TRAVELLING BY AIR

Exercise 1.1 Read and translate the text.

We often get tired of the same surroundings and daily routine. Some relaxation is essential to restore our mental and physical resources. That is why the best place of relaxation is the one where you have never been before. And it is by means of travelling that you get to the place.

Travelling is one of the most fascinating pastimes. It’s always exciting. Seeing exotic places, faraway countries, meeting new people, getting acquainted with history, culture and traditions of different lands, getting a lot of impressions – what could be more interesting. That’s why travelling makes an essential part of a person’s education.

Modern life is impossible without travelling. Millions of people travel every day either on business or for pleasure. They can travel by air, by rail, by sea or by road. Every kind of transport is dangerous in its own way. Statistics shows that travelling by air is as safe as travelling by train. Ukraine does a lot of things to provide the high safety for all flights in the airspace over the country. Travelling by air is more convenient than by train because it saves your time considerably though it does not save your money.

Air transportation is the carriage of passengers, mail, load and freight by aircraft or helicopters. All air transportations are classified according to the territorial sign, to the objects of transportation and to the direction of transportation. By the territorial division they are defined as domestic and international transportations.

Domestic and international transportations are divided into scheduled and non-scheduled flights. Scheduled flights are performed due to the definite traffic schedule. Non-scheduled flights are operated according to special agreements or orders. On international routes they are known as charter flights. In summer during rush-hours there may be additional flights to the schedule.

Depending upon the object of the transportations we define passenger, mail, load and freight transportations.

As to their direction the transportations differ as non-stopover flights, that is from the point of departure to the point of destination, round trips, from the point of departure to the point of destination and back to the starting point, and onward journey with the transfer from one airplane to another.

Majority of aircraft is equipped with TCAS system and it gives pilots more assurance during flight. The introduction of the RVSM gives the ATC unit an excellent opportunity to increase flight capacity thanks to upgrade equipment on board and on the ground.

In Ukraine most flights are international. English is the international language of the air. All pilots have to speak English so that the other pilots and air traffic controllers can understand them. So, when a French plane lands in Denmark, the pilot and the air traffic controllers will talk to each other in English. English is also a very useful language for the air passengers. All check-in clerks must speak English and all announcements of planes must be given in English.