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The death of the Newseum in the era of fake news

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The Newseum stands tall for the last months of the year as its closure looms Photo // Newseum

It’s been two weeks since our editorial staff attended a college media conference in Washington D.C.

We left the nation’s capital with an arsenal of tips for better reporting, but also deeply disappointed to see one of journalism’s biggest odes to the industry to be uprooted by the end of the year.

Since opening day in 2008, the Newseum has dedicated itself to increasing public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment.

“In all of the 30-plus years I spent in broadcast journalism, I would’ve never expected something like the Newseum to ever exist, anywhere,” said Paul Littman, a retired PBS broadcaster who has spent his early years of retirement volunteering at the engaging and interactive museum of news. “I was born and raised in D.C. and to see something as great as this close down will leave me heartbroken.”

As young and aspiring journalists, to walk through five floors of history and see how journalism captured every part of that left us awestruck.

One of the most visually impactful exhibits was the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery.

To see a vulture preying on a starving child in Sudan is devastating.

But to then read that the photographer later took his own life because of the trauma and grief he felt for neglecting that child portrayed the harsh reality of reporting in third world countries.

Standing in front of chunks of the Berlin Wall that once separated communism from freedom was eye-opening to the freedom that we currently take for granted.

A glimpse at the civil rights movement exhibit showed that while many people turned a blind eye to the horrible things that were happening, journalists reported on the deaths of African American people, the brutal ways they were treated and the efforts they were making to gain more rights.

Walking one floor up, we entered the Stonewall exhibit, where the first Pride flag hung on the wall.

The Newseum illustrated how rights for LGBTQ people have changed and progressed throughout the years.

As in the civil rights exhibit, this was an area of history where many people were ignoring the mistreatment of the LGBTQ community or viewed them as bad people and deserving of punishment.

Meanwhile, journalists worked to uncover the truth and report it.

In another showcase—and perhaps the most emotional— newspapers from around the world covered a singular wall, each reporting on the events of 9/11.

This exhibit highlighted Bill Biggart, a photographer and the only journalist to lose his life covering 9/11.

His gear was preserved in the Newseum, his photos having been recovered after the events of 9/11.

While we were in awe of the archives and galleries around us, other museum-goers were also drawn in by the history of news and value of free speech.

“This museum shows how the First Amendment is a gift to the world,” said Tim Neary, a professor from Worcester University in Massachusetts who was in town for a Georgetown Alumni celebration.“It’s a damn shame this place is closing. It seems like there has to be a solution.”

In a time when the Trump Administration has launched an attack on news media and criticized journalists for reporting “fake news,” the Newseum tells an important story.

It shows the way reporters have given their lives in pursuit of their craft.

It shows how history has been influenced by the news: When reporters do their jobs and report the truth, people take action and promote change.

In a survey of the Florida Tech community, we asked how reliable people believe the news is.

The survey is not reflective of the entirety of students, staff, faculty and alumni; rather a small portion—55 respondents—helps illustrate trends within a small section of our community.

The biggest takeaway from the survey is that 40 percent of respondents believe that the news is somewhat reliable and a little more than 38 percent believe it is mostly reliable, but we live in a time when the idea of fake news is broadcast and spread on social media constantly.

Pew Research Center released a report this past June in which 68 percent of Americans, which is nearly seven in 10, said that the creation and spread of fake news is causing significant harm to the nation and needs to be stopped.

There are many people with their own agenda, but a good journalist reports facts in an unbiased way.

It is a hard job without stable hours. Many countries do not have the freedom of speech that we enjoy, and journalists risk their lives and are sometimes captured, tortured or killed as they pursue a story.

According to the journalist memorial at the Newseum, 2,344 reporters, editors, photographers and broadcasters have died doing what they loved.

These people dedicated their lives to giving marginalized groups a voice, even when others were not willing to listen.

What left us shocked in D.C. was to learn about the closing of this display of journalistic excellence.

According to the Newseum’s website despite more than 11 years of service and nearly 10 million visitors, continued operations are no longer financially feasible.

