Thursday, October 25, 2007

Essay on The Carpenter

When the Rosato family arrived in Montreal, they lived in an apartment to small for them in Ville Émard. This community was mostly Italian, so this helps them in finding friends and people to help them. Dave Damonti, a policeman, was one of them. He helps Silvio Rosato finds a new apartment for his family. Silvio was a carpenter and he finds easily jobs in the neighbourhood, but he uses this money to gamble and to buy alcohol. Those problems are related to his war experience that affects him mentally. When you see people dying and bombs exploding near you, you can’t comeback in real life just like that. Once his son Luciano got older Silvio started to tell him stories about his pass experience. This is very important for him. With those stories, he got respect from his son and Luciano learn to have respect about the past. The years were passing by and Silvio were getting older and developing gradually Alzheimer’s disease. He got less and less able to tell his stories to his son. Luciano thought that his father problems were due to his abusive consumption of alcohol.

In now days, the Montreal’s Italian community is grouped in few districts like St. Léonard or the Little Italy. The community is still attached to there traditions. Some have problems learning French to get a job or to talk to Quebecois. In other community that are poorer their biggest problems are really learning French and facing everyday racism about their way of living. For example, in Park-Extension, in 2004, there was 62% of the population who was born outside of Canada and only 19% speak French. The unemployment rate is twice as the average of Montreal (20.8% in 2001 compare to average of 9.2% for the same period). The majority of the immigrants work in little stores or restaurants serving their ethnic community. They are not able to work at other places because of the racism. The Quebec people should be more open-minded and there should be more help for the immigrants, so they can learn our values and standards.

Reference

The Carpenter. Rossi, Vittorio. Dir. Gordon McCall. Centaur Theatre, 2007.

Groupe de Travail sur les Portraits des Quartiers Villeray, Saint-Michel et Parc-Extension. Portrait du Quartier Parc-Extension. Sept. 2004. City of Montreal. 25 Oct. 2007. <http://www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/>

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Bombardier Challenger 300

Bombardier’s Challenger 300 is a twin-turbofan super mid-size business jet. It was first know as Model 70 when it was revealed as a design study at the Paris Air Show in June 1997. Two years later at the same show, it was lunch as the Continental. Its first flight took place at Bombardier Flight Test on August the 14th 2001. It was re-named Challenger 300 in 2002. In 2003, the final certification was complete and the first customers received their new Challenger 300.

To recognise it, we can look to its vertical stabiliser that has a little bump. This airplane has also winglets and large underbelly and underwing fairings. It has two Honeywell turbofan engines developing 6,826 pounds of thrust each mounted on each side of the aft fuselage. This business jet can travel from New York to anywhere in continental United-States and Canada.

Eight to nine people can seat in the cabin. The cabin height is 6.08 feet, so most people can stand up. The toilet seat can be a certify seat for landing and take off if necessary.

There’s really modern avionics in the cockpit. There’s an Altitude and Heading Reference System combine with an air-data computer that together replace the standard flight instruments (altimeter, artificial horizon, etc.). A GPS gives information to the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS). For better security there’s also a TCAS II (Traffic Collision Avoidance System). The EGPWS and the TCAS II are connected to the flight deck aural warning system. Almost all those systems are accessible through four 12 per 10 inches LCD displays.

The standard cabin equipment includes the following: a DVD/CD player, an I-Pod unit, two 20 inches widescreen LCD monitors, a hi-fi audio system with speakers fully integrated into the cabin sidewalls, an in-flight mapping system and satellite telephones. A LCD touchscreen at each seat controls every thing.

To conclude, this is a luxurious, modern and an easy to maintenance aircraft.


Reference

Jackson, Paul, Kenneth Munson, and Lindsay Peacock, eds. All the World’s Aircraft. 95th ed. Coulsdon, United-Kingdom: Jane’s Information Group Ltd, 2004.

Bombardier Aerospace. "Challenger 300." 21 October 2007 <http://www.aero.bombardier.com/>. Path: Business Aircraft; Challenger Aircraft; Challenger 300.