how many people flying at any one time?

I'm having trouble tracking down a statistic I'm after, thought you
knowledgable folks might be able to help. As the subject title says:
how many people are aloft in aeroplanes at any one time...?

Thanks for your time.

tracksterman wrote:

I'm having trouble tracking down a statistic I'm after, thought you
knowledgable folks might be able to help. As the subject title says:
how many people are aloft in aeroplanes at any one time...?

It varies.

Think, tracksterman, think! Where would these numbers come from? Do you
think that general aviation pilots report their passenger loads to Big
Brother? There is a remote possibility that someone could add up the
passenger manifests of the airliners in flight at a particular time and
report the total to Big Brother, but at what cost? And for what benefit?

Bob Gardner

"tracksterman" wrote in message
m...
I'm having trouble tracking down a statistic I'm after, thought you
knowledgable folks might be able to help. As the subject title says:
how many people are aloft in aeroplanes at any one time...?

Thanks for your time.

"Bob Gardner" wrote in message
news:HkRSb.66166$U%5.377748@attbi_s03...
Think, tracksterman, think! Where would these numbers come from? Do you
think that general aviation pilots report their passenger loads to Big
Brother? There is a remote possibility that someone could add up the
passenger manifests of the airliners in flight at a particular time and
report the total to Big Brother, but at what cost? And for what benefit?

Bob Gardner

I think he means "How many aircraft are aloft at any one time"??

"tracksterman" wrote in message
m...
I'm having trouble tracking down a statistic I'm after, thought you
knowledgable folks might be able to help. As the subject title says:
how many people are aloft in aeroplanes at any one time...?

Thanks for your time.

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 11:44:09 -0700, "Tom Sixkiller"
blathered:

Think, tracksterman, think! Where would these numbers come from? Do you
think that general aviation pilots report their passenger loads to Big
Brother? There is a remote possibility that someone could add up the
passenger manifests of the airliners in flight at a particular time and
report the total to Big Brother, but at what cost? And for what benefit?

Bob Gardner

I think he means "How many aircraft are aloft at any one time"??

No, I mean 'how many people' - and it's a global figure I want rather
than a US one. Of course this would only ever be a (very!) approximate
number, but that's all I need - and it has been done before, because I
remember reading the figure a couple of years ago. Just having a
spectacular lack of success finding it online...

Pete
----
http://www.btinternet.com/~peteajones/

There was once an article in the Atlantic Monthly (I think it was then
called the Atlantic Monthly) entitled "There are XXX trees in Russia".

The writer dealt with the habit of journalists leaving blanks in their
copy, which researchers were later supposed to fill in. The point
being: how meaningful could a statistic be, if the writer didn't know
it to begin with?

The writer's favorite case involved the trees-in-Russia question.
Let's say it was Newsweek. A Newsweek researcher naturally called the
Russian embassy, which admitted it didn't have a clue. The researcher
then estimated the acres of forest in Russia, estimated how many trees
per acre, and multiplied the two figures. Newsweek published the
number.

The next week, the Russian embassy called up, pleased as punch, and
announced that it had the answer to the researcher's question: there
were exactly XXX trees in Russia.

(The source, of course, was the Newsweek article, a perfect example of
the referential nature of the "facts" we get in the news.)

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

soo... if all those people are in the air.. is the earth suddenly that much
lighter??

BT

"Pete Jones" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 11:44:09 -0700, "Tom Sixkiller"
blathered:

Think, tracksterman, think! Where would these numbers come from? Do you
think that general aviation pilots report their passenger loads to Big
Brother? There is a remote possibility that someone could add up the
passenger manifests of the airliners in flight at a particular time and
report the total to Big Brother, but at what cost? And for what
benefit?

Bob Gardner

I think he means "How many aircraft are aloft at any one time"??

No, I mean 'how many people' - and it's a global figure I want rather
than a US one. Of course this would only ever be a (very!) approximate
number, but that's all I need - and it has been done before, because I
remember reading the figure a couple of years ago. Just having a
spectacular lack of success finding it online...

Pete
----
http://www.btinternet.com/~peteajones/

"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:FJZSb.2763$IF1.451@fed1read01...
soo... if all those people are in the air.. is the earth suddenly that
much
lighter??

No.

BTIZ wrote:

soo... if all those people are in the air.. is the earth suddenly that much
lighter??

In an airplane, air is pushed down to support the plane and it's contents, so
the pressure on the Earth's surface doesn't change. I'd say that makes it "the
same weight". I don't know if one can say the same about people in lighter than
air craft.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.

"tracksterman" wrote:

I'm having trouble tracking down a statistic I'm after, thought you
knowledgable folks might be able to help. As the subject title says:
how many people are aloft in aeroplanes at any one time...?


If you want general aviation numbers, it should be easy to compute.
GAMA (www.generaviation.org) publishes stats on #'s and annual hours
of active aircraft. NTSB accident data (www.ntsb.gov) can be used to
derive the average # of occupants per aircraft, and by time of day if
needed.

Fred F.