It’s a shame as student reporters to have to wrap your mind around the fact that journalists are being torn down by the current administration in office with their jobs and the entire industry on the line.

More worrisome is the fact that no benefactor has stepped in to save this museum.

What will happen to those pieces of the Berlin Wall?

The preserved Articles of Confederation on display?

The piece of the antenna that remained from the top of the North World Trade Tower?

These are the questions reporters of our generation have now.

Pierce Brooks and his 2009 BMW 335i Coupe

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The BMW 335i Coupe glistens vibrantly on the parking lot. Photo // Pierce Brooks

The BMW 3 series line of sedans have been considered one of the best drivers’ cars for some time now, especially the infamous M3 lineup, according to motortrend.com.

For Pierce Brooks, a senior in marketing, this was not his sole reason for choosing a 2009 BMW 335i Coupe as his daily driver.

“I got my car because I always had this attraction to BMW since my dad had a 1997 318is but sold it,” Brooks said. “That led me to want a BMW of my own.”

Knowing that he wanted a BMW, the quest began for which model Brooks should get.

“This led me to do more research and that’s when I saw what an amazing platform the 335i N54 [engine name] was since it came with a 3.0L twin turbo motor from the factory,” Brooks said. “I initially had a 328i but I wanted to do performance work as well, and knew I couldn’t do that and reach the goals I wanted with that car.”

There’s a reason Brooks did thorough research.

He knew that he wanted to own this car; this was done through multiple upgrades and modifications to the stock 335i.

To the engine, Brooks has done everything he could with just bolted on parts.

“I am running stock twin turbos at the moment with full bolt ons. I have a 7 inch front mount intercooler from VRSF, catless 3 inch downpipes from VRSF, an aftermarket HKS style exhaust, charge pipe and blow off valve from Active Autowerke, two cone intake filters I made myself and a Cobb tune running their stage 2+ aggressive flash tune which is their highest running 21psi of boost,” Brooks said.

And it doesn’t end there.

Brooks has also done a plethora of modifications to the exterior of the car.

He changed out his stock suspension for Megan Racing coilovers for better handling accompanied with 18×9.5 Varrstoen te37 style wheels, LED Halo headlights, a carbon fiber lip spoiler and a carbon fiber rear diffuser.

“And of course you can’t forget to add stickers,” Brooks said.

Although Brooks has not been able to dyno his car he believes it makes around 390-400 horsepower to the wheels.

“I’ve raced and beaten a stock 2015 M4 from a stand still and those come with 426 horsepower,” Brooks said. “I’ve also beaten a stock 2016 Cadillac ATS-V from a 40mph roll and those come with 464 horsepower.”

These upgrades are one of Brook’s favorite things’ about the car.

He said that there is so much room to make power on the N54 engine.

He also said that the design of the body is simple yet aggressive.

“The design of the car just seems so timeless and never gets old to me,” Brooks said.

Ever since he was in elementary school cars have been a part of Brooks’ life.

Once car video games started to come out, he was hooked on customizing different cars; one game being Midnight Club Los Angeles.

“Cars are such a piece of art and the design behind them is always so interesting to me, how it is much more than a machine,” Brooks said.

Brooks dream car doesn’t end at his BMW.

His dream is to own a Koenigsegg One:1, which became one of the “most beautiful cars” he has ever seen alongside the Mclaren P1.

“Both cars have such amazing engineering and designs behind them, creating a performance monster while maintaining aggressive beautiful curves,” Brooks said.

NASA launches research programs for students

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NASA announced new resources and funding available to students as the program will be increasing its prevalence of small satellites, and has opened new lines of research for both graduate and undergraduate students.

Last Wednesday, a crowd of students gathered in the Hartley room to enjoy pizza and drinks before embarking on an insightful space exploration lecture led by top leading experts in the field.

Jose Nunez, the former chief of flight technologies branch at Kennedy Space Center, and the current Florida Tech liaison to KSC, presented to hundreds of young space enthusiasts.

