New GA book, Free Flight, by James Fallows
Question:
Thanks for your note, appreciate your reading the article. Would be happy to say more about the reporting that went into it. What specifically would you like to know? jf
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New [snip] Jim, I for one don’t consider this spam at all. Useful information is always welcome, even if the poster has a commercial interest in that info. I’d rather read "spam" like this than ever see the word "trannie" (or whatever) again! Second, I loved the article in the Atlantic. (Your boss there is my hero). I start to get excited when things like that sneak out of AOPA Pilot and into the non-aviation media universe. I just posted a thread about the cost of flying, and forgot to mention your article (I can’t post a follow-up to plug it until Google gets it up on my web-reader). It would be interesting to hear your editorial take on a lot of the factually-oriented reporting covered in the article. Perhaps you can post some of that here or in a separate thread once the r.a.p. reviews start pouring in…? Thanks very much. Fairwinds, Brian
Response:
I for one don’t consider this spam at all.
technically not spam. true. but it belongs in rec.aviation.marketplace and (possibly) rec.aviation.product. There were reasons rec.aviation was split into groups. — Bob (I think people can figure out how to email me…) (replace ihatessppaamm with my name (rnoel) and hw1 with mediaone)
Response:
I don’t agree, Bob. I never look at marketplace or products when I am looking for information, and I consider the availability of a new book as information I can use. I hate to think that all of the messages asking for advice on which book/CD/video other pilots recommend have been posted in the wrong newsgroup. Bob Gardner
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I for one don’t consider this spam at all. technically not spam. true. but it belongs in rec.aviation.marketplace and (possibly) rec.aviation.product. There were reasons rec.aviation was split into groups. — Bob (I think people can figure out how to email me…) (replace ihatessppaamm with my name (rnoel) and hw1 with mediaone)
Response:
I don’t agree, Bob.
What do the charters for the various rec.aviation.* groups say? I hate to think that all of the messages asking for advice on which book/CD/video other pilots recommend have been posted in the wrong newsgroup.
asking for advice on which book/CD/video other pilots recommend is not the same thing as announcing the availability of a book you are selling. — Bob (I think people can figure out how to email me…) (replace ihatessppaamm with my name (rnoel) and hw1 with mediaone)
Response:
Thanks for your note, appreciate your reading the article. Would be happy to say more about the reporting that went into it. What specifically would you like to know? jf
I guess the biggest "editorial" question is, will it happen? When you interview NASA guys, and the FAA, and the folks on the Hill, do you find the political will to make the necessary changes come to pass? Is there an "es muss sein" in all of this, or is it a bunch of good engineers who aren’t ever likely to make this stuff happen? I know Eclipse, in particular, is just about to be subject to the whim of the marketplace, and so defies good prediction, but what about the regulatory changes, and the NASA money: is that stuff going to happen? Fairwinds, Brian
Response:
Whether it "will" happen is unknowable, of course. But my impression is that this wave of speculation about a small-plane future differs from earlier waves, like the "plane in every garage" visions of the 1950s, in that it COULD happen. There is a stronger "push" factor now, in the mounting misery of the hub-and-spoke airline system. And two forms of technological progress make it more plausible than in the 1950s or 1970s. They are: * advent of turbine engines small enough and cheap enough to permit the design of dramatically less-expensive turbine-powered planes. Cheap turbine power is essential to the air-taxi vision, because of the reliability, speed, and safety it brings. We’ve come to expect miniaturization in every other field, and (thanks largely to Sam WIlliams) it seems to be in the offing here. * the accumulated computer-communications progress of the last generation, which has already brought us GPS and moving-map displays and should eventually make a big difference navigation, weather info, traffic avoidance, and various other aspects of flight. Eg, imagine high speed data links giving every plane a display of real-time weather. Neither the small engines nor the small, relatively -cheap computers was available during the previous GA boom, of hte 1970s. They should create different possibilities now. One other "it could happen" factor: the "air taxi" system already exists, just in a very expensive version. Ie, the biz jets that corporations and rich people can use to take quick, convenient, on-demand trips from one small airport to another. So the question is whether new planes could be cheap enough to make this available on a less costly scale. Finally: I do get the impression that some people in Nasa really have Apollo-project-type zeal to make this happen. We’ll see how Eclipse does; whether Cirrus (and Lancair and others) can get into the turbine market; whether Safire can catch up with Eclipse, given its handicap in not having the Williams engine; whether big-time mfr companies like Toyota or Honda or Cessna get in the game, and so on. It CAN happen. Whether it will????
