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IMechE Vice President Alan Lau with speakers from Airbus, Cathay Pacific, MIT, HAECO and Rolls-Royce (former IMechE President, Professor Patrick Kniveton)
A symposium on green air vehicle design and development held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has highlighted the need to build a platform for academics, engineers and professionals to develop more efficient and effective aircraft and airport designs.
The International Symposium on Green Air Vehicle Design and Development was organised by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and IMechE and was supported by the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The symposium attracted 120 participants form different parts of the aviation sector, including aircraft manufacturers, aircraft parts suppliers, aviation services providers, aircraft fuel providers, regulatory authorities, airports, airlines, training organizations, aircraft maintenance organizations and financial institutions.
The symposium also aimed to raise interest in students towards future aerospace engineering programs and was supported by Airbus, Cathay Pacific, MIT, the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited, Rolls-Royce, Beihang University (China) and China Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CSAA).
Professor Patrick Kniveton, Head of Engineering at Rolls-Royce UK and Past President at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University also gave a keynote speech.
Professor Alan KT Lau, international vice president of the IMechE and associate dean of Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said: “It was the first time we have held such an important event at Hong Kong which drew in so much public attention. Hong Kong's location allows for almost half of the world’s population to reach it in less than five hours.
“Currently, fuel saving and reduction of green house gases are critical issues facing the aviation industry. The solution can be made by several new initiatives, such as using lightweight materials for primary and secondary structural components, developing novel engines with low fuel consumption and noise generation and designing optimal flight paths for landing and take off.
“As the aviation business has grown rapidly in the Asia Pacific region, providing technologies to reduce air pollution is an urgent task that the industry should pay much attention to. This symposium indeed came at the right time.”
Lau added that feedback from all of the participants were very positive and that they have requested for similar types of seminar once a year to provide current professional and licensed engineers up-to-date information in relation to green aircraft development.