Nunez began by describing NASA’s new objective: return to the moon by 2024. After a thorough overview of the mission phases of the Artemis program, Nunez segued to the core of his speech—research opportunities.

According to Nunez, NASA selects research through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, NSPIRES.

With this system, NASA posts requests for research proposals to which anyone can make submissions. NSPIRES also includes Research Opportunities in Earth and Space Science, ROSES, which is a broad research request for anything not specifically requested elsewhere.

Furthermore, NASA is looking to use some of the ROSES funding for the CubeSat Launch Initiative.

Through this initiative, students and research organizations can work with NASA to develop cubesats or small satellites, which will conduct astrophysical science research.

The Cubesat Launch Initiative is a much larger program for the development and launch of cubesats on current NASA rockets.

It includes the NASA 2020 small satellite technology partnership.

This program specifically requires the development teams to work directly with NASA and have access to a block of funds set aside for this project.

During his presentation, Nunez outlined the NASA internships.

“Internships have two different flavors,” Nunez said. “One is called a NIFs, a NASA internship fellowship. That is just a one-shot deal. The other is called a pathway. That is the path to become a civil servant.”

Nunez highlighted the value in looking for students that are involved in extracurriculars that boost their skill base in reliance to a career field in aerospace.

Some students, such as Ajeé Watson, attended mostly for the internship information.

“My major is aerospace engineering, and I wanted to hear about good opportunities,” Watson said.

Other students, such as Wesley Howell, attended more for project information.

“We have been in contact with Nunez for senior design,” Howell said. “We wanted to see how we could continue. There are a lot of opportunities for students.” Howell echoed Nunez. “My whole goal is to make you aware of the opportunities. What you do with them is up to you guys.”

Drone club kicks off the new semester

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Florida Tech’s resident drone club soared into the public eye as it hosted its first meeting of the fall semester on Friday, Sept. 27.

The Florida Tech Drone Club was founded to “bring awareness, provide experience and to be able to get the tools that we need to have to use drones to their full efficacy,” according to Nathaniel Bouchie, junior aerospace major and vice president of the drone club.

The club meets roughly once or twice a month and performs most of its other activities outside of its official meeting time.

These activities include drone building, racing and photography, but can span beyond those three categories for others interested in the club.

Furthermore, there are several opportunities for students who are interested in flying drones that are offered by the club as a whole and by its members.

The club has simulators that new flyers can practice on before piloting a physical drone.

They also have drones owned by the club’s members and by the university that can be used for events undertaken by the club, which include drones that use first-person view.

The club has taken steps to get involved in Florida Tech’s other clubs as well as in the community.

Robert Tonning, a junior in mechanical engineering and the current president of the drone club, said he enjoys flying because there are so many things that can be done with drones.

“I love the photography aspect with the Mavericks,” Tonning said. “You can race them, you can take pictures, you can map—there’s so many applications, so it’s a really good side hobby to have.”

The drone club had the opportunity to map out the animal sanctuary in Cocoa Beach last year and has considered going back, as it’s a good outreach opportunity for the club and its members.

The club also films some of the university’s athletics using drones, which included a soccer game last year.

The club wants to work with FITV as well to film an overview campus tour using their drones.

For those interested in drone racing, the student-led organization is looking to work with Eau Gallie High School to gain access to their hangar and to form a local drone racing league.

The club also encourages freestyle flying, using both line-of-sight piloting and FPV.

Eddie Torres, an experienced drone pilot from Homestead, Florida, described FPV freestyle flying as something incredible.

“It’s amazing,” Torres said. “The first-person view experience is something that everyone should try because you get the sensation of flying. You have the freedom of flight, being able to put yourself in places that you can’t [without a drone].”

The drone club is currently looking for new members.

Those interested in joining can find their meetings in Skurla, room 106 on Thursdays or on Florida Tech Engage.

Julanda Al Shukaili and his 2017 Camaro ZL1

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The Chevy Camaro has become a benchmark for performance, design and price.

