, exposure your young people to opportunities and positive role-models, then let them find their own motivational-ambition. Furthermore, go out there yourself, and provide some material from your sector of activity for the young people of today to be energised in positive directions – before the less positive forces push them down the wrong slope, towards disorder.
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Photo of the week Novenber 21st, 2012
Normally we look down from the skies on this image-slot, but this week we are looking up, and seeing a different detail! As shown by this Mango tree in Mepe, growing near the River Volta, the fruits are beginning to hang on the trees in abundance, just as the minor rains come to an end and the dusty blur of Harmattan begins to drift down from the North. The crops will be harvested, and stores filled, as we all prepare for the dryness that will grip us for the next few months, unless of course the weather patterns are disrupted again! Watch the skies, fields and fences for the migratory birds that herald the beginning of 'dryer times' - white Cattle Egrets, multi-coloured Bee Eaters and the many other seasonal birds that mark the changes, bringing interest, movement and their own kind of music with them! Photo Courtesy AvTech Academy www.avtechacademy.org
Monday, November 19, 2012
Novenber 19th, 2012
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
As a flying instructor, as well as teaching the variety of things (from aircraft building to robotics programming, EMT to tractor maintenance, etc.) that I am privileged to share in my general week, I often get asked about my approach to education and learning theory. Over the next few weeks, as education is the hot topic of the year, I will share some of my experiences, concepts and approaches – of course, they have a link to aviation, since teaching people to fly is one of the most challenging things to teach anybody!
The first thing a learner needs is motivation to learn. Whilst I was passing my ‘post-16 educator’ lecturers qualification I wrote a paper called ‘Motivational Ambition’. Let me share the ‘concepts’ with you, and see what you think. I look forward to hearing your reactions as to whether you think this is relevant, alternatives and how we should motivate the next generation!
Throughout the world, and perhaps throughout time, the source of motivation of young people to learn, and develop skills, has been the subject of many a discussion – and, I am sure, arguments, perhaps even fights – amongst educators, parents and in the halls of all of academia – as well as Ministries of Education! Traditional ‘education theory’ tends to link motivation with reward (mainly short-term), and many teachers, lecturers and parents will agree. Methods such as “If you complete this task by 2:30 we will... read a story... have a cookie… go on a field trip… etc…” or “If you do well in your exams we will buy you that ... book… item of clothing… bicycle… car… motorcycle… etc…”, and of course the ultimate threat “If you do not achieve in your education – you will not get (or perhaps keep) a good job”. This last statement succinctly summarises why we educate our young people – with the hope of positive engagement in gainful employment – please include ‘self-employment’ as an option in todays ‘entrepreneurial world’.
But is this really the manner in which we should go about motivating learning, especially for the next generation? What about the use of the obligatory prefix of ‘self’ to provide the more long-lasting, and most probably, more reliable ‘self-motivation’. Unfortunately, motivation appears to be difficult to assess, and impossible to quantify, and therefore most people’s sense of what motivates others, or how to stimulate motivation in another individual, tends be anecdotal. Of course, Captain Yaw has opinions!
For many years, children in the industrial nations, when asked what they want to do when finished at school, could be heard to say things like “I want to be a... train driver… tractor driver... pilot... road builder... fireman... policeman... etc…”; until one day (at some point in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s) it became far more socially acceptable and, it seems, politically correct to say “I don’t know” or “I will wait and see how I do in my studies/exams”, or perhaps more commonly “I am keeping my options open” - which translates in many cases to “I have no idea” or “do I care?”. Such a response has been endorsed, and even encouraged by modern educational systems – enhanced perhaps by the so called ‘life-long learning’ revolution of always learning more, that has stimulated adults, and especially late-learners, into positive progression. It appears to me that the ‘you can always do that later’ approach may well be damaging early development, determination and creativity in our young people around the world. Furthermore, today’s parents often discourage such ‘unguided’ ambition through social pressure. In some societies it appears to no longer be socially acceptable that your child wants to drive a tractor, be a farmer or even a road builder – even as a transient ‘growing-up desire’. Sadly, ‘parental-ambitions’ may be placed upon the shoulders of some offspring very early on - being a doctor, lawyer or accountant seems far more attractive (albeit in the eyes of an adult), and some children quickly learn that it is a good idea to echo the ‘ambition of their parents’ since it gains a positive response, and gains ‘social rewards’, even if they have no idea what it really means. A five year old child came by the airfield (with his family) and told me that he wanted to be a Lawyer and that his three year old sister wanted to be a doctor. Excuse me! ‘Total poppycock’! What is worse; the parents were visibly glowing at the statements from their ward! Such ideas are (totally) unlikely to emanate from a young mind, in my opinion.
