Blog Post #6 United Breaks Guitars

Back in 2008, the band Sons of Maxwell were on a plane trip from Halifax to Omaha, by way of Chicago, flying with United Airlines. Upon landing in Chicago, a woman sitting close to the band looked out her window and exclaimed "My god, they're throwing guitars out there!" Sure enough, they watched a bass being heaved from one place to another without any regard for the contents of the case. Dave Carroll's $3500 Taylor guitar had already been thrown around previously. Once Carroll had his own guitar back, he examined it to find that the base of his Taylor had been smashed. This led to a series of long and drawn-out phone calls, being referred to someone else because "it's not my problem", e-mails, and complaint letters, taking many months. Finally, Carroll just gave up and decided he would use his talents and position to warn everyone about the horrible care that United gives when handling luggage, even instruments. He put together a series of three music videos, which poke fun at United and give everyone else a satirical warning about them. The first of the videos is shown below, check it out!

So, does this mean that we need to live in fear whenever we take our musical instruments with us on planes? Nay, fear not! In 2012, President Obama signed a law that, among many other important airline-related things, allows a person in America to take a guitar as a carry-on item. This had previously sometimes been allowed, but only if there was room for your guitar after all the other carry-on luggage was in place, and you were almost always required to purchase a whole extra ticket so you could place the guitar in the seat next to you. So this new law states that at the moment when you board the airplane, if there is room in the carry on section for your guitar, it gets to stay! If it fits, it ships! If your instrument is too large and truly doesn't fit, you will have to purchase an extra ticket for it, but the airline can't charge you extra fees or make you hand it over to them at the last moment to put with the rest of the stored luggage, as they are often wont to do. So next time you fly with an instrument, keep that law in mind! Oh, and, don't fly United.

Blog Post #5 Most Expensive Plane Trips

I thought it would be fun to search for all the most expensive plane trips and see what made them so special. Just in case you guys all had thousands of dollars and felt like blowing it all on one fancy plane ride!
So, if you wanted to make a trip from Los Angeles to Melbourne (that's in Australia), you could do so with Qantas, with a ticket started at $14,974! What does this fancy flight get you? Glad you asked! First off, you get to wait in the airport in a fancy lounge, complete with leather seats and an open fireplace. Once on the aircraft, you get your own six-foot bed with a sheepskin mattress. You also have touch-screen entertainment systems, along with an endless supply of bubbling champagne and Australian wine.
Moving on, perhaps you wanted to fly from New York to Beijing? You could spend about $27,000 and do so with Korean Air! This flight boasts "First Class Kosmo Sleeper Seats" which means you have a touchpad at your disposal that you can use to get a fully reclining seat, along with your own private partition in the airplane. You also receive exquisite Oriental dishes and fancy wines, what more could you want?
Lastly, perhaps those trips seem not quite to your liking. Maybe you want to waste even more money? $43,535 (or, about the cost of WSU tuition for four years for you and me) will take you from New York to Hong Kong. You receive a stand-alone seat and bed setup, in-flight air humidifiers (seriously, the air on planes gets pretty dry), a fancy toiletry kit, a selected wine list, and Michelin-starred culinary! On-ground personal attendants are also available to help you in any way you need.

So there you have it! If you happen to fly between one of these cities, make sure to check out some of the most expensive plane tickets out there!

Blog Post #4 - Icarus!

I know we briefly talked about Daedalus and Icarus not too long ago in class, but I've always liked mythology, so I wanted to write a post about them.
Their story starts when Daedalus angered a king and was exiled to the island of Crete. While there, he had a son named Icarus. Daedalus was a brilliant inventor and architect, and so King Minos had him design and build the labyrinth of Knossos to house the Minotaur. All was well and good until years later, when Daedalus told the secret of the labyrinth to Princess Ariadne. She then told Theseus, who she was in love with, and he used the knowledge to escape the labyrinth once he had killed the minotaur. When Minos found out, he was angry and threw Daedalus and Icarus into the labyrinth and wouldn't let them out.
So here's where the actual flying part comes in! Daedalus knew that they would not be able to escape on foot, nor could they leave by sea since Minos would have the shores guarded. So he figured the only way they could escape the labyrinth was to go build a pair of wings and fly away! They would then fly away from Crete and make it back to Greece. He fashioned together a pair of wings for himself and Icarus, and held them together with wax. Before they took off, he warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, or the wax would melt and he would fall. Since Daedalus was a genius inventor (and the story is a myth), the wings worked perfectly and they flew! They were well on their way to Greece, but Icarus was too enthralled with his new-found freedom and wasn't paying attention. He kept flying higher and higher, and eventually got too close to the sun. As was predicted, the wax melted, and his wings fell apart, leaving him to fall to his death in the sea.