Directly competing with the Ford Mustang, the Camaro has developed into much more than a straight line performance muscle car.

Chevy has proved that muscle cars can perform even on a twisty race track.

With the introduction of the 2017 Camaro ZL1 variant, it proves that Chevy has developed a muscle car that now has the performance of a supercar.

For Julanda Al Shukaili, a senior in computer engineering, it’s the ZL1’s performance and design that made him gravitate towards it.

“My favorite thing about the Camaro is that it’s a car that can do it all,” Al Shukaili said. “You can drift it, track it, drag it and get your groceries while you are at it.”

Al Shukaili said besides how it looks and the specs, there are too many Mustangs around and he wanted something different.

As for specs, Al Shukaili has kept the car relatively stock.

He has, however, swapped the stock suspension for air suspension and added custom wheels.

The ZL1 comes with Chevy’s infamous supercharged 6.2L V8 engine, making 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, with a top speed of 198 mph.

Al Shukaili explained that being a car enthusiast is important to him.

“Cars pretty much gets my blood pumping, whether it’s going fast and straight or banging the limiter while drifting a corner,” Al Shukaili said. “It’s one of the most fun things I could do and it never gets old.”

Panthers solve real-world problems

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Malia Ashmead, Jamison Burch and Emanuel Rossi with the Osiris bioreactor.

Students utilized their knowledge gained through their years at Florida Tech to find solutions to real-world problems and present them at the Northrop Grumman Student Design and Research Showcase.

The event took place on April 12 at the Clemente Center.

“This was the first time that we could really put all of our knowledge to use and see everything we have learned since freshman year,” Emily Perron, an ocean engineering major, said.

Perron’s group, Reef Life, created an artificial reef that creates a perfect surf while also protecting the shoreline and promoting coral growth.

Perron said that the modular design was based off of LEGOs so the reef could be configured in any shape.

“It feels really great to have won Best in Show for Ocean Engineering and to know that someone really appreciated our hard work,” Perron said. “I’m very grateful.”

Reef Life placed first in their category, but success did not come without challenges.

Emily Perron and Stephen Hammond with their artificial reef, Reel Life.

“Originally we tried 3D printing our blocks, and they took 20 hours each to make and kept failing,” Perron said. “We had to make 100 of these blocks, so we had to find a different method of designing.”

Reef Life opted to use molds instead of printing to speed up their manufacturing process.

Dev Patel, an aerospace engineering major, presented the Perching Unmanned Monitoring Aircraft or PUMA.

PUMA can act as both a rotorcraft and a fixed wing aircraft, giving it increased speed and maneuverability.

The aircraft has a claw-like landing gear, which allows it to perch like a bird.

“It’s designed to act as a mobile services platform for emergency service providers,” Patel said.

Computer engineering major, Ahmed Okasha and his team designed an on-board diagnostic tool for the formula electric team.

“Once they build the car, the engineers would basically just walk up and plug in the device to the car and be able to get all the readings that they need,” Okasha said.

The device would give battery voltage, temperature and charging state readings.

Okasha said that in the future, a radio can be added to the device so that it can stay on the car permanently and send info back to the engineers while it’s racing.

“It [completing senior design] feels satisfying, but there’s always that one part of you that feels as if you could have done more,” Okasha said.

Cooper Mitchell, an ocean engineering student, and his team built the foundation vessel SWATH. SWATH is a Small Waterplane Area Twin Hole vessel was built to bridge the gap between large vessels and smaller vessels with not much over complications.

Mitchell’s project reached outside of ocean engineering and recruited the help of aerospace, electrical and computer engineers.

“It’s a great culmination of my ocean engineering degree,” Mitchell said. “We did coastal process, naval architecture, instrumentation, material science and ship design and construction. It showed me to have a full range of experience to take with me into the job market.”

A discrete upgrade to Florida Tech’s surveillance system

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Behind the scenes look at security camera live feed. Photo by Christian Martinez.

