by Blair Mahoney

Created on: February 21, 2007   Last Updated: May 15, 2007

As someone who needs to stay up-to-date on the latest in technology for my field, I see technology as a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it definitely helps with the safety, efficiency, speed, and communications of the airline I'm a pilot for. Also, I'm sure all of us find the usefulness of computers, the Internet, and other changes in technology helpful in many ways. On the other hand, with all the new technology come problems of how to figure out what's essential, how to use it, and how fast it'll be outdated.

Without going into minute detail, technology is a great help in my field of being a pilot. A brilliant system for airliners is called TCAS, or Traffic Collision and Avoidance System. It detects a possible airplane conflict, and if it calculates the divergence could cause an airplane collision, the TCAS system will give a command to the pilot to either climb or descent away from the other airplane. Such a system saves countless lives; even with our current air traffic control system, it's still a great help having TCAS aboard. Another great example of technology in my field is the use of RNAV, or area navigation. It allows RNAV-equipped airplanes to fly on more direct air routes, therefore saving time and fuel in the process. These are just two ways technology helps in my field; there are countless others. I bet all of you reading this use cell phones, computers, the Internet, cars with computer chips run the engine more efficiently, online banking, among much more technological devices. These allow us to spend more time with our families, friends, and co-workers because we're more efficient.

Of course, technology has its weak points. Every day, we read about another product we should buy that's faster and better. It never ends; you buy the latest computer, only to find out a week later it's outdated. Then there's the problem of learning how to use the technology we DO buy. Odds are, the instruction manual is 16 chapters thick with information we're "supposed" to go over. If we did that, we'd never have time for a normal life. To make matters worse, these expensive technologies are finicky and often are made of cheap components.

Sometimes, it's nice to be away from all the hustle and bustle of technology. If we get too "into it", we may find ourselves obsessed with it. Personally, I like reading books and the newspaper and just shutting out all the TV noise, cell phone calls, and Internet use. Technology is a tool to use, and just that.

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