If does appear that the ‘Western Parents’ are, in general, abandoning ambition altogether. The argument being ‘It is unacceptable to expect a young person to aim for a career, without first seeing the academic ability of the young person on paper.’ In the developing nations the tendency is to ‘Forcibly raise the expectations of the child, based on the desires of the parents, not always with the resources to make it a reality’. The modern Western trend of ‘keep your options open until you see how you do’ or the concept of ‘academic results-based choice of career’ is the new mantra of many educationalists, career advisers and parents. Is it this change of emphasis from ‘unguided wild-ambition’ to ‘results-based choice’ that has culminated in the apparent lower-motivation quotient, and lower-academic results, in the youth of such nations?
The developing nation’s young people, especially in the rural areas, appear to have another problem: lack of motivation due to lack of opportunity. Despite the child-echoed-parental-mantra of ‘I want to be lawyer or doctor’, many of the developing nations suffer from extremely high unemployment and lack of opportunity. This may reflect in why some young people are failing to make the effort at school - or at anything for that matter? Perhaps young people are growing up in areas where there is no industry, simply subsistence farming, petty trading, a school and a church where the example of ambition from successful adults can be to ‘sit under a neem tree when the sun is too hot’ or run a tro-tro between two trading points. It appears that, in many cases, no thought for anything new – even the planting of a new tree - goes through the mind of the average child in a society that accepts its lot and is not exposed to the possibility of rewarding ambition.
What would rewarding ambition be? Rewarding ambition is related to the exposure of the young person to the ‘success around them’. Perhaps building a factory, flying an aeroplane, designing a new hoe, establishing a farm, breeding a new crop variety, and the list could continue – if only the creativity was present. This does not mean that the child in such circumstances is unhappy; far from it - many children and young people live happy, simple and often hungry, shorter lives.
What is the answer? Let us look at that more next week!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
As a flying instructor, as well as teaching the variety of things (from aircraft building to robotics programming, EMT to tractor maintenance, etc.) that I am privileged to share in my general week, I often get asked about my approach to education and learning theory. Over the next few weeks, as education is the hot topic of the year, I will share some of my experiences, concepts and approaches – of course, they have a link to aviation, since teaching people to fly is one of the most challenging things to teach anybody!
The first thing a learner needs is motivation to learn. Whilst I was passing my ‘post-16 educator’ lecturers qualification I wrote a paper called ‘Motivational Ambition’. Let me share the ‘concepts’ with you, and see what you think. I look forward to hearing your reactions as to whether you think this is relevant, alternatives and how we should motivate the next generation!
Throughout the world, and perhaps throughout time, the source of motivation of young people to learn, and develop skills, has been the subject of many a discussion – and, I am sure, arguments, perhaps even fights – amongst educators, parents and in the halls of all of academia – as well as Ministries of Education! Traditional ‘education theory’ tends to link motivation with reward (mainly short-term), and many teachers, lecturers and parents will agree. Methods such as “If you complete this task by 2:30 we will... read a story... have a cookie… go on a field trip… etc…” or “If you do well in your exams we will buy you that ... book… item of clothing… bicycle… car… motorcycle… etc…”, and of course the ultimate threat “If you do not achieve in your education – you will not get (or perhaps keep) a good job”. This last statement succinctly summarises why we educate our young people – with the hope of positive engagement in gainful employment – please include ‘self-employment’ as an option in todays ‘entrepreneurial world’.