Residents of Roberts Hall recently noticed a brand-new security camera outside the dorm where there wasn’t one previously.

This was one of the few noticed around campus, as it stuck out on the back entrance of Roberts Hall and pointing towards the bike rack.

There is no visible camera by the front entrance of the building.

Carlos Cepeda, a first-year computer science major and lab support services worker, said, “My bosses installed the cameras. This is their job. They call lab support to do stuff like this.”

Cepeda appreciates the new camera outside of Roberts since he is a resident there, but would like to keep the cameras outside the building.

Barry Cobb, assistant director of security, said, “Most of these cameras that were put in were replacements for cameras we’ve had all along.”

Cobb explained that the hardware of the cameras degrades over time, requiring replacements of the cameras themselves every five or six years.

The IT department overhauled the system by replacing “about 35 to 40 cameras” with models from 2018 and 2019 that are all digital with no moving parts.

The computers in the security office were also upgraded to monitor the livestreams.

Cobb mentioned that the cameras are all over the place: in elevators, various floors in some of the dorms, watching bike racks and in parking lots.

“They are there,” Cobb said, “If you walk around, you’ll see them.” Cobb said there were no security incidents that pushed for the camera replacements, just a system that reached the end of its life-cycle.

A camera on the side of Roberts Hall. Picture by Christian Martinez.

Thomas Couperthwaite, manager of lab support service information technology, said the installations were mainly done this past November.

“That’s when we started the first few in the parking garage at Panther Dining,” Couperthwaite said.

Couperthwaite said that some cameras were installed as recently as two weeks ago and that there are a few weeks until all of the camera installations are complete.

Some installations were as recent as a few days ago, such as the cameras installed to the roof of Evans Library on April 5.

Couperthwaite said that the cameras vary in quality depending on where they are intended to be installed.

Lower hanging cameras have a smaller resolution compared to rooftop cameras that are up high.

Replacement cameras were easy to swap out with old ones, while new cameras had to have a new data feed set up so they could stream to the security office.

“It’s an ongoing thing,” Couperthwaite said. “Every year we are maintaining and adding more cameras.”

A Casual Review – Grim Dawn: The Perfect Game for ARPG Fans

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With the confirmed release of Diablo Immortal later this year, I figured it would be a good time to talk about Grim Dawn, a game that is closer to the classic actionRPG experience.

Official game poster by Crate Entertainment.

Before I get into the gameplay, I think it is a good idea to look at some data and make some comparisons so that I can explain why I think it is “a good ARPG game.”

Developed and published by a rather small independent developer named Crate Entertainment, Grim Dawn is an ARPG game that focuses on loot gathering and character building.

Grim Dawn is often described as a “spiritual successor” of Diablo 2 by many members of its community and critics, which says a lot about the game.

Diablo 3 is a sequel to Diablo 2 developed by Blizzard Entertainment, the company that is known for making highly praised games such as World of Warcraft and Starcraft.

The development of Diablo 3 took the company around 11 years to finish, and only one major and one minor expansion pack have been released ever since it’s initial launch.

The last expansion pack of Diablo 3 was released five years after the initial release, and it bearly had any content.

Crate Entertainment, on the other hand, announced the development of Grim Dawn in 2010 and later revealed that there were only two full-time employees in the company on their kickstart page.

Grim Dawn was eventually released in 2016.

Crate Entertainment has released two major and one minor expansion packs for the game in just three years.

While Diablo 3 is not necessarily a bad game, it is hard to think of a reason why a small company with 13 employees and mostly crowdfunded budget can spend almost half as much time to make a similar, if not better, game than a multi-million dollar company with a huge amount of resources.

There is definitely more information that needs to be looked at when it comes to comparing two similar things.

With that out of the way, let’s look at the gameplay.

Grim Dawn has its own unique style of world design and choice of music.

Like the title suggests, the visuals and soundtracks of the game are grim and often gives the player a sense of dread.

The world is falling apart and people are turning against each other, but there are still exotic locations to visit and cool gears to find.

