The End of Senior Seminar

My career plan seems unlike most others in this program.  My career does not involve aviation, and the future of my career may not either.  I love aviation, and I have worked on this degree to explore new interests.  I plan to work part time as a flight instructor one day, and I am always open to new opportunities.  This plan has not changed during senior seminar.

This class has been fun and interesting.   The guest speakers have brought a sense of reality to our classroom environment.  The blog topics have discussed topics that have been well covered over the years, but it was great reading the responses from classmates.  We have a great group of intelligent students, and it is rewarding to read what others have to say.  The most interesting blog topic for me was the response to the article "How Can We Compete - 7+ Ways To Level The Playing Field."  I enjoy the business side of the discussion, I wish we spent more time on that topic.  The least interesting blog topic was either the discussion about China, or the NPRM that will make changes because of the Buffalo New York accident.  Some of the blog topics have been thoroughly covered in other classes, which makes them less exciting to cover again.

There were two guest speakers I retained the most from.  Mark Johnson gave a great presentation over material that I relate to the most.  I have been involved in business for most of my career, and I would enjoy the career that he has.
The second guest speaker(s) that I retained the most from was the FAA air traffic controller(s).  It was fun to hear about the aviation world from her perspective.  I look forward to a tour of their facility.

I'm not sure what my plans are for professional development after graduation.  Although my required classroom classes are now finished, I have a lot of flight training to finish before I graduate.  I MIGHT begin working on a Master's program, or more likely, I will continue to work hard in my existing career.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a policy of the European Union designed to help reduce industrial emissions.  "The EU ETS covers some 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 30 countries."  Companies are given a certain number of "allowances" each year, the majority of which are given out for free.  Each company self monitors and reports the amount of green house emissions it produces each year.  If they go over their allowance, they must purchase additional allowances.  The allowances may be purchased from a different company that did not use all of their own.  If a company doesn't use all of its allowances, it may keep them for future use, or sell them to other companies.

Aviation was brought into this system in the beginning of 2012, however the EU has postponed enforcement on flights into and out of countries not within the EU.  There has been a large protest by non-EU countries over the implementation of the EU ETS.  The United States has been opposed to it as well, mostly because the EU would be charging flights from start to finish.  This would include time flights spent in airspace over the United States.  Many feel this is unfair.

On November 27, 2012, President Obama signed a law enabling the transportation secretary to prohibit US airlines from participating in the EU ETS.  These clearly demonstrates that the United States is opposed, and will not participate.

The EU has postponed the ETS on flights into and out of the EU while a more "global friendly" solution is reached.  What should this solution be?  If I knew the answer, I would be working on a formal report for ICAO instead of typing a blog.  I think that we all have a responsibility to reduce our impact on the environment, and I also believe that companies rarely put restrictions on themselves to reduce their own impact.  I don't think it is Europe's responsibility to regulate the globe.  Europe should try to encourage others to follow their lead.  They can have global influence just by setting the standard.