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks for your note, appreciate your reading the article. Would be happy to say more about the reporting that went into it. What specifically would you like to know? jf I guess the biggest "editorial" question is, will it happen? When you interview NASA guys, and the FAA, and the folks on the Hill, do you find the political will to make the necessary changes come to pass? Is there an "es muss sein" in all of this, or is it a bunch of good engineers who aren’t ever likely to make this stuff happen? I know Eclipse, in particular, is just about to be subject to the whim of the marketplace, and so defies good prediction, but what about the regulatory changes, and the NASA money: is that stuff going to happen? Fairwinds, Brian
Response:
I post enough OT stuff here to have a finite (but non-zero) s/n ratio. The charter’s an idealization. so blow off the charters?
Of course not. Just because people regularly travel 10 MPH faster than the posted speed limits on a highway doesn’t mean we should dispense with speed limits. Point is, we have a community here. The rules should serve the people, not the other way around. A certain amount of n comes along with the s. IMO, it’s not entirely a bad thing, it does make the place a little more human. Bob, I’m at least as rabidly anti-spam as you, but we aren’t talking about spam.
Okay, okay, so I let my terms get sloppy. A single aviation-related commercial message may not be technically classified as spam, but I generally try not to do business with people who make such postings anyway. Largely for the reasons you stated. but I don’t think anyone objects if a frequent poster here, like Bob Gardner or John Lowry takes a few minor liberties, even if self-serving. we are talking about postings that are on-topic. Advertisements belong in the marketplace group, that’s the only purpose to carry that group.
Okay, I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree (and I hate that phrase) on this one. IMO the original posting was essentially on topic. It’s really a question of where to draw the line, and basically we do this by consensus. The charter’s an approximation for the consensus. Why even bother with a marketplace or product group?
‘Cause that’s where the commercial messages belong. Really, in general, I agree with you. I just don’t think the original post on this thread crossed the line. Even the original poster claimed to know that his posting wasn’t iaw the charters.
Yeah, but I still wouldn’t fry him for his post. And I’m normally at the head of the lynch mob when it comes to this kind of thing. ObAviation: how does everyone keep IFR current? I posted a note at my FBO/club (N-hundred "members") a week ago looking for a flying buddy to trade off safety pilot time, and haven’t gotten a single nibble. I try to do a sim (’scuse me, "flight training device") session once a month, but it’s not the same thing as flying IFR in the system, even under the hood. Morris — linux: the choice of a GNU generation
Response:
Even the original poster claimed to know that his posting wasn’t iaw the charters.
One can argue until one is red in the face about differences that make no difference… and noone is fault free then (myself included!). For example… your e-mail address is broken… thats a breach of excepted netiquite 
Geoff Hansford – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Bob (I think people can figure out how to email me…) (replace ihatessppaamm with my name (rnoel) and hw1 with mediaone)
Response:
Those of you with NPR in your offices should know that, at 1pm today, Jim Fallows will be interviewed on "Fresh Air with Terri Gross."