While elements such as storytelling and character designs are important to a game, I think what makes this type of ARPG fun is the character and class customizations, and Grim Dawn is a very good example of this.

From a gunslinging necromancer to a greatswordwielding mage, Grim Dawn offers its players a huge variety of choices.

In Grim Dawn, the player gets to choose from one of the six bases plus three DLC classes once they reach to level two.

Each class has many different skills for a player to choose from, and the play style within a single class can even vary from the player’s choice.

In addition, the player will get to choose a second class specialization once they reach level 10, and the chosen class will be combined with the first class to become a completely new class.

This means that there are a total of 72 classes for the players to discover and experiment with.

On top of that, when the player get their first devotion point, they will meet the devotion menu, a passive skill system that allows the player to gain additional modifiers and abilities to further customize their character.

It is also worth mentioning that Grim Dawn features replayable content such as endless dungeons, harder difficulties and online co-op up to four players.

To conclude, Grim Dawn is an ARPG game with classic gameplay of the genre and a huge variety of customizations, and it is frequently being updated by the developers.

The game is currently available on PC and Xbox One.

A Horrible Review – Fourth Life considered greatest game in human history

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After seven years of development and crowdfunding, Best Games Studios has finally fulfilled its promise of “creating the game that everyone dreamed of.”

Fourth Life is a massive multiplayer online first-person role-playing action survival sandbox simulation sports shooter real-time strategy battle royale game that has the most innovative game-play mechanics the world has ever seen.

Unlike other game developers, the people at Best Games Studios understand and know what the gaming community wants for their games.

Instead of choosing inferior and obsolete gaming platforms such as PCs and consoles, the developers of Fourth Life wanted everyone to enjoy the game and have made the decision to release exclusively on mobile because “everyone has a phone.”

The processing power and the state of the art hardware of smartphones are capable of handling the otherwise impossible engine that the game runs on for around 30-45 minutes, depending on the player’s preferred phone of choice.

If the player decides to get the Ultimate Deluxe Collector’s edition of Fourth Life for $300, the game will also come with a compact-portable power bank which will extend the possible play time.

Now let us talk about what makes Fourth Life so special: the game-play.

In Fourth Life, the player gets to choose to be whatever they want to be.

The forward-thinking developers of the game have added over 500 gender and sexual orientations for the players to choose from, such as Attack Helicopters, Goats, Pizza and Chairs.

The players are even allowed to customize the look of their character pixel by pixel, which is the true character building that everyone wanted.

After choosing what or who they want to be, the players are thrown into the immersive world of Fourthland, a place where magic and technology coexist and the world is open for the players to explore.

At the very start of the game, the players have to find a purpose for themselves as the game heavily emphasizes on making your own choice, which means that there are no set objectives and no real NPCs to interact with the players.

However, with a small fee of $30 per month, the player is able to access additional features of the game such as crafting and learning magic.

On top of the monthly subscriptions, the players can also purchase in-game currency to participate in what is probably the most exciting and addictive game mode of all time: Loot Roulette.

Unlike the questionable loot boxes that some other game companies have been implementing, the Loot Roulette is a perfectly fair and balanced mode that allows the players to acquire loot by playing the in-game roulette.

Although the win rate and chances of Loot Roulette were not posted by the developers of the game, Best Games Studios has assured players that the roulette is perfectly balanced because it functions just like a real-world roulette.

Aside from the breath-taking Loot Roulette game mode, the game also has a very competitive and advanced battle royale mode.

Unlike most popular battle royal games before the launch of Fourth Life, the battle royale mode of the game has completely removed the element of luck, as this would make the game unfair and not fun to play.

Instead, the players can use the in-game currency they’ve purchased to choose accurately where they’ll be dropping and what kind of loot they will acquire, a truly fair and open battle royale indeed.

Fourth Life is a completely perfect and functional game that will just keep improving by itself.

Even the developers at Best Games Studios have claimed to stop any further development and maintenance of the game shortly after its release because of how perfect it is.