But is this really the manner in which we should go about motivating learning, especially for the next generation? What about the use of the obligatory prefix of ‘self’ to provide the more long-lasting, and most probably, more reliable ‘self-motivation’. Unfortunately, motivation appears to be difficult to assess, and impossible to quantify, and therefore most people’s sense of what motivates others, or how to stimulate motivation in another individual, tends be anecdotal. Of course, Captain Yaw has opinions!
For many years, children in the industrial nations, when asked what they want to do when finished at school, could be heard to say things like “I want to be a... train driver… tractor driver... pilot... road builder... fireman... policeman... etc…”; until one day (at some point in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s) it became far more socially acceptable and, it seems, politically correct to say “I don’t know” or “I will wait and see how I do in my studies/exams”, or perhaps more commonly “I am keeping my options open” - which translates in many cases to “I have no idea” or “do I care?”. Such a response has been endorsed, and even encouraged by modern educational systems – enhanced perhaps by the so called ‘life-long learning’ revolution of always learning more, that has stimulated adults, and especially late-learners, into positive progression. It appears to me that the ‘you can always do that later’ approach may well be damaging early development, determination and creativity in our young people around the world. Furthermore, today’s parents often discourage such ‘unguided’ ambition through social pressure. In some societies it appears to no longer be socially acceptable that your child wants to drive a tractor, be a farmer or even a road builder – even as a transient ‘growing-up desire’. Sadly, ‘parental-ambitions’ may be placed upon the shoulders of some offspring very early on - being a doctor, lawyer or accountant seems far more attractive (albeit in the eyes of an adult), and some children quickly learn that it is a good idea to echo the ‘ambition of their parents’ since it gains a positive response, and gains ‘social rewards’, even if they have no idea what it really means. A five year old child came by the airfield (with his family) and told me that he wanted to be a Lawyer and that his three year old sister wanted to be a doctor. Excuse me! ‘Total poppycock’! What is worse; the parents were visibly glowing at the statements from their ward! Such ideas are (totally) unlikely to emanate from a young mind, in my opinion.
If does appear that the ‘Western Parents’ are, in general, abandoning ambition altogether. The argument being ‘It is unacceptable to expect a young person to aim for a career, without first seeing the academic ability of the young person on paper.’ In the developing nations the tendency is to ‘Forcibly raise the expectations of the child, based on the desires of the parents, not always with the resources to make it a reality’. The modern Western trend of ‘keep your options open until you see how you do’ or the concept of ‘academic results-based choice of career’ is the new mantra of many educationalists, career advisers and parents. Is it this change of emphasis from ‘unguided wild-ambition’ to ‘results-based choice’ that has culminated in the apparent lower-motivation quotient, and lower-academic results, in the youth of such nations?
The developing nation’s young people, especially in the rural areas, appear to have another problem: lack of motivation due to lack of opportunity. Despite the child-echoed-parental-mantra of ‘I want to be lawyer or doctor’, many of the developing nations suffer from extremely high unemployment and lack of opportunity. This may reflect in why some young people are failing to make the effort at school - or at anything for that matter? Perhaps young people are growing up in areas where there is no industry, simply subsistence farming, petty trading, a school and a church where the example of ambition from successful adults can be to ‘sit under a neem tree when the sun is too hot’ or run a tro-tro between two trading points. It appears that, in many cases, no thought for anything new – even the planting of a new tree - goes through the mind of the average child in a society that accepts its lot and is not exposed to the possibility of rewarding ambition.
What would rewarding ambition be? Rewarding ambition is related to the exposure of the young person to the ‘success around them’. Perhaps building a factory, flying an aeroplane, designing a new hoe, establishing a farm, breeding a new crop variety, and the list could continue – if only the creativity was present. This does not mean that the child in such circumstances is unhappy; far from it - many children and young people live happy, simple and often hungry, shorter lives.
What is the answer? Let us look at that more next week!