I think this story is neat because it shows how people have always been entranced by the idea of flight, and have invented myths to solidify that idea.

Blog 1: Aviation Hall of Fame

A few days ago, I was chatting with my mother about how class was going. We talked about the various spots we visited as a class and suddenly she blurts out that she was inducted into the Dayton Aviation Hall of Fame, and her name is somewhere in those halls on a slip of paper. So with my initial shock still in play, I ask how she could've possibly gotten into that area. She tells me how she was a friend of Erwin J. Nutter's wife back in the 80s and that she rescued her from getting stranded in an airport.
To quote her, "she needed a walker to get anywhere, so me and my friend retrieved a wheelchair and got her on board her flight just before it needed to leave. We weren't supposed to be on that flight to begin with, so we had to wait for a layover to catch, but she was really appreciative. One day, she invites me to a banquet and, unbeknownst to me, I get inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame!"

Blog post #6: Airbus, Boeing Set sights on Synthetic Vision.

For my last blog post, I decided to talk about a more futuristic possibility.  There is a possible safety upgrade in the next five years for commercial airliners by giving the pilots the opportunity for virtual reality.  It’s known as synthetic vision and it allows a 3-D rendering of runways, obstacles, and a lot of other debris that can bother pilots.  The synthetic vision offers energy awareness cues that give the pilot flight path vectors, the speed and acceleration of the flight, and this can all be very beneficial for pilots.  It’ll be like the pilots are playing a flying video game, where they know how fast they’re going and how fast they’re accelerating with a big point on the screen of where to land.  This synthetic visions is already available for business jet cockpits, but it is now just being introduced to commercial airliners.  It’s amazing what the future holds for aviation, and how safe this system can make flying.  It’s a great article! 

Article: http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/airbus-boeing-set-sights-synthetic-vision  

Blog Post #5 : Challenger tragedy.

A couple days ago I talked about the Columbia tragedy.  But now, I found another article explaining how the Challenger explosion happen and interesting facts about it.  The Challenger explosion happened before the Columbia tragedy, and the challenger exploded right after it lifted off (challenger exploded when it landed).  One interesting fact was this was the first time a school teacher was allowed to travel in space (Christ McAuliffe), who was also going to be the first citizen in space.  The date for the flight was originally scheduled for July 1985 and after many different delays, was finally ready to be launched on January 27^th (an extremely cold day).  It turns out the disaster occurred because of the cold weather.  The weather caused a failure of the joint seal in the right SRB, this lead to a combustion gas leak through the Solid Rocket Motor and causes the explosion.  However, the Challenger itself didn’t’ actually explode, what happened was that orbiter broke apart from the shuttle.  The crew did not die instantly since the cabin was torn loose from the rest of the space shuttle.  But when the cabin smashed into the Atlantic ocean (which took 3 minutes), it killed all of the members.  I never knew that the crew did not die instantly, I just assumed based of the picture of the explosion, which everyone would die instantly.  This disaster might not have happened if they lifted off on the original time in July, considering it would’ve been much warmer.  This article has more explanation of the people and why the SRB malfunctioned.  I would recommend reading all of it!

Article:  http://www.aerospaceguide.net/spaceshuttle/challenger_disaster.html   

NASA Morphing Wing

I was reading an article that was quite fascinating and thought I would share. NASA and AFRL have successfully flight testing a new wing design that is able to change shape within a 32 degree range.

The goal of the ACTE flaps are to designed to decrease the overall aircraft weight, increase fuel efficiency, and reduce noise of takeoffs and landings. The initial testing was actually like that of the Wright Brothers--wind tunnels! I think it is so fascinating that the brothers were so innovative that the same concepts and text equipment is used today.

I think this technology will have very great impact, and I look forward to seeing it implemented in the aircraft we see flying.



http://phys.org/news/2015-04-nasa-successfully-shape-changing-wing-aviation.html

Blog Post #6

Boeing getting smarter

The ability for the things in our lives to be more automated is nothing new to us. We are used to having smart devices that are able to predict our needs and make our lives easier or safer. This concept is finally making its way to commercial airliners.