To conclude, I’ll give Fourth Life the highest score and recommendation: 10/10; it’s all right and the only entertainment you will ever need.

Distress in the Air: Florida Tech’s take on the Boeing 737

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Within the past five months, Boeing has had two 737 Air Max 8’s crash.

Most recently, the Ethiopian airline crash that killed all 157 members on board caused a worldwide grounding of the Boeing model.

Carlos Obregon, a junior majoring in aeronautical science with flight, has been discussing the components of flight failure in the classroom and relating them to the crashes of the Boeing 737’s and how they are relevant to his field of study.

“In my advanced aircraft systems class we talked about how flight systems and controls can cause malfunctions and enroute flight problems,” Obregon said. “We debated on how the software stalling function and overriding features on the model and learned that this could have been the potential reasoning for the planes to crash.”

Pat Spangler, a junior in aeronautical science with an associates degree in air traffic control, was concerned about the safety dilemma that these crashes have drawn attention to and how aviation management is handling it.

In Spangler’s opinion, the Federal Aviation Administration and President Trump could have handled the situation better, but the aviation industry is still the safest mode of transportation and he stands by it.

“Safety is obviously one of the top priorities in the aviation industry, as it should be,” Spangler said. “One protocol put into place by the FAA that I think is essential to the job is a computer test every air traffic controller is required to take on a recurring two-month basis to remain updated on safety and eligible for the job.”

The FAA is responsible for regulating aviation and promoting safety.

However, in recent light of the situation the administration has been criticized by many as the United States was one of the last nations to decide not to fly the 737’s.

Aviation safety regulators in the European Union, China, Australia and the U.K. made the call to not fly the planes ahead of the U.S.

According to prior reports from The New York Times, the delay in the call for Trump to ground the Boeing models was deemed as “a bit too late” by many passengers and pilots.

It’s not just current aviation students that are especially affected by the grounding of the 737’s but also alumni that have entered the industry.

Jared Goodlaw graduated from Florida Tech in 2017 with a degree in aviation management with flight.

He has worked for a regional airliner in the past but is currently flying private jetliners.

Goodlaw stated that the FAA has released no private statements or reports to any licensed pilots in regards to how the situation is being handled nor any other investigative details.

Goodlaw had expectations of announcements directly to all private and commercial licensed pilots from Boeing or the FAA in wake of both incidents.

However, both organizations have failed to communicate if there are any plans underway requiring pilots to complete more training and/or simulations before anymore 737’s are cleared to take off again.

The consensus amongst Spangler, Obregon and Goodlaw is that they all feel their training and studies regarding flight emergencies and preparation is well documented in the Florida Tech aviation curriculum.

All three stated that they still feel safe to work in the industry as it is a very reactive field.

Incidents like this are thoroughly investigated, responsibility is held accountable for and updates and corrections are made as soon as possible.

Pilots are not the only people concerned about the Boeing 737’s.

CBS News reported that approximately 8,600 flights use the Boeing 737 Max 8 in a typical week of travel.

Furthermore, Boeing released an announcement saying that models will be grounded for at least three months.

Travelers may experience more travel and flight difficulties than they expected.

Charles Bryant, a business professor and the manager in charge of Florida Tech’s study abroad program to Spain, is one example of these worried travelers.

“With the Boeing 737’s being grounded, myself and those participating in the Spain study abroad program are having to look at different airport destinations within Spain,” Bryant said. “For example, instead of flying out of a smaller airport in the country like Malaga as we had originally planned, we are looking at other options that have more flight availability in bigger airports like Barcelona. Yet, this adds more planning and financial stress as the travel date in early June arrives closer and closer.”

Bryant draws attention to another issue: If he is having troubles finding flights for a group of roughly 20 or so people, it will likely be hard for the immense number of international students on campus to find flights home at the end of the semester in early May.

The Boeing 737 investigations are still underway and officials have stated they are doing their best to remain honest with the general public as they are well aware of the pressing matters and concerns at hand.