I listened to it yesterday afternoon. I thought he did a good job of explaining things (with only one or two very minor points I would disagree with). Due to the limitations of the show time it was not very detailed or technical, nor was much of the information "new" to me – but still it was interesting. James M. Knox TriSoft ph 512-385-0316 1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Response:
I don’t agree, Bob. What do the charters for the various rec.aviation.* groups say? I post enough OT stuff here to have a finite (but non-zero) s/n ratio. The charter’s an idealization.
so blow off the charters? Bob, I’m at least as rabidly anti-spam as you,
but we aren’t talking about spam. but I don’t think anyone objects if a frequent poster here, like Bob Gardner or John Lowry takes a few minor liberties, even if self-serving.
we are talking about postings that are on-topic. Advertisements belong in the marketplace group, that’s the only purpose to carry that group. Why even bother with a marketplace or product group? Even the original poster claimed to know that his posting wasn’t iaw the charters. — Bob (I think people can figure out how to email me…) (replace ihatessppaamm with my name (rnoel) and hw1 with mediaone)
Response:
Those of you with NPR in your offices should know that, at 1pm today, Jim Fallows will be interviewed on "Fresh Air with Terri Gross." (At least, here in Boston it is on at 1pm on WBUR, 90.9. It can be listened to over the web at www.wbur.org.) Fairwinds, Brian
Response:
I don’t agree, Bob. What do the charters for the various rec.aviation.* groups say?
I post enough OT stuff here to have a finite (but non-zero) s/n ratio. The charter’s an idealization. Bob, I’m at least as rabidly anti-spam as you, but I don’t think anyone objects if a frequent poster here, like Bob Gardner or John Lowry takes a few minor liberties, even if self-serving. It’s that parasites who show up to hock their warez without actually contributing anythying of value to the newsgroup that really set me off. Even if it’s aviation-related. I hate to think that all of the messages asking for advice on which book/CD/video other pilots recommend have been posted in the wrong newsgroup. asking for advice on which book/CD/video other pilots recommend is not the same thing as announcing the availability of a book you are selling.
Agreed. However, I really think the original posting on the thread does not cross the line. In fact, having just listend to his Fresh Air interview, if the book is anywhere near as good, I plan to buy a copy. Morris — Amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.
Response:
After listening to James Fallows on NPR for the last several years, anything he has a hand in would benefit me. His experiences in the Orient revealed a lot about my thought processes and in my estimation, flying has A LOT to do with thought processes.
Response:
After listening to James Fallows on NPR for the last several years, anything he has a hand in would benefit me. His experiences in the Orient revealed a lot about my thought processes and in my estimation, flying has A LOT to do with thought processes.
how so? And have you read William Langewiesche’s book "Inside the Sky"? He has a pretty interesting discussion about flying, perception and thought processes. -Marc
Response:
Langewiesche is obviously a great pilot. A really great writer too — has done a number of first-rate pieces for the Atlantic Monthly, in addition to his superb Inside the Sky. I felt really fortunate that he read and liked this current book (cf www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) It is impressive that he is such an accomplished literary stylist. It’s all the more amazing that his father Wolfgang was (in Stick and Rudder), given that English was not Wolfgang L’s native language. Wolfgang L, by the way, is still alive, well into his 90s.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – After listening to James Fallows on NPR for the last several years, anything he has a hand in would benefit me. His experiences in the Orient revealed a lot about my thought processes and in my estimation, flying has A LOT to do with thought processes. how so? And have you read William Langewiesche’s book "Inside the Sky"? He has a pretty interesting discussion about flying, perception and thought processes. -Marc
Response:
To follow previous post, interview on this book — and general future of GA — is scheduled for Fresh Air this coming Monday, June 18. For details on local scheduling, http://freshair.npr.org/stationsFA.cfm
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.) It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc. I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the "general" press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample. http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too "technical" and "difficult" for readers. If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.) If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years. Jim Fallows National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly Berkeley, Ca,
Response:
Thanks for your comments about the Atlantic piece. A couple of logistics points about that, the book, and so on: * After five or six years of putting ALL its contents for free on the Internet, the Atlantic, like other publications, is realizing that it can’t give everything away for free and also expect to have a decent newsstand-sale business. So it is no longer posting the cover stories for free. Eventually it may archive this story, at which point I can provide a link, but it will be a while. In the meantime –hey, the magazine is really inexpensive for how good it is! A couple-year subscription is way less than the cost of an hour of flying. * I do have a site which will soon have some excerpts from the book, plus other info. Best link is www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php. * Taped an interview with Terry Gross for "Fresh Air" yesterday, which should run early next week. I’ll put an update on my site. Now, on the substance: First, on the local-opposition point: Obviously, that is serious. The NASA people are addressing this in several ways. One is to argue that it’s not a matter of building MORE airports, apart from extra runways at the hyper-congested hubs. It’s just a matter of using those that already exist more effectively. Also, NASA has a big push to develop quieter GA engines. Finally (and I go into all of this in the book), their argument is that if small-airport access begins to seem attractive/useful to those other than the tiny minority of people who are now GA pilots, then the community will see the airport as something more than a simple pain in the neck. Second, on the piloting-population, I think there are two different scenarios, with different time horizons. If a funcitoning air-taxi system really took off, you might be talking about a doubling or tripling of today’s pilot population — ie, something not that hard to imagine or carry out. A vision of mass use of self-piloted small airplanes would mean a much larger increase in the number of pilots. That would require a much more significant change in systems, training, and so on — and if it happens, it would be over many decades. Have a riff on NASA’s view about this in the book too. Your thoughts about the staged phasing out of hubs are intriguing. I hadn’t addressed them in just that way but will ask my various gurus about it. Again thanks foryour interest, JImF. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – And there was another point in your article I did not understand. Even if the technology develops that allows small planes to be manufactured cheaply and fly safely, who exactly is going to fly them? I wasn’t sure if you were suggesting that individuals would learn to fly, just as they do with cars today. I think things would have to change a lot for that to happen. This idea of airplanes being the second family car has emerged and re-emerged many times, and is always being touted as the wave of the future, but that future is slow to arrive, and sometimes seems to be going backwards. I don’t think it can be compared to the resistance some people had with driving early automobiles, as you suggest. The auutomotive industry took off once cars became cheap enough, and quickly became one of the largest industries in the U.S. This was certainly not due to some new generation of drivers who didn’t have the same hesitation as their parents; a lot of old folks had to have been buying those cars as well. Maybe technology that makes flying safe and easy would change this. But I imagine that is a long way off, and that even with such technolgy the psychological resistance to people operating a machine that still seems to defy gravity is going to much stronger than it was for automobiles. Which makes me think that there must be some intermediate solution, maybe semi-scheduled air taxi services with inexpensive 20-passenger planes, and a flexible ATC system. Passengers would be packet-routed through the system, with the particular hub depending on where the other passengers in the system were, the availability of planes, pilots, etc. So a typical flight from Fitchburg, Massachusetts to Marco Island, Florida might involve a change at Morristown, NJ and again at Murfreesboro, TN. With increasing numbers of planes and fellow passengers the number of hubs could be made smaller. As you suggest, it is a lot like internet routing technology, which we are pretty good at. But perhaps it is more like shipping technology, since the availability of other freight and freight carrying vehicles has to also be coordinated. Maybe Fedex is a better model than the Internet. Perhaps this is described in more detail in your book, but how do you envision such a decentralized air system to operate? And since such a system would require a critical mass of passengers and machines to work efficiently, how do you see the intermediate stages evolving? BTW, I am more familiar with your articles on Japan where I lived for 10 years. Moving back to the US from Japan I was struck by the freedom that an oridnary had to do something like fly his own airpane. This has a lot to do with my interest in flying. I wonder if this is also what sparked your interest? -Marc New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.) It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc. I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the "general" press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample. http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too "technical" and "difficult" for readers. If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.) If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years. Jim Fallows National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly Berkeley, Ca,
Response:
New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New
[snip] Jim, I for one don’t consider this spam at all. Useful information is always welcome, even if the poster has a commercial interest in that info. I’d rather read "spam" like this than ever see the word "trannie" (or whatever) again! Second, I loved the article in the Atlantic. (Your boss there is my hero). I start to get excited when things like that sneak out of AOPA Pilot and into the non-aviation media universe. I just posted a thread about the cost of flying, and forgot to mention your article (I can’t post a follow-up to plug it until Google gets it up on my web-reader). It would be interesting to hear your editorial take on a lot of the factually-oriented reporting covered in the article. Perhaps you can post some of that here or in a separate thread once the r.a.p. reviews start pouring in…? Thanks very much. Fairwinds, Brian