It seems as though the concept of a car being able to park itself and alert to a car's presence is making its way to planes as well. Soon they will be able to lay out the path of the runway in a 3D vision model, as well as give flight path projections and other tools that will automate the process and avoid human error. 

I'm sure it won't be too long before the drone concept will be applied to commercial airlines. Though as that technology is not here yet, it is interesting to see how aspects of it are being applied to the technology we have today.

http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/airbus-boeing-set-sights-synthetic-vision

Blog Post #5

Third World Flying

When you hear the term "third world" you probably imagine a child starving on the side of the road, and people living in shacks that are falling over. Although there are not really any starving children, Belize is a third world country. I have had the privilege of traveling there twice on medical mission trips. On these trips, we were given one free day to explore Belize City. This area is the typical tropical tourist location, which is a great contrast to the rest of the area. To get to one of the areas, we had to take a little puddle jumper plane ride. 

This is one of my favorite plane ride memories for one reason: I got to ride right up front next to the pilot. The view was incredible. And I also got to get a first hand look at what it would look like to actually do the flying. 

There were a lot more controls than I had anticipated. The entire front panel was cluttered with gauges and switches and buttons. It seemed like a maze, and I was shocked anyone was capable of flying that machine. 

Yet he did. And he did it with ease. He was able to hit exactly the right button at exactly the right time. It was crazy. And I was still a little disappointed when he didn't let me try to land it. :) 

This plane, although it was housed in the third world, was still well taken care of. They still had well set out standards. They may not have had us walk through three metal detectors, and have everything we own get xrayed, but it was still a process. 

It was definitely interesting getting to see how these sorts of things operate in a country so different from ours. 

Blog post #4

Blog Post #3 (Kneice) - Flight 401

On December 29, 1972, a Lockheed Tristar jet flying for Eastern Airlines crashed into the Florida everglades, resulting in 101 fatalities. The reason the flight crashed was because the entire flight crew became distracted with a faulty landing gear light, and they failed to realize that the autopilot quit working. This resulted in the airplane slowly losing altitude and crashing. The more interesting part about this whole ordeal is that the ghosts of the pilot (Bob Loft) and the flight engineer (Don Repo) are claimed to have been seen on other Eastern Airlines planes. Parts from the crashed plane were used as replacement parts for some other Tristar jets, and there have been over 20 sightings of the ghosts of the two men on those planes. The general report is that they watch over all and take care of all of the flights in which their plane's parts are now residing. These examples include:
-The vice president of Eastern Airlines was speaking with a man whom he presumed to be the pilot of the plane, and only later realized he was speaking with Loft.
-Two flight attendants and the captain of a plane were speaking with a man that they recognized to be Loft, and then watched him vanish before their eyes, leaving them visibly shaking.
-A female passenger asked a flight attendant about the unresponsive gentleman sitting next to her in an Eastern Airlines uniform, and the two of them, along with other passengers, watched the man then disappear into thin air. The passengers were able to identify the man when shown a picture, naming him to be Bob Loft.
-A flight attendant observed a man fixing the galley oven (whom she later recognized to be Repo), and after the oven was fixed, the flight engineer claimed that he hadn't yet fixed it.
-Three flight attendants observed the face of Repo in a galley oven, warning them to watch out for fires on board the plane. That plane's last leg of it's flight was cancelled due to serious engine trouble.

I personally don't believe in ghosts, but I think that this was an incredibly interesting topic to research! I didn't know what to write about so I just googled planes and ghosts, and this story had a lot of hits. I'm glad I found it!

http://www.near-death.com/ghosts.html

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is something I've wanted to experience for a long time.  Every year, the city of Albuquerque holds this festival in Balloon Fiesta Park, where literally hundreds of hot air balloons take flight during the first week of October.  It is the largest hot air balloon festival on Earth, with over 500 balloons!  The mass launches of these balloons, as well as the sunrise and sunset "glows" are supposed to be one of the most beautiful things you'll ever see.  Plus I think it's really cool that balloons are still popular today, over 200 years after the first one was launched!

The week-long festival has all kinds of events planned like balloon races, mass launches, after-dark flights, balloon rides, live music, car shows, chainsaw carving, rodeos, and all kinds of other good stuff.  This festival has been held annually for over four decades, and will be taking place this year from October 3-11.

