Category: Travel
Man Behind the 747 Tells His Story
Sutter, white-haired and soon to be 85 but still razor-sharp, has finally told his life’s story, and that of the 747, in a book with aviation writer Jay Spenser.
“747: Creating the World’s First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation,” won’t hit book stores until May. But last week I received an advance copy from the publisher, Smithsonian Books.
via enplaned.
World in Motion VR Scenes
World Snowmobile Racing Championships – Eagle River
But the wintertime blues disappeared Friday night, Day 2 of the 43rd annual World Championship Snowmobile Derby, which residents herald as the Indianapolis 500 of snowmobile racing.
Jimmy Blaze followed a fireworks display, which opened Friday Night Thunder, by defying physics and doing a back flip on a snowmobile to the whoops and mitten-muffled applause of the 10,000 people who crammed on a snow-covered hill at Eagle River Derby Track. The temperature had dropped to 25; the wind chill made it feel like 11 and a steady snow fell.
Hundreds of the young men and women in parkas bearing the logos of their favorite sled manufacturers, like Polaris and Arctic Cat, arrived by snowmobile. Families, too, planted camping chairs in the white bowl, but while mothers and fathers watched the racers hit 100 miles an hour on the track’s icy oval, their snowsuit-bundled children found a steeper hill for body-sledding.
Northwest’s Pilot Scope Clause Contract Negotiations
Sort of an abstract issue, but relevant for Madison, particularly with the growth of 50 to 100 seat aircraft in and out of Madison
: Interesting look
Northwest’s scope clause is, in fact, particularly onerous relative to scope clauses at other major airlines. United, Delta, American & US Airways can outsource (to regional airlines) aircraft up to at least 70 seats (US Airways can even outsource some aircraft of 86 seats). Continental’s limit is 59 seats, but can do a virtually unlimited number of those.
The issue at Northwest is particularly acute because Northwest flies smaller mainline aircraft than any other major airline. Northwest itself flies over 100 DC-9s (photo above). These geriatric aircraft (many of them over 30 years old or more) have just over 100 seats. Click here for further DC-9 data.
Boyd’s 2006 Aviation Forecast
Mike Boyd posts some useful reading for any serious air traveller.
New Year’s Eve Panoramas
Hans posts some fabulous panoramas from around the world
2005 World Wide Panorama
Panoramic photography around the world. Well worth visiting.
Paris Secrets
Susan Spano passes along some tips for those traveling to Paris including a cooking supply store that Julie Child visited and a rather expensive hotel.
E-170/190: A bit more comfort for small(er) city air travel
The United Express E-170 was a rather pleasant surprise. I flew this 70 seat jet several times recently and found that I could:
- Stand Up Straight (impossible in some of the smaller 50 seat jets)
- Get some work done
- Walk a bit
Jetblue has ordered a bunch of the slighter larger E-190’s. We’ll see more of these, likely direct to Madison.
One of the worst travel experiences of the past year was a 3 hop flight to the west coast (including a business stop in the middle) on a 50 seat jet. Rather cramped….