Letters to the Editor
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Everything will get worse, except...
Congrats on the job, Patrick!
I heard some airline industry analysts on NPR the other day discussing this topic, so you'll be pleased to know that some other media actually are picking up this story. When the host asked the analysts what the future held for commercial passenger aviation in the US, one of them summarized it brilliantly:
"Everything will get worse, except fares."
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I think...
I think that DCA was named Reagan Airport to keep the 'church of Reagan' from putting his mug shot on the dime...
There is still a move by people with too much time on their hands to rename everything they can to 'Reagan -----'.
I'd nominate a pay toilet but they've stopped using them...
One RNC prophet wanted to rename at least one big thing per state across the country... ICK...
This coupled with the idolatrous renaming of stadiums after corporations makes me ill... Both politicians and corporations have shown very little respect for the ideals this country was founded on.
Thank God there is already a 'Gerald R Ford' airport in Michigan. I'd hate to fly into Ford airport in Detroit (named after either Ford)...
Reagan was president but still only really represented half the population. Change the name back to 'National' Airport and let's stop the ridiculous naming of everything for heartless politicians and corporations...
TANGENT: I made a comment on my concern that those compact fluorescent lights that are the rage at every local Mal-Wart store (and elsewhere) are exacting a huge toll on the environment due to their containing small amounts of mercury and they will most assuredly end up in the trash rather than disposed of properly. I was beaten with the 'think of all the energy they will save'... I still wonder what a Faustian bargain those things are and wonder the same about the rash of RJ's filling the overloaded skies.
America needs to ween itself off cars and airplanes and onto trains and maglev transportation. In a 'capitalistic' society, good luck... FNT to DTW via plane? Why?
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An interesting rant on another webiste...
Dear FAA, et al.: We passengers are fed up
http://tinyurl.com/ytr62p
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I heard an A380 was bought at auction recently
By ONE guy for his personal use. The name and location (Arab nation cough cough) has not been disclosed. Price was in the vicinity of $300 million dollars.
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Maglev caveat / Manchester NH
Maglev technology to solve current transport problems isn't quite as elusive as the hydrogen revolution, but it's close. From Wikipedia: "The only currently operating high-speed maglev line of note is the IOS (initial operating segment) demonstration line of the German-built Transrapid train in Shanghai, China that transports people 30 km (18.6 miles) to the airport in just 7 minutes 20 seconds, achieving a top velocity of 431 km/h or 268 mph, averaging 250 km/h or 150 mph."
Waiting for maglev over the past 30 years has been a little like waiting for Godot. The good news is that there are so many corridors where conventional high-speed rail will do a great job, there is no need to wait for viable long-distance maglev. Basically, if a corridor really needs maglev speeds, it can probably be better served (at least for now) by airplanes. Air travel does a great job for long distances! It just needs some help from a healthy train network to take care of regional and medium-distance connections.
About Manchester NH: the MBTA Lowell line goes much of the way to Manchester (and apparently actually made it all the way there briefly in 1981). A joint VT-NH-MA Montreal-Boston passenger rail study a few years ago aimed for restored passenger service from Boston beyond Lowell to Nashua, Manchester, and Concord, as well as a few trains a day all the way to Montreal, but the study was choked off prematurely by lobbyists in New Hampshire...
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easy solution
Airports should migrate at least part of the PFC (Passenger Facility Charge) to a charge per plane landing and takeoff. What has been become scarce is runway slots so those slots need to get more costly. The PFC is unfortunately a completely neutral economic incentive between a fully loaded 747 and a regional jet.
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Pricing
Is it possible to attain information about the actual prices charged to airlines for each plane departure/arrival? I would guess that the prices are different for each type of aircraft (RJ/Widebody/...). Are charges based upon which runway is utilized (longer runways = higher cost), the airplane's wake size, ...?
Also, who sets these charges, the airports or the FAA? It would seem that FAA would have a stronger interest than Massport in keeping delays/cancellations low.
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"Weather delays" and rail
I've been caught up in the SW Airlines MHT-PHL shuffle, and I figured it was just a problem with Philly. To wit: Set to fly home on a Sunday evening, my flight out of MHT was delayed, as was every other flight in the area, due to a snowstorm. No one was getting out if they were set to land in Newark, Philly or Baltimore. Unfortunately, I wasn't as quick to rebook as some of my comrades-in-waiting, and when BWI and EWR finally got the runways clear, they were off and able to book rental cars or take the train back to Philly. I spent the night in a Best Western and had to fly back next morning. It could still be a PHL-specific problem (Thanks, Milton Street!), but with everything Patrick has to say, who knows?
As for rail, I, too, have had pleasant experiences overseas. Germany's ICE and Korea's KTX are wonderful (two and a half hours Seoul-Pusan!), but another writer has the right of it. Acela (Amtrak's high-speed on the NE Corridor) seemed doomed from the get-go. Rather than purchase existing trains from established high-speed rail manufacturers, Amtrak started from scratch and very quickly found itself with major engineering problems. If I remember correctly, the wheel struts began to show too much wear far too quickly, and the whole fleet had to be overhauled. Toss in the NIMBY problem (high-speed rail that can go as fast as 180 mph elsewhere gets nowhere near that speed going through Jersey) and it's like Acela was never really meant to be competitive, just a bone to throw at the people clamoring for what the Europeans have.