Today marks the anniversary in 1903 of the first sustained motorized airplane flight by the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk, NC. They flew 6.8 miles per hour. Orville was the pilot. Wilbur ran along side. This is a photo of the 12 second flight.
It amazes me that their three-axis control system which allowed the pilot to actually control the plane in flight is still standard on today’s aircraft.
Our plane last month from Minneapolis to New York was pushed along at 600 miles an hour by some strong tail winds. The pilot made a point of proudly announcing this as we arrived well ahead of schedule at LaGuardia airport. I think the Wright brothers would be pretty amazed by that. I don’t know what the would think of the current state of commercial air travel.
How would you change modern air travel? Be creative.
Trail Baboon 
it is so remarkable to see everyone in the world with a smart phone in their hand that making the airport experience a place where positive screen time or learning could exist would be cool
the library system in minneapolis/st paul is among the top in the world as far as use and offerings. i wonder how much habit forming behavior could be changed if the gates and public areas at airports offered books and materials that could spur interest in the monster chunk of time you spend on the travel portion of your life. take a couple books with a free return by mail envelope that would allow people to do something more positive than the time sucking phone apps that most folks go to for a 2 hour wait 3 hour flight and 4 or 5 days at the location is choice. what a great way to encourage positive change what if bookcases full of books were available on airport shuttles that would make millions of titles available to tuck under your arm to enjoy. i used to (still do on occasion ) set up bookstores as the meeting point when setting a meetup with someone because the 30 minute wait for the unavoidable wait is so much more pleasant when paging through the shelves of a well stocked bookstore. it’s amazing what a different experience it is to look at books on a shelf where offerings you never thought of are in front of you vs the title searching you are apt to do online.
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Yes! The first “Little Free Bookstore” I ever encountered was in an airport – a table (or shelf?) of books with a sign something like: “Take a book, leave a book. Pass it on.”
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virtual reality is the most amazing experience out there where you put on the goggles and see a whole different world from the inside of your eyeballs. do an excursion like a time travel back to pioneer days or the bottom of the ocean or along a hiking trail through a tropical rainforest rather than doing memes of you in mass quantities showing your new pouty smile complete with head tilt .
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My change would be actually comfortable seats on planes, and sound systems that let you hear the announcements from pilots instead of garbled and too quiet voices.
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i was thinking about that yesterday as the 6’6″ 400 lb guy got into first class where he took up all the space he had in his monster seat and was hanging over into the persons space in the seat next door.
i was thinking if he was in a normal seat it would require an empty seat next to him or that he buy 2 seat.
its not mean spirited its just true. if your overhead bag doesnt fit in the frame you cant do it or you pay extra. if the body that you bring doesnt fit in the provided tube without touching on the sides it is an extra charge.
the airlines would be rich
there was a guy i struck up a conversation with who was husky but not fat. like all people form ukrain who are built like shot put athletes.
he was a frequent traveler between detroit and chicago and had the middle seat in the exit row in fornt of me. i was wondering if the extra leg room was worth the middle seat issues as he sat there waiting for his seat mates to check in. it was almost time to leave and the seats were still empty. just before the plane departed the two seats got filled with flight attendants who were waiting standby to see if the seats would be available. they were both 30 ish and like your vision of a 60’s flight attendant. tall thin and beautiful. he was laughing as the squeezed in next to him saying he flew a lot but he didnt have seat mates like this ever. they laughed and said he made thier day, i would have hesitated to comment on being delighted to be placed between beautiful women. the whole discussion around beauty is an uncomfortable one these days with the exploitation issues and the me too movement. he said i am just going to put my headphones on and stay out of trouble. have a nice trip ladies. and he smiled as he listend to his personal decvice for the 1 hr flight.
i miss flying all over the place and would love to hit my goal of traveling a week a month at some point in my life. the goal is personal travel but in my experience my business and personal overlap 100% so the travel will always be a bit of both. i take in personal stuff while traveling business and have business interestes to look at while doing personal stuff.
in flight entrtainment this trip the kominsky method was my new find on this flight with michael douglas and alan arkin. wonderful show only 8 hours total to get caught up on. 2 seasons 8 episodes each 30 minutes . nice
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Get rid of the TSA! Let each airline enact their own security measures. I fly only rarely, but each time I do I feel like a cattle being led to slaughter as I patiently wait in that perpetually understaffed security line (maze!). Assume all passengers are innocent of terroristic intent (because WE ARE!) and focus on finding the few that are terrorists and stop them before they ever set foot inside the terminal.
Charge airfare by total weight of traveler plus luggage. BUT, if you do that, have large seats for large people!!!!!!!! Or adjustable seats that can be widened, lengthened, space apart for tall people. I know that’s a crazy, prejudiced idea, but we need to think outside the box. Maybe make all seats as big as the fancy new movie theater seats that can easily hold the largest of people.
Allow people to meet travelers at the gate like in the pre-9/11 days. I always loved hanging out at the gate as a kid waiting for my dad’s plane to arrive from Europe or Japan or even California. Watching the planes land and take off from the observation deck at MSP was always fun.
Have some sort of parachute pod that a passenger could get into, then eject from the plane and float down to his house if he was flying over his hometown before the plane landed. The luggage could be put on the pod too
Have vertical take-off passenger planes that could land at small local airports so some passengers wouldn’t have to drive the current jet airports. It’d be more like a train line or bus route. People go to the nearest airport, big or small, and wait for the next plane to stop on its run from say, MSP or ORD. Wouldn’t work for all flights, but for commuter type flights it’d be possible. Vertical landing and takeoff would allow for fewer weather delays too because runways wouldn’t need to be plowed and fog and other inclement weather would be less of a factor.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Sounds like the ramblings of a lunatic, but I was just brainstorming. Always dangerous this early in the morning.
Chris in Owatonna (who lives 3 miles from his local airport. 🙂 )
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I live 3 miles from the west bound airport that only has flights to Denver via United Express. I live 90 miles from the east bound airport that has mostly flights to Mpls via Delta. I would love to have our local direct flights to Mpls like we had at the peak of the oil boom, and a direct flight from Bismack to Sioux Falls like we had about 25 years ago. That 90 miles, combined with going from Mountain to Central time, makes getting to the Bismarck airport wn ordeal, especially in the winter.
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in order to service the people who live outside the meat of the market the airlines used to have to take the less populated routes too in order to get the good ones. someone figured out that the people in low population areas get to lose out to the progress airlines are permitted to go forward in the name of. but people who get christmas trees delivered in boxes from online merchants understands how it works. your house is less expensive than big cities but other details make it less than perfect. amazon has got to be a blessing out where you are at and high speed internet.
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Great ideas here, baboons! Until these things happen, I’m taking the train whenever I can. Not without its own set of issues, but still…
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train form london to paris was wonderful 3 hours of pleasure. i love trains. it surprised me the club car was made smaller and there was no seating just a few stand up tables, getting around europe on the trains is one of my favorite things. heck getting around on cars is great and i always wanted to do it on motorcycles . i just like travel
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We took that train, through the chunnel. It was relaxing.
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I think all the Baboons are on long distance flights today!
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Yesterday, our site visit day, was 12 hours long and very demanding. I can’t get off the ground today. Uff Da.
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And it is almost the week before Christmas…
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