271–277 of 277 posts
Examples abound: the Hyperloop being the most pertinent. Everybody jumps in on the perceived gold rush of a truly stupid idea that's only real purpose is to generate mountains of money.
Anything done solely for money is guaranteed to be s#!t.
Interesting discussion that entierly misses the point. This isn’t being done for fuel efficiency, it’s being done for economic profit. Examples abound: the Hyperloop being the most pertinent. Everybody jumps in on the perceived gold rush of a truly stupid idea that's only real purpose is to generate mountains of money. Anything done solely for money is guaranteed to be s#!t.
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No. I'm, in essence, saying the opposite. To use your analogy "as someone with 5 hours into driver's ed in my mom's civic I now realize how hard driving actually is and why ALL cars still have 4 wheels, still use a steering wheel, and still have seat-belts".
People with a handful of hours towards a private pilot's license have no (zero, zip, nada) expertise or insight when it comes to the design and manufacture of commercial airliners. You might feel like you do, but it has no basis in fact, because the constraints that really matter are things that engineers have spent a hundred years working out by trial and error (and crashing a lot of aircraft). We wouldn't take airl…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. I'm, in essence, saying the opposite. To use your analogy "as someone with 5 hours into driver's ed in my mom's civic I now realize how hard driving actually is and why ALL cars still have 4 wheels, still use a steering wheel, and still have seat-belts".
That's not what your original comment says at all. You're pontificating on future aircraft configurations while you're just learning the ABC's of being an enduser of said products. Being a learning pilot confers zero expertise on conceptual design. It probably gives you less expertise than being a longtime aviation journalist like Bill Sweetman.
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The phrase the global south elides the fact that those countries are far higher in inequality than the West. Wealthy elites being the only ones able to travel isn't a solution to climate change, it's a recipe for a degree of social control we haven't seen in a century. We can fight climate change, and increase mobility, standard of living and freedom for all. There is an enormous amount of low hanging fruit here - fr…
I agree with all your points, except that 1) people can travel through other means, and 2) people can travel less . I have plenty of acquaintances that could do with a bit of discovering theirs and nearby countries by train, and perhaps fly half as much as they do (6-10 return flights per year for mini beach vacations).
I live on an island, and it's literally only now, in my late forties that I'm earning the kind of money that allows me to travel moderately. If you tire of the privilege, feel free not to. For me it's perhaps the one aspect of modernity that unarguably better than the past, the thing we get in return for global homogeneity.
You think people resent the rich now? Imagine how resentment would grow under an enforced localism. Imagine how much bigotry would increase.
Cosmopolitanism is real! People who travel are more tolerant, less supportive of war, and better informed. The world isn't a virtuality to them, it's a set of places they have visited or may visit. Peoples they've known or may yet know.
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Insane take - this is just ensuring that the only people who get to enjoy travel are the rich. Nothing in our society is improved by taking a privilege that's widely enjoyed and restricting it to the wealthy or very wealthy.
I dont disagree, but that's just how capitalism works. And it does solve a problem, there will be less airtravel.
Not this again. They’ve clearly hired a new PR firm Suffice it to say, from stable aeronautics at-edge, jet way footprint efficiency, ground support efficiency, airframe pressurization, cargo & passenger logistics, lifespan, and certification, there are many, many reasons “tube + wings” is the dominant airframe architecture for all non-military aircraft.