You can find out more on their website:
http://www.balloonfiesta.com/

And check out some of the great photos from past Fiestas!

The Barnstorming Carnival

The other day I was on Facebook and saw an ad for a barnstorming airshow.  Since I had two more blog posts to write this seemed like perfect luck and I went and researched it more.  As it turns out The Barnstorming Carnival is a two day event held at the Springfield Beckley Airport in Springfield, Ohio.  The whole things kicks off with an 8:00 am pancake breakfast and fly-in!  The airplanes featured will be antique biplanes and vintage aircraft from the 20s, 30s, and 40s piloted by real barnstorming pilots!  It looks like a whole bunch of really fun things will be happening from airplane rides to RC plane and helicopter demonstrations as well as a custom car show with Ford Model As, and a model rocket building workshop!  All of this awesome-ness is happening July 11-12th at the Springfield Beckley Airport in Springfield, Ohio--and admission is FREE!

Get more information at their website:

http://www.barnstormingcarnival.com/

Blog Post #4: This day in aviation history

In this day of history, on April 27^th 1911 the U.S. army bought its second airplane.  We all know that the first airplane was made by the Wright Brothers, but this plane was created by Glenn Curtiss and it was known as the “Curtiss pusher”.  It was slightly different than the Wright Brothers plane in that it had a propeller behind the wheel and a tricycle landing gear.  It was able to go to speeds as high as 60 miles per hour.  If you remember from the online book we read, Curtiss was the company that had a lot of conflict with the patent of the Wright Brothers.  Curtiss couldn’t use Wing warping so instead they had to use allerons (which turned out to be better than wing warping).  This is an interesting article because we usually always talk about the Wright Brothers, but we have not talked much about the other companies that were competing with the brothers.  Curtiss was one of their biggest competitors, but he was still a great inventor and also helped with the creation of aviation. 

Article: http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/

Blog Post #3: Columbia Disaster

                Many people have heard of the Columbia Disaster, but not many people know how it occurred.  10 years after the Columbia broke up (it broke up February 01, 2003) when it was returning to earth, Elizabeth Howell made an article explaining how it happened.  What NASA determined was that there was a giant piece of foam that broke off of the external tank of the spacecraft wing when it took off.  When this foam separated from the spacecraft, it caused a fatal breach to occur when the crew was landing.  This hole in the wing caused atmospheric gases to go into the spacecraft and lead to the destruction of Columbia.  A big controversy of this tragedy is that NASA knew the problems with the foam years before the accident.  However, NASA didn't do much to fix it (which I don’t understand why).  I’m curious to if the crew knew about the foam that flew off when they took off, maybe if they did they could have done something to help prevent the tragedy.  It upsets me that NASA knew the problem, but didn't bother to do anything about it. Maybe foam is a cheaper thing to use than another substance and that’s why they used it.  It’s an interesting article and I’d recommend reading it! 

Article: http://www.space.com/19436-columbia-disaster.html   

Post #6! Nose Art!

I was unsure of what to do my final blog post about so I was just looking at photos of planes and came across this site that has a gallery of nose art, quite a few of which I found to be rather impressive and the artists who did them were very talented: http://keiththomsonbooks.com/nose-art-gallery/


The helicopter that's completely painted to look like a bird is my favorite. I was going to attach the photo, but Blogger won't let me :(

Blog Post #6 - Sometimes the Displays Need Dusting

In a recent article from Space via Yahoo News entitled “SpaceShipOne 'Lands' on Smithsonian Floor as Museum Renovates Hall,” the author relates that the groundbreaking “spaceplane,” which was the first private aircraft to achieve supersonic flight and has been a hovering fixture at the Nation’s Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, was lowered to the floor for the first time in 10 years.  The museum is doing some renovation, and wanted to take some time to examine the craft, perform any needed maintenance, and then redisplay the spaceplane in a different position.

According to the article, the Smithsonian was excited to receive this historic aircraft, and gave the developers their Trophy Award for this groundbreaking innovation.  At the time, they fully thought that this would open the door for many more aircraft capable of private spaceflight.   Notes the museum curator responsible for this exhibit, “‘We thought it was on the cusp of a new style of flight and maybe a new era of spaceflight," [Valerie] Neal remarked. "I think everybody thought that within about five years or so, there would be more activity going into suborbital space than there is [now]’" (qtd in Pearlman).

