The students behind the project
Quentin Barascud, Antoine Salgas and Victor Lauféron are all passionate about aeronautics and are in their third year of the engineering programme. Joining ISAE-SUPAERO has always been an obvious choice for them.
Deprived of their gap year internship because of the health crisis, they didn’t hesitate to work on a micro-project proposed by the Institute’s management to outline some solutions for improving the climate impact of aviation. They sought to understand the issues surrounding these questions from a technological point of view, but also from a societal and economic point of view, in order to propose a sustainable future for this industry by 2040.
Based on public data and their academic knowledge, this report has enabled them to put forward a number of ideas to kick-start the shift towards truly greener aviation.
“We have proposed a list of measures aimed at moderating this impact while preserving the very raison d’être of aviation, which is to open up to the world,” says Antoine Salgas.
Sustainable development is everyone's business
The idea of this project is also to exchange and compare these analyses with experts from the Académie de l’air et de l’espace, former programme directors and pioneers of the French and European aeronautics industry. This is an opportunity to create inter-generational exchanges to refine their ideas and gain an inside view of the field. The aim is to gather outside opinions and understand the constraints on progress and open up to other, less theoretical horizons.
It’s also an opportunity for us to understand that our generation is not the only one concerned about these issues,” says Antoine after their video conference discussions.
The discussions gave the students a better grasp of the complexity of some of the points raised in their report “15 ideas for more sustainable air transport”.
It also gave us the impression that we really can help this industry to evolve. We also sensed a strong desire on the part of the industry to change the paradigm and commit to the development of green aviation “, says Victor Lauféron.
Following these discussions, the students will go back to their work to incorporate the academics’ comments. It is important for both the protagonists and the management to share this work with all ISAE-SUPAERO students in ways that have yet to be defined. Because, as the members of the Academy pointed out during the discussions, the circulation of ideas is a key component of the challenge of the energy transition.
The theme of sustainable development is unavoidable and has been selected by the ISAE-SUPAERO Board of Directors as a key element of the teaching programme. These exchanges and feedback are part of this teaching approach and should be of benefit to all students, not only to extend their knowledge but also to introduce reliable elements into the treatment of sensitive subjects such as sustainable development. The academics made a number of proposals, such as extending these discussions to the different modes of transport, through inter-school relations, to further increase exchanges between these future leaders.
The future in green
Victor hopes that this initial brainstorming will spark off new ideas among the other students, helping them to find solutions to the colossal problem of global warming.
Antoine can see himself working to solve this challenge.
While I remain very cautious about the government’s announcements of ‘zero carbon’ aircraft, the political will is there and promises some great projects for our generation to work on.
Quentin Barascud concludes: “This may be the biggest challenge the sector has ever faced, but I think we have to aim for green and sustainable aviation to keep the best of what it has to offer. Because if we, as future aeronautical engineers, don’t believe in it, this type of project will never see the light of day.”
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