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Photo of the week Novenber 14th, 2012
Engineering, whether the building of a car, an aircraft, a bicycle or a building - single or multi-storey, requires that calculations are made, understood, and applied. Materials, their choice and application, as well as the methods used, maintenance and monitoring are essential in the safety of all. Everybody is involved in safety and the future of each construction - here we see a safety conscious construction site in the city. Safety is a culture, it takes time to embrace, and it is growing in West Africa. Slowly, but it is growing. Recent events raise our awareness - but now we must apply what we have learned at an individual level - right down to every materials supplier, every worker, every supervisor as well as regulatory oversight matters - in all areas of construction and engineering. Monday, November 12, 2012
Novenber 12th, 2012
Aviation has strict rules, and failure to follow those rules, including being honest about all activities, result in death. Simple. The same is true on the road, but it appears to be more acceptable to cheat the road system, and that death is the daily toll for failure to comply.
There are few ‘policemen or policewomen’ in the skies. Aviators are trusted to be honest, and on the whole it works. A strong maintenance culture, annual inspections, comprehensive safety policies within organisations and a professional approach to the activity itself, by every individual at all levels, has made aviation one of the safest activities on the planet.
I wish the same could be said for our roads. Daily, I see motorcyclists driving without a safety helmet, and if they are wearing one, their passenger is not. Worse still, a child may be perched on the handlebars – clearly a ‘sacrifice ready to be made’ – and it makes me mad. The taxi with eight or more children piled in, no seatbelt, bouncing around like old footballs, giggling, blind to the consequences of even a minor accident.
Drivers without seatbelts, or worse still, drivers wearing a seatbelt, but a passenger who is not. Couple that with ‘oh, at least my back brakes work’ and ‘at least I have headlights, and I will get tail lights soon’ or ‘I have one headlight working’… well, you get the picture. Just imagine the uproar if aviators took the same approach to safety.
Fortunately, Ghana has a Police Force, who’s task it is to enforce the law and to try to reverse the trend of death on the roads. Do I sense a smirk from some readers? Indeed, we all get frustrated that the Police seem to be unable to enforce standards on the roads – from the overloaded, through the unlicensed, down to the bald tires. What is more, we all get frustrated that there appears to be a tendency to ‘pull-over the better maintained cars’ in preference to the ‘clearly non-roadworthy’ ones. One school of thought is ‘the better the car, the more finances they have, and if we can find something wrong, the quicker a ‘solution’ can be found’. Sadly, there is probably some truth in the underlying implications, that none of us want to believe really occurs on an hourly basis on our roads.
However, this week, I was privileged to visit the infamous ‘MTU’ in Accra Central. I have driven past it many times, I have been ‘threatened’ with visiting it many more! But to ‘visit-it’ was an eye opener.
I got to see the young ‘accused persons’ bench, and when asked what they had done wrong they all knew exactly what their fault was. Were they ready to mend their ways? Well, that was not so clear. ‘Driving a motorcycle without a helmet’ said one. Then in a lowered tone ‘just like everybody else…’, and he has a point. Out the front of the unit, I watched motorcycles, cars, bicycles and more passing-by, clearly ‘infringing the law’, often with major safety implications, not being pulled in, and it frustrated me.
The MTU buildings, yard and staffing levels are, frankly, insufficient, in need of maintenance, and the facility certainly needs a separate entrance and exit, since it appears to occupy several officers simply to manage the inbound and outbound traffic, through one small gate, without cease.
The yard has many beautiful motorcycles – I mean really nice Police motorcycles – some well used (some whose tyres need replaced since their tread is ‘hard to detect’), others brand new, waiting to be issued. If all of those bikes were out on the roads, with an appropriately well-trained officer, doing their diligent duty, the dangers on our roads would drop in an instant.
As I wandered, and absorbed the challenges, an officer came out and very politely greeted me. ‘Good afternoon, Sir’ he started with, I was taken aback, rarely in the city do I receive such a pleasant start to the conversation with an Officer of the Law. We chatted a bit and I quickly repositioned my opinion of the Ghana Police, through the conversation with a handful of senior officers.
I even asked one ‘Were you trained in the UK?’, he laughed, and then explained that no, it was simply many years’ experience on the job. We discussed the often ‘unpleasant exchanges’ that occur with the Ghana Police on the streets, and how the ‘opening statements’ could change the outcome of the interactions. ‘We are getting there’ he stated, missing out the implicit ‘slowly’ that needed to be tagged to the end of the sentence.