Even so, there is a lot of interest in this aircraft.  On its way to the Smithsonian, the aircraft made a stop here in Dayton.  “On July 25, 2005 SpaceShipOne was brought to the Oshkosh Airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After the airshow, Mike Melvill and crew flew the White-Knight, carrying SpaceShipOne, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio” […] “in honor of Wilbur Wright's now famous presentation to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers” (“SpaceShipOne”). 

So, if you are interested in seeing this remarkable aircraft up close, you will be able to for the next “couple of months,” notes the museum curator, because they will continue to allow visitors to walk through the exhibit while the aircraft is on the ground. 

Pearlman, Robert Z. “SpaceShipOne 'Lands' on Smithsonian Floor as Museum Renovates Hall.” Space via Yahoo News. 30 March 2015. Web. 18 April 2015.

http://news.yahoo.com/spaceshipone-lands-smithsonian-floor-museum-renovates-hall-200938501.html;

“SpaceShipOne.” Aviation Earth. 2008. Web. 18 April 2015.

Blog Post #5 - When an Aircraft Carrier Just Won’t Do

Back last month, there was a question on the Wings reading that asked about the significance of using aircraft carriers during WWII.  American forces successfully defended our Pacific island bases by using air support launched from these large carriers.  Recognizing that being able to land and take off from the sea is a big advantage, from time to time various countries with sea borders have proposed, and even built, floating airstrips.  Deemed largely unstable, as well as unprofitable (because regular airports conduct business other than simply allowing airplanes to take off and land), these floating airports simply do not have the space for airport support (and we all know that commercial aviation looks to its bottom line).

On the other hand, military aviation does not usually employ bottom line budgeting, and China is very willing and able to pour as much money as possible into its military – especially if the result is an advantage in the disputed South China Sea.  Because they have the largest military force on Earth, China isn’t too subtle about using their might to intimidate or outright threaten those who resist them.  China claims the South China Sea (or at least most of it – they do recognize that sovereign countries have ownership of their own borders and a limited amount of ocean extending from these borders). 

Now, satellite imagery shows that China has been building up some small underwater islands called the Spratlys in order to build an airbase.  This will give their military some land based access to the entire region (something they currently lack – having to deploy aircraft carriers for the time being – and giving up stealth in the process).  Although China is taking the stance that their construction is only for providing support for their country’s fishermen and commercial shipping interests (i.e. search and rescue, refueling), nobody else is buying it, tensions are high in the region, and are beginning to be felt around the world.

The U.S. government has formally requested that China desist, and notes the article “China's moves in the region should spark fear around the world, with military conflict possible, Philippine President Benigno Aquino told AFP on Tuesday” (“China”).  Military aviation is still a significant player in global security.

“China 'Building Runway in Disputed South China Sea.’” Associated Free Press via Yahoo News. 17 April 2015. Web. 18 April 2015.

http://news.yahoo.com/china-building-runway-disputed-south-china-sea-095359080.html

Blog Post #4 - Size or, in This Case, Space Matters

Sometimes all we read is negative news – especially about anything that happens in the cabin of an airplane.  In the last portion of Tom Crouch’s book, Wings, the author explains that industry technology has trended toward enhancing air travelers’ comfort in the cabin.  A recent article from Good Morning America via Yahoo News illustrates Crouch’s theory.

The article, entitled “Boeing Increases Overhead Bin Size by 50 Percent,” relates the news that Boeing’s 737s will soon be fitted with redesigned in-cabin “luggage holds.” This does not mean that passengers will be able to bring more or larger carry-on bags into the cabin.  What it does is provide just enough extra room so that carry-ons can be stowed and retrieved more quickly (people won’t have to be doing aerobics with their upper arms while trying to shift other bags, suck it in for passengers needing to get by them, and looming over already seated passengers).  In addition, the bottom part of the bin is lower so that shorter passengers will have better access, and that all passengers should be able to see to the back of the compartment (in case something works its way out of the bag and gets left behind). 

Although this change was revealed at a recent industry technology show, Boeing is already retrofitting its 737s, and customers (as well as the cabin crews) are looking forward to this improvement.  Hopefully, it will help cut down on some of the frustration that often occurs during boarding and leaving commercial airliners.

