Seattle Times (September 27)
“Built to carry nine passengers and one or two pilots,” the flight demonstrated “the potential for an electric commercial commuter aircraft flying a few hundred miles between cities at an altitude of around 15,000 feet.” Clearly, “the technology is pioneering and puts this region at the forefront of efforts to develop a zero-emission, sustainable era in aviation.” The larger question, however, is “whether it can deliver the economic returns necessary to become a commonplace mode of air travel.”
Tags: Aircraft, Aviation, Commercial, Commuter, Economic returns, Electric, Flight, Forefront, Passengers, Pilots, Pioneering, Potential, Sustainable, Technology, Zero-emission
New York Times (July 12)
“Mr. Branson’s flight reinforces the hopes of space enthusiasts that routine travel to the final frontier may soon be available to private citizens, not just the professional astronauts of NASA and other space agencies.” Other billionaire entrepreneurs are on his heels, all “risking injury or death to fulfill their childhood aspirations — and advance the goal of making human spaceflight unexceptional.”
Tags: Aspirations, Astronauts, Billionaire, Branson, Childhood, Citizens, Death, Enthusiasts, Entrepreneurs, Final frontier, Flight, Hopes, Human Spaceflight, Injury, NASA, Risk, Routine, Space, Travel
Time (October 16)
“Fresh insight into the physical and emotional toll of ultra-long haul travel should emerge this weekend when Qantas Airways Ltd. flies direct from New York to Sydney. No airline has ever completed that route without stopping. At nearly 20 hours, it’s set to be the world’s longest flight, leaving the U.S. on Friday and landing in Australia during its Sunday morning.”
Tags: Airline, Australia, Emotional, Flight, Insight, Longest, New York, Physical, Qantas, Route, Sydney, Travel, U.S., Ultra-long haul
New York Times (March 27)
The European regulator should follow the lead of the Federal Aviation Administration and require two people in the cockpit at all times. “No safety policy will ever anticipate every situation. But requiring two people to be in the cockpit during flight is a sensible step to reduce the risk that comes with leaving the lives of dozens or hundreds of people in the hands of just one pilot.”
Chicago Tribune (March 11)
“No one steals and uses someone else’s passport for legitimate reasons. Only those who are inclined to violate the law and want to get away with it are given to this practice.” The role played by travelers with stolen passports on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight remains unclear. What is perfectly clear is that authorities should “take the trouble to verify the identity of every person” by availing themselves of Interpol’s passport database. Currently, only a few countries make frequent use of this tool. Regrettably, more than one billion boardings went unscreened for misuse of lost/stolen passports last year.
Tags: Authorities, Boardings, Flight, Identity, Interpol, Law, Legitimate, Malaysia Airlines, Passports, Stolen, Travelers, Unscreened, Verify
USA Today (March 10)
The fruitless search to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, let alone determine what caused its fate, highlights just how outdated the black-box is in a world of 24/7 connections. This “disappearance is a powerful argument for upgrading black-box technology to allow planes to live-stream vital information when they get into trouble—a suggestion that airlines have resisted because of the cost.”
Tags: Airlines, Black-box, Cost, Disappearance, Flight, Malaysia Airlines, Missing, Outdated, Search, Stream, Technology, Upgrade
