I have a lot of flight-and-fright stories but always arrived safely, if not always where I intended. Fly less now than when in the corporate world. Thankfully, as it seems a bit of a mess these days. As so many things seem to be.
Only excruciating experience in decades of travel was Heathrow. Well. Maybe Shanghai -Insane long lines. Canadian airports are easy. Not fond of Moscow airport at 4AM! Zero services or signs. I accept some discomfort is just a part of travel! In love with Japanese trains. Italian, too !
Mark VanHoecker wrote an excellent book on flight, “Skyfaring”, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2015. He trained as a historian but became had always been intrigued by flight. When the book was published he was flying Boeing 747’s globally. I found the book quite beautifully written. He’s still a pilot and has written several more books along the way. http://markvanhoenacker.com/.
Just the day before I got this substack, I had been discussing with a friend how much I love to fly. I’m not crazy about sitting in the plane for a long time, and I’m not a huge fan of the landing, but the takeoff – wow!
I love how the plane creeps, creeps, creeps, toward the takeoff runway….then the tension as it turns and points in the takeoff direction. Then, like some giant animal readying for the chase, the engines roar to a frenzy and it lopes, then gallops, down the runway and bam, we’re off the ground. This enormous, hulking, mass of metal pulls itself up into the air miraculously. For me, it’s a perfect thrill!
Planes are truly a marvel. A passenger plane can go 500+mph; a supersonic military jet-1000mph. It takes 3 hours from the east to the west coast of the US.It took Jefferson 4 days Monticello to Georgetown (DC) by horse. 11 days for Lincoln from Springfield to DC by train although he made several stops at towns along the way, hurried at the end due to threats to his life.
6 million people around the world are in the air daily, yet 90% do not fly. A long list of musicians have died in crashes. Glen Miller,Ricky Nelson, Patsy Cline, Lynard Skynard and so on.Buddy Holly sang That'll be the Day That I Die. John Denver sang I'm leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back. I will always remember where I was the day Stevie Ray Vaughan died. A guitar was his third arm. The radio played his songs all day,nothing else.
Many are afraid to fly. Isaac Asimov, writer of space sci fi, Ben Aflect of Batman fame, Henry Cavill , Superman, so afraid of flying he needed a support dog to calm his fears. William Shatner who went boldly where no one had gone before and asked Scotty to beam him up, was afraid, yet, Jeff Bezos beamed him up in a rocket 62 miles above earth. It affected him deeply with tears. He said "I discovered that the beauty isn't out there, it's down here with all of us. . . "
We cannot forget, however, the damage planes did on 9/11 to the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93 killing all aboard in Shanksville , PA.
Drones are the latest. Used from military purposes to close ups at football games. First developed during WW I, the technology was perfected by Abraham Karem from Iraq. They may save money. A military drone costs @ $700,000 while a manned military plane can cost $70,000,000.Ukraine is finding good use for them.
I have not flown very often, somewhat fearful, but find it amazing when flying over , say NJ or NYC, that the view, the lights below, are more beautiful than the stars above.
Ah, the personal stories so many of us can tell from our time in the sky. Like smoking sections on planes. Looking back, how ridiculous was that concept?! Conversations had with strangers as one flew from one side of the country to the other. Watching a flight attendant offer to take an antsy child and show them the cockpit. Yes that happened several years before 9/11 on an international flight I was on. And if you were ever fortunate enough to fly on a corporate jet (I did while on a company project in the mid-1990s), well, that’s an entirely different experience! Yes, air travel certainly is a marvel!
One of the most unusual flights I have taken was in the 60’s, on an airbus, from London to Paris. The seats were on tracks so the passengers remained upright as the plane took off virtually vertically
I do object to $6 water! But foreign airports have great food!! & superior coffee!!
I have a lot of flight-and-fright stories but always arrived safely, if not always where I intended. Fly less now than when in the corporate world. Thankfully, as it seems a bit of a mess these days. As so many things seem to be.
Only excruciating experience in decades of travel was Heathrow. Well. Maybe Shanghai -Insane long lines. Canadian airports are easy. Not fond of Moscow airport at 4AM! Zero services or signs. I accept some discomfort is just a part of travel! In love with Japanese trains. Italian, too !
Mark VanHoecker wrote an excellent book on flight, “Skyfaring”, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2015. He trained as a historian but became had always been intrigued by flight. When the book was published he was flying Boeing 747’s globally. I found the book quite beautifully written. He’s still a pilot and has written several more books along the way. http://markvanhoenacker.com/.
Just the day before I got this substack, I had been discussing with a friend how much I love to fly. I’m not crazy about sitting in the plane for a long time, and I’m not a huge fan of the landing, but the takeoff – wow!
I love how the plane creeps, creeps, creeps, toward the takeoff runway….then the tension as it turns and points in the takeoff direction. Then, like some giant animal readying for the chase, the engines roar to a frenzy and it lopes, then gallops, down the runway and bam, we’re off the ground. This enormous, hulking, mass of metal pulls itself up into the air miraculously. For me, it’s a perfect thrill!
Planes are truly a marvel. A passenger plane can go 500+mph; a supersonic military jet-1000mph. It takes 3 hours from the east to the west coast of the US.It took Jefferson 4 days Monticello to Georgetown (DC) by horse. 11 days for Lincoln from Springfield to DC by train although he made several stops at towns along the way, hurried at the end due to threats to his life.
6 million people around the world are in the air daily, yet 90% do not fly. A long list of musicians have died in crashes. Glen Miller,Ricky Nelson, Patsy Cline, Lynard Skynard and so on.Buddy Holly sang That'll be the Day That I Die. John Denver sang I'm leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back. I will always remember where I was the day Stevie Ray Vaughan died. A guitar was his third arm. The radio played his songs all day,nothing else.
Many are afraid to fly. Isaac Asimov, writer of space sci fi, Ben Aflect of Batman fame, Henry Cavill , Superman, so afraid of flying he needed a support dog to calm his fears. William Shatner who went boldly where no one had gone before and asked Scotty to beam him up, was afraid, yet, Jeff Bezos beamed him up in a rocket 62 miles above earth. It affected him deeply with tears. He said "I discovered that the beauty isn't out there, it's down here with all of us. . . "
We cannot forget, however, the damage planes did on 9/11 to the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93 killing all aboard in Shanksville , PA.
Drones are the latest. Used from military purposes to close ups at football games. First developed during WW I, the technology was perfected by Abraham Karem from Iraq. They may save money. A military drone costs @ $700,000 while a manned military plane can cost $70,000,000.Ukraine is finding good use for them.
I have not flown very often, somewhat fearful, but find it amazing when flying over , say NJ or NYC, that the view, the lights below, are more beautiful than the stars above.
Ah, the personal stories so many of us can tell from our time in the sky. Like smoking sections on planes. Looking back, how ridiculous was that concept?! Conversations had with strangers as one flew from one side of the country to the other. Watching a flight attendant offer to take an antsy child and show them the cockpit. Yes that happened several years before 9/11 on an international flight I was on. And if you were ever fortunate enough to fly on a corporate jet (I did while on a company project in the mid-1990s), well, that’s an entirely different experience! Yes, air travel certainly is a marvel!
One of the most unusual flights I have taken was in the 60’s, on an airbus, from London to Paris. The seats were on tracks so the passengers remained upright as the plane took off virtually vertically
See how it looks here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8wyWcdyEkOo
Love this.
You have no MLK essay? Not sure of you anymore.