Prisco, Joanna. “Boeing Increases Overhead Bin Size by 50 Percent.” Good Morning America/Yahoo News. 17 April 2015. Web. 18 April 2015.

https://gma.yahoo.com/boeing-increases-overhead-bin-size-50-percent-174942295--abc-news-travel.html

Blog Post #5- Random Aviation Fun Facts

I did a Google search for aviation fun facts and a page showed up for "13 Random Aviation Facts." So naturally I clicked on it and was most interested in these three random fun facts, particularly number 2:

1. Food Tastes Different Under Pressure: Under cabin pressure conditions, that is. German airline Lufthansa noticed that people seemed to order a lot of tomato juice in-flight, while they normally wouldn’t drink it on the ground. So they commissioned a study to look into whether food tasted different in-flight. Turns out that our ability to perceive salty tastes is weakened by the cabin pressure, so tomato juice tastes sweeter![iii]
2. Airplanes Taste Worse Than Airplane Food: Over a period spanning the years 1978 – 1980, France’s “entertainer” Monsieur Mangetout (nee Michael Lotito) ate a Cessna 150. He did this in stages, breaking metal parts down into tiny pieces, and consuming plenty of water and mineral oil throughout the meal.
3. He’ll Have the Chicken: Continuing along the planes-and-food theme is the fact that on commercial airliner flights, the pilot and co-pilot never eat the same meal. This is for the safety of the craft: if the pilot is laid low by food poisoning from the pasta, the co-pilot should still be well enough to continue the flight.

I am assuming this site is credible because it is from a college of aeronautics and technology.  If this is true, the guy ate a plane??? Craziness.  If you want to read the rest of the fun facts, here is the link:  http://www.spartan.edu/blog/13-random-aviation-facts

Movies Inspired by Aviation

As we  look back at history it is easy to see the impact that flight had on the media of the early 1900's. However, flight still inspires movie-makers of today. This article outlines the top ten best airplane movies made in recent decades.

1. Airplane!
2. Air Force One

3. Top Gun
4. The Aviator
5. Con Air
6. Up in the Air
7. Catch Me if You Can
8. Alive
9. Snakes on a Plane
10. Executive Decision

I am willing to bet that most people have seen at least one of these movies and have heard about even more. Seeing them all in a list made me realize how many popular movies have a plot influenced by aviation. These films range in genre from comedy, to romance, to thriller. The film industry has attempted to portray every aspect of flight. I can think of even more movies that did not make the list: Airplanes by Pixar, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Amelia, The Terminal, etc. What movies can YOU think of?

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/11/the-10-best-movies-airplane-movies.html

Blog Post #3 - Backdoor Wheeling and Dealing

In Tom Crouch’s Wings, the author details post-WWII aircraft industry corruption, with bribes and government interference in the awarding of airplane contracts worldwide and quid pro quo from industry giants into influential politicians’ war chests (526-27).  Many would think that these actions exist only in history, but it seems that would be wrong.

There is a recent news article from Bloomberg Business, entitled “Did United Put a Whole Route in the Sky for One Very Important Passenger” that brings up the old image of greasing the palms of men and women of power.  Although the article’s title is phrased as a question, it is pretty clear that Bloomberg has ferreted out an actual instance of blatant corruption.

Some may have already heard of David Samson, the previous Chairman of the New York/New Jersey Port Authority (or at least of “bridge-gate” in which some political shenanigans in New Jersey Port Authority and Governor’s office caused the closing of certain portions of the George Washington Bridge resulting in gridlock, mass confusion, political fallout, and a Federal investigation).  And now this revelation, that United Airlines, a major player in the New Jersey/New York area transportation hub, created a weekly flight to and from a South Carolina airport that Samson used exclusively until he resigned from the Port Authority (and then, conveniently, United discontinued the flight).

A sentence from the article really caught my eye, “U.S. airline schedules haven't been regulated for nearly 40 years, and air routes that please an important member of Congress, regulator, or business executive aren't so unusual” (Bachman).  What? This story was published one day after the subject of my previous blog post about the FAA changing flight patterns.  It just makes me wonder how the airline industry is ever going to mature and become truly innovative if they and the government regulators who are supposed to be in charge of things can’t get their acts together and stop this blatant corruption.

Bachman, Justin. “Did United Put a Whole Route in the Sky for One Very Important Passenger?” Bloomberg Business. 25 February 2015. Web. 18 April 2015.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-25/did-united-put-a-whole-route-in-the-sky-for-one-very-important-passenger-?cmpid=yhoo

Crouch, Tom.  Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age.  New York: W.W. Norton, 2003.  Print.