Response:
Read the excerpt in The Atlantic. Nice work, James. Always been a big fan. Seth Masia Comanche N8100R
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks for your note. I also have profited from Highflyer’s flying tips. I remember the Rhodes college event, which was a lot of fun. (Included a trip to the Pyramid in Memphis, which I’d wanted to see for quite a while.) I have been living on the west coast but will move to the east again in the fall; with a little plane will enjoy trips like those to Memphis. jim fallows Gees, two people whose opinions I respect immensely. I can’t wait to read both of these. Even if you aren’t allowed to publish excerpts here, please tell us where the entire review will be published. I’m still in the drooling lustfully phase of my critical reading skills when it comes to aviation topics. Steve PS: Mr. Fallows, please come back to Memphis for a speaking engagement. I saw you at the then Southwestern College (now Rhodes) about nine years ago speaking about China and the disconnect between Western and Oriental thought processes and the misunderstandings that can result. PPS: Highflyer, when are we going to get an update on P-ville 2001? My VFR ride was (wisely Jim, very wisely) weathered out, but I’d love to hear about the gathering. I may have missed a posting, but I’ve been looking here fairly regularly.
Response:
Thanks. The Atlantic excerpt dealt with a lot of the "policy" parts of the book. THe other theme in the book is why, exactly, people find flying interesting. By this evening there should be a chapter excerpt on the web site, jamesfallows.com, illustrating that theme. Appreciate your interest, jf
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Read the excerpt in The Atlantic. Nice work, James. Always been a big fan. Seth Masia Comanche N8100R
Response:
I recently read your article in the Atlantic and found it quite interesting, especially about the potential role for small regional airports in the future. Flying around I am always struck by the number of moderate-sized airports I find situated out in the middle of…. well, like nowhere. It suggests a time when the idea of aviation and having an airport in your community was seen as an exciting venture, a way to connect your town to the rest of the world, a bridge to the future. Now most of these places sit idle and maintained by a core of die-hard pilots and maybe one guy pumping gas and selling candy bars. And the folks in town mostly want the place shut down for being too noisy or re-developed into an industrial park. The only economic argument in favor of keeping many small regional airports open is the fact that they receive federal funds, and might be obligated to pay some of the money back if the airport is shut down. I hope you are right that the ovecrowding of hub airports and new technology might spur the redevelopment of the local airport. But the are other barriers that I see. Local residents are skeptical about most airport development, since it means more noise and those dangerous machines flying overhead. And rational arguments are not going to immediately convince folks otherwise. In my town the local train rumbles through town shaking houses and waking sleeping babies, and it has killed 3 people in the past 4 years at the crossings (well, there is talk they were suicides, but…). But at town meetings, it is all about the the local airport that being noisy and dangerous. These are different times than the golden age of aviation (let’s just say the 1930s for the heck of it). People don’t want airplanes flying overhead, the novelty has worn off, and they are not symbols of the future. Rather they are symbols of urban sprawl, pollution, noise, and tragic accidents involving handsome celebrities. My point is that it will take more than improved technology and even convenience to convince local residents to open their airports up to new traffic. And there was another point in your article I did not understand. Even if the technology develops that allows small planes to be manufactured cheaply and fly safely, who exactly is going to fly them? I wasn’t sure if you were suggesting that individuals would learn to fly, just as they do with cars today. I think things would have to change a lot for that to happen. This idea of airplanes being the second family car has emerged and re-emerged many times, and is always being touted as the wave of the future, but that future is slow to arrive, and sometimes seems to be going backwards. I don’t think it can be compared to the resistance some people had with driving early automobiles, as you suggest. The auutomotive industry took off once cars became cheap enough, and quickly became one of the largest industries in the U.S. This was certainly not due to some new generation of drivers who didn’t have the same hesitation as their parents; a lot of old folks had to have been buying those cars as well. Maybe technology that makes flying safe and easy would change this. But I imagine that is a long way off, and that even with such technolgy the psychological resistance to people operating a machine that still seems to defy gravity is going to much stronger than it was for automobiles. Which makes me think that there must be some intermediate solution, maybe semi-scheduled air taxi services with inexpensive 20-passenger planes, and a flexible ATC system. Passengers would be packet-routed through the system, with the particular hub depending on where the other passengers in the system were, the availability of