Fastest Means Of Transportation: Transportation is the act of moving things be it humans, animals or goods from one location to another. From the dawn of time, there has always been the need for humans to make use of a means of transport. From the age of hunting and gathering to the farming age, man has always had the need to transport, be it their spoils from hunting or their produce from farming.
At these ages, the common ways or mode of transport was either walking or swimming. However, as farming progressed and the domestication of farm animals began, the beasts of burdens came into play and man began the use of strong creatures like the donkey to transport both themselves and their products to their desired destination.
So, the very first modes of transports were by land and this involved either the humans (walking) or animals (like the horses, donkeys, camels etc.). There was a little modification to this as time passed, but not much changed. Over time, the horses were made to be ridden with carts and chariots (for battles).
With advancement in technology, more modes of transport have emerged, we can now move humans and goods by air, water and rail in addition to the land that we are used to. Now all these modes of transport still need different means to transport them and by means we are talking about the particular type of vehicle that is being used. For instance, in transport by land, there is a bicycle, car, tricycle and even the animal and in the water transport, there are rowed vessels and there are sailed vessels.
Now sometimes the mode and means of transport used can depend on the thing being transported, the distance it is to be transported and the purpose of transport. For instance, a large cargo that is going a very far distance is best sent by a cargo vessel on sea than to be transported on land by heavy duty truck. While perishable, fragile and valuable goods are best transported by air, even if it is more expensive, it however protects the goods and ensures that it arrives its destination in the required state. So sometimes in choosing a mode of transport, the choices are not always about the fastest but about the most appropriate one for the particular service to be transported.
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Fastest Means of Transportation
It is common knowledge that the fastest mode of transportation is the air transport with the fastest aircraft clocking up to 4,520 mph.
The air transport is the newest means of transport and first aircraft was successfully invented in 1903, making the first successful powered, controlled and sustained airplane flight on December of the same year. The air transport is a mode of transportation used in moving people and cargos from one location to the other using aircrafts.
So, the fastest means of transport are the Aircrafts, which are the vehicles used in air transportation. They are able to fly through the air and they do this by countering gravitational force either by up thrust or by using the dynamic lift of an air foil. Sometimes, some aircrafts are designed to use downward thrust from jet engines. There are different types of aircrafts with different designs, each tailored for a specific purpose.
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The different vehicles used for air transport include the commercial airplanes, helicopters, private planes and rockets. Others include blimps, gliders, hang gliders, zeppelin, parachute.
1. Commercial airplanes: this is the commonest of the air travel vehicles. It provides a faster means of transportation compared to other modes of transport such as road transport, rail transport and water transport and it is capable of carrying many people, more than a hundred persons at a time.
2. Helicopters: this is another means of air transport, but it differs from the commercial airplanes because it is limited when it comes to the number of passengers it can carry. It is mostly used in military settings and can only take few passengers at a time while the airplanes can take hundreds.
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3. Private planes: private planes are just like commercial planes but they are basically luxury planes for comfort and privacy during trips that provides transport for no more than five (5) persons at a time.
4. Rocket: A rocket is any vehicle that uses a rocket engine; it includes missiles, spacecrafts and other vehicles. Rockets are mostly used for transportation to outer space because their engines work best by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction while is what propels its movement.
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Advantages of the Air Transport
1. Air transport are the fastest and most efficient means of transportation. It is comfortable and offers quality service. The ease of travelling over long distances in comfort are almost entirely due to air transport.
2. Air travel makes use of direct routes. This makes travel very much faster as passengers can be taken from their point of departure straight to their destination without stop overs. However, there are some flights that could involve the stop overs.
3. Air transportation is the best means to move precious and perishable goods for which speed is of the utmost importance. It can also be used to transport cargos that are not especially big that other modes of transport wouldn’t want to carry.
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4. Air transport can be used to reach inaccessible areas especially in times of need. For example, helicopters can be used as a rescue vehicle in disasters like earth quakes where no other vehicle can be used, planes can also use parachutes to drop relief materials in countries and places of conflicts and pandemics.
5. It offers total freedom of movement allowing for routes to be flexible and convenient for the traveler (although air travel is designed along strict routes and diplomatic affiliations can determine both the landing and flight paths).
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Disadvantages of the air Transport
1. It is the most expensive means of transport and as a result, some persons are unable to afford it.
2. Due to the nature of the transport, vehicles of air transport need expertise and precision to operate them. The aircrafts are also very expensive to design and build and the maintenance of the airport facilities and the aircrafts also require huge expenditures.
3. The mode of transportation can be unreliable in some circumstance as it can depend on the weather and other climatic factors to determine the safety of the travel.
4. Like every other vehicle used as a medium of transport, aircrafts are being constantly developed and improved and as a result they get bigger and larger and this reduces the number of airports capable of being used thereby reducing the flexibility and it is getting increasingly difficult to find appropriate sites for airport buildings.
5. There is increasing agitation against the air travel due to the pollution it causes. Airplanes burn a lot fuel and this is an increasingly industrial problem causing climate change.
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Conclusion
The air transportation is the fastest means of transport no doubt about that, but there are other means of transport that are equally very fast. Like the rail transport is also advancing and trains are currently increasing in its speed of transport however they are still limited as they can only ply routes with the railways.
There is also the proposed hyperloop mode of transportation which is still in development. This method is expected to be even faster in transporting humans and cargo and it involves sealed vacuum tubes connected in a sealed system that has very low air pressure allowing transport within the medium without any air restriction or resistance of any form including gravity and friction.
For now the air travel remains the fastest means of travel and its safety and comfort is very reliable and it is convenient in the modern world as it affords people the ability to conduct their business and affairs that requires their physical presence in different parts of the world with so much ease.
Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.