In many countries, those charged with enforcing the law are trained to open their conversation, engage with the public, and close their conversation in a cordial manner. A suitable greeting, a polite, honest, correct exchange, using correct terminology, and, of course, a ‘thank you sir/madam, drive safely’, at the end. This is, sadly, missing in many of our esteemed officers of the law, not through malfeasance, but through lack of training and support. After all, it is a tough job out there!
Many of the police officers appear to lack ‘recurrence training’, especially in relation to human interactions, and in all honesty, the rules of the road. (I recently gave a police officer a ride, and had to insist that he wore his seat belt before we started moving.)
However, when I see that there are some fantastic Police Stars out there, I have to ask ‘why not more?’. Then, I see the conditions under which they are working. The MTU facility in Accra is the same size today as ten or twenty (probably more) years ago – and may not have been refurbished for as long. Yet the demands on the staff there are many fold greater. The consequential impact runs from training to state of mind, which then reflects in the manner in which they carry out their duties.
In aviation we take our facilities seriously, since we know that safety, efficiency, and with it, positive outcomes, are fundamental to the success and sustainability of our operations.
I wonder what would happen if the Police of Ghana were given the same ‘per-capita’ support as the aviation sector, in regards to safety and public interaction? It would improve safety on our roads, save lives and lead to a better public-Police relationship.
What would happen if we were to apply the same standards of aviation upon all the road users – car/truck/motorcycle-drivers, bicycles, pedestrians, Police, etc.? Wow, that would really change our days – imagine it for an instant! All the cars following the rules, no bicycles heading at you in the wrong direction, no crossing of the solid white line … oh the list of bliss would go on and on!
Sadly, it seems a long way off. But that does not mean that every individual – civilian and Police - should not make their individual effort to change their little space for the better – just like senior officers at the MTU.
I commend those senior officers at MTU, and just hope that they will be given the support and opportunity to improve their facilities, train their officers, enhancing their service and outcomes in the coming years.
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Photo of the week Novenber 7th, 2012
The demand for Tilapia in Ghana seems to be insatiable, and with it the increase in fish nets in the Volta lake, and river, seems to be like that of a rampant bacteria spreading across a petri dish. The tasty fish dish is providing new opportunities for business and socio-economic development in many parts of the country. The need to learn HOW to maximise outputs through appropriate management of the fish cages is perhaps a topic that needs attention to ensure that the expense and efforts of those who enter fish farming are well rewarded. Photo Courtesy of WAASPS Ltd www.waasps.com
Monday, November 5, 2012
Novenber 5th, 2012
Fresh Air Matters... with Capt. Yaw
What is the future of aviation? More importantly, perhaps, what is the future of aviation in our part of the world?
Recently there has been a fresh announcement from Boeing regarding a new supersonic airliner, at the same time as news of aircraft manufacturers cutting back on staffing and suffering from the economic blizzard that currently bites at the ankles of the industry. Some manufacturers are reducing their jet-aircraft offerings, others investing in them. This coupled with the start-up airline boom (and coming bust), it is time to remember that there are only three things that are certain in aviation:-
What is the future of aviation? More importantly, perhaps, what is the future of aviation in our part of the world?
Recently there has been a fresh announcement from Boeing regarding a new supersonic airliner, at the same time as news of aircraft manufacturers cutting back on staffing and suffering from the economic blizzard that currently bites at the ankles of the industry. Some manufacturers are reducing their jet-aircraft offerings, others investing in them. This coupled with the start-up airline boom (and coming bust), it is time to remember that there are only three things that are certain in aviation:-
- That there is a lot of uncertainty for the future of many sectors of aviation – always, it has not changed since the beginning of aviation.
- If you want to end up with a small fortune in aviation, you had better start with a very large fortune.
- Aviation is a way of life, it is about passion, not about profit, and therefore, if you don’t love aviation for the sake of aviation, you should stay out of the skies.
The creativity of man- and woman-kind has been great over recent years – just look back over the past 100 years, and compare the developments with the preceding 500 years; the pace has clearly picked up! Furthermore, that pace has no sign of abating. The challenge lies in ‘where is the growth and what direction will it take?’