planes, pilots, etc. So a typical flight from Fitchburg, Massachusetts to Marco Island, Florida might involve a change at Morristown, NJ and again at Murfreesboro, TN. With increasing numbers of planes and fellow passengers the number of hubs could be made smaller. As you suggest, it is a lot like internet routing technology, which we are pretty good at. But perhaps it is more like shipping technology, since the availability of other freight and freight carrying vehicles has to also be coordinated. Maybe Fedex is a better model than the Internet. Perhaps this is described in more detail in your book, but how do you envision such a decentralized air system to operate? And since such a system would require a critical mass of passengers and machines to work efficiently, how do you see the intermediate stages evolving? BTW, I am more familiar with your articles on Japan where I lived for 10 years. Moving back to the US from Japan I was struck by the freedom that an oridnary had to do something like fly his own airpane. This has a lot to do with my interest in flying. I wonder if this is also what sparked your interest? -Marc
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.) It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc. I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the "general" press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample. http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too "technical" and "difficult" for readers. If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.) If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years. Jim Fallows National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly Berkeley, Ca,
Response:
Thanks for your note. I also have profited from Highflyer’s flying tips. I remember the Rhodes college event, which was a lot of fun. (Included a trip to the Pyramid in Memphis, which I’d wanted to see for quite a while.) I have been living on the west coast but will move to the east again in the fall; with a little plane will enjoy trips like those to Memphis. jim fallows
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Gees, two people whose opinions I respect immensely. I can’t wait to read both of these. Even if you aren’t allowed to publish excerpts here, please tell us where the entire review will be published. I’m still in the drooling lustfully phase of my critical reading skills when it comes to aviation topics. Steve PS: Mr. Fallows, please come back to Memphis for a speaking engagement. I saw you at the then Southwestern College (now Rhodes) about nine years ago speaking about China and the disconnect between Western and Oriental thought processes and the misunderstandings that can result. PPS: Highflyer, when are we going to get an update on P-ville 2001? My VFR ride was (wisely Jim, very wisely) weathered out, but I’d love to hear about the gathering. I may have missed a posting, but I’ve been looking here fairly regularly.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.) It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc. I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the "general" press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample. http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too "technical" and "difficult" for readers. If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.) If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years. I have been asked to do a review of this book for publication. I have not yet received the review copy, but perhaps, after I have read it, I can publish excerpts of my comments here. — HighFlyer Highflight Aviation Services
Gees, two people whose opinions I respect immensely. I can’t wait to read both of these. Even if you aren’t allowed to publish excerpts here, please tell us where the entire review will be published. I’m still in the drooling lustfully phase of my critical reading skills when it comes to aviation topics. Steve PS: Mr. Fallows, please come back to Memphis for a speaking engagement. I saw you at the then Southwestern College (now Rhodes) about nine years ago speaking about China and the disconnect between Western and Oriental thought processes and the misunderstandings that can result. PPS: Highflyer, when are we going to get an update on P-ville 2001? My VFR ride was (wisely Jim, very wisely) weathered out, but I’d love to hear about the gathering. I may have missed a posting, but I’ve been looking here fairly regularly.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.) It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc. I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the "general" press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample. http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too "technical" and "difficult" for readers. If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.) If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.
I have been asked to do a review of this book for publication. I have not yet received the review copy, but perhaps, after I have read it, I can publish excerpts of my comments here. — HighFlyer Highflight Aviation Services
Response:
New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message. I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.) It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc. I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the "general" press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample. http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too "technical" and "difficult" for readers. If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.) If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years. Jim Fallows National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly Berkeley, Ca,
