Aircraft, airlines, history, and the future of flight.
Picture this: you’re sitting at the window as your aircraft begins its descent, and the world below is nothing but ocean. Not a ship. Not a coastline. Not even a hint that land exists anywhere on Earth. Then, with about twenty minutes to go, a smudge appears — a volcanic triangle rising out of the…
In the summer of 1928, a young social worker from Kansas named Amelia Earhart climbed into a Fokker Trimotor called the Friendship and flew from Newfoundland to Wales. She was, by her own cheerful admission, little more than a passenger on that flight — the real piloting done by Wilmer Stultz, with Lou Gordon riding…
Stand at the right spot on a clear day and watch a commercial jet climb away from the runway. It’s quick, it’s loud for a moment, and then it’s just a shrinking white shape against blue sky. Beautiful, sure. But it tops out around 900 kilometres per hour, more or less the same speed your…