What has driven the growth in recent years? ‘War and Peace'. No, not the 1869 novel by Leo Tolstoy, but rather the conflicts and ‘conflict avoidance’ of the past century. We all know that military conflict has grown some sectors and that the desire for a peace-filled world others - so the answer could be Mankind has used war, cold war and peace-maintenance as a fuel for innovation. The internet started as a military concept, and found its way into peace-informing, up-rising motivating and world-change-factor on a scale that is yet to be fully comprehended.
What is the aviation world likely to release, in the coming years, that could have similar wide-reaching impact on the world? The growth in drones worries me. Drones are aircraft without pilots on board. They are flown remotely, usually for information gathering purposes, but also for less ‘benign’ activities.
Some of these drones are similar in size to a small conventional aircraft, others can be the size of a small bird – and some are being developed to be the size of a large insect. Equipped with cameras, these machines can be used to gather information, both in the interest of the general population, as well as against the common interest.
Software can be linked to the image acquisition that can be used to identify known criminals (from biometric databases), or to look for missing persons – or to track a person suspected of bad-intentions. Currently, cameras are readily available that can be used for face-recognition from more than one thousand meters away. Hence, the drones can be out of sight and ear-shot, whilst they are used to monitor where it is felt appropriate by the operator (generally the authorities).
In some countries this is a growing challenge for legislators – and for airspace issues -. Drones may be operated by the military, the police, fire service, etc., as well as by private corporations and individuals – a new arena with a whole new world of challenges! It is believed that some major software corporations are already using this technology for image acquisition.
Whilst travelling recently, a friend of mine demonstrated a small drone, with a video camera on board, that he controlled from his smart phone, and received images with, in real time. This device is readily available for sale to all and sundry for a few hundred US dollars.
Such ‘baby-drones’ have a limited range and endurance, and are seen more as a toy for the ‘gadget man’, but could be, and have been, used to obtain information from unsuspecting individuals – the spy-in-the-sky-in-your-back-yard!
The potential for the more professional bits of kit is seriously wide – not only for defence but also for exploration, aerial photography, search and rescue, monitoring and management in times of humanitarian need and more.
As I peer into my West African crystal ball, I do not see these ‘pilot-less’ machines impacting in our airspace. The smaller machines, insect sized, and even the ‘opti-copter’ remote-control helicopter with camera, are not stable enough for our part of the world. The weather really is far too ‘unpredictable’ and needs a lot more ‘seat of the pants’ flying. True flying skills, that would be hard to implement in a tiny aircraft, remotely or even computer-logic controlled.
Even in the larger, peace-role drones there are many issues in the unstable flying conditions of West Africa.
The ‘remote-or-auto-pilot’ does not have the same ability to read the air. Even the Predator drone weighing in at around 1000kgs and costing millions of dollars, requires to ‘get up above’ the weather in order to operate safely.
For the lower level, humanitarian-theatre, there are many 2- and 4- seat piloted aircraft that fall into the category of ‘functional platform’ and can be implemented to achieve amazing results – creating jobs with skills. Using modern engines and fuels these machines are quite capable of the ‘peace-time’ drone-equivalency role, at a lower cost and with a much greater effect – probably far more than any of the offerings that are ‘tripping the light fantastic’ in the press.
Take the aircraft being built in Ghana, capable of remaining airborne for extended missions of ten hours or more, with a range of over 1,500km, not only suited to the needs of the travelling man of business, the agriculturalist and other personal use, but also ideal photo-video platforms and humanitarian monitoring, supply and response machines.
With a price tag around that of a Porsche Panamera, but with better fuel economy and better time over distance records in this environment, light, human-piloted aircraft are still non- or under-utilised by most agencies, corporations and individuals in West Africa.
Much as I know and experience the real, deep-seated benefits of developing this sector of aviation, I fear that the awareness levels of the benefits associated with entry level aviation – both in manufacturing and in operations – will take a long time to be grasped by those who would gain the most, and with it the benefits, especially to those on the ground, will also be delayed…
Capt. Yaw is Chief Flying Instructor and Chief Engineer at WAASPS, and lead Pilot with Medicine on the Move, Humanitarian Aviation Logistics (www.waasps.com www.medicineonthemove.org e-mail capt.yaw@waasps.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)