Hope for the future

In article ,
says...


These rewards have been substantially eroded
over the years though, particularly in recent
(post-911) years.

Well, yes, but the hassle of flying commercially has increased far more
than the hassle of flying onesself (except in the DC area). My wife is
far more inclined even on longer trips now to propose taking the little
airplane rather than the aluminum tube.



I do agree with this somewhat.
Certainly, the fact tht you have to just about strip naked to get on a plane
today, and you have to wait for hours as everyone else does the same is going
to be a big advantage for business aviation. (Not to mention the fact that
the threat of truly being blown out of the sky, while still remote, has
become more realistic - which may tip the scales for some CEO's, or their
risk-management departments).

But this still doesn't change the fact that it's really hard to eek any
demonstrable utility out of private aviation today. If your calculation
includes any cost-to-benefit consideration at all then you're right out the
window. If cost is of little concern, or pleasure is great enough to justify
it, then you still have to weigh-in the time and hassle to and from the
airports - and in many cases in the US it would simply be more convenient,
as Jay says, to drive it.

In Europe, the fast trains, combined with good roads, plus now the fact that
you can put your car on the train, is rapidly making even commercial aviation
obsolescent, let alone private flying, which is relegated pretty much to a
leisure activity.

GF

Greg Farris wrote in
:

Certainly, the fact tht you have to just about strip naked to get on a
plane today, and you have to wait for hours as everyone else does the

If you know the rules, the process of going through security at the
airlines is not that different than it was 10 years ago. You take your
computer and put it in a tray. You take your ziploc of shaving cream and
toothpaste samples and put it in a tray, with your phone and your wallet
and your shoes, and walk through the metal detector. It's really not all
that complicated. And taking off your shoes isn't quite stripping naked.

The problem is there are still way too many people who either don't know
the rules, or don't care, causing the lines to be unusually long and
increasing the time required to get to the airport to ensure you'll get
through in time. Just the other day, my associate related to me this
experience from earlier in the week as he went through security at EWR:

Walking down the lanes to the security counter, they stop everyone and
remind them to put their liquids in ziplocks, which they offer.

A woman about 4 ahead of him put her bag on the belt. "Is this your bag?"
Sure enough the TSA officer pulls out a 20oz bottle of shampoo and another
of conditioner. As the line comes to a standing halt, he explains to the
woman that she can't bring these on the plane. Several minutes pass by as
she objects, and he continues to tell her she can either forfeit them or go
and check them. Finally, she decides to go and check them.

The next woman in the line has a very similar conversation with the
security officer about her makeup... And similarly, the 3rd woman in the
line.

By the time the fourth woman in the line gets there and starts her , he
wants to yell at her and ask her if she was sleeping for the last 10
minutes while the 3 woman in front of her just went through the same thing.

By contrast, I flew on a USAir Shuttle from LGA. The USAir Shuttle has a
separate security line that rarely has long lines. The people who take the
USAir Shuttle are typically flying back and forth on a regular basis, and
so they know the rules and know the procedures.

They have their laptops in their hands before they get to the tray tables,
and they pop their stuff into the trays and make their way through. I was
through security and at my gate in about 5 minutes like "the good ole
days".

But this still doesn't change the fact that it's really hard to eek any
demonstrable utility out of private aviation today. If your calculation
includes any cost-to-benefit consideration at all then you're right out
the window. If cost is of little concern, or pleasure is great enough to
justify it, then you still have to weigh-in the time and hassle to and
from the airports - and in many cases in the US it would simply be
more convenient, as Jay says, to drive it.

It depends on how you value your time, and what you mean by private
aviation. If you are talking about spending thousands of dollars to fly on
a chartered jet, you're probably right. But quite frankly, I frequently
save both time and money as compared with the airlines when I fly in a
Bonanza (or even an Arrow) within about 500 miles from my home airport.
This is especially true when compared to commercial flights that include
multiple legs, especially when the hub is a big one that always encounters
delays - like ORD or IAD. I can't tell you how many times I missed a
connection and it cost me more hours than I care to think about. In fact,
on my return trip on Friday, I was delayed 3 hours because my connection
was through ORD was delayed. Weather was not an issue, the delay was caused
by "Air Traffic Control".

I've never had a 3 hour delay by ATC in the Bonanza....

If you know the rules, the process of going through security at the
airlines is not that different than it was 10 years ago. You take your
computer and put it in a tray. You take your ziploc of shaving cream and
toothpaste samples and put it in a tray, with your phone and your wallet
and your shoes, and walk through the metal detector. It's really not all
that complicated. And taking off your shoes isn't quite stripping naked.

The problem is not the difficulty of the procedure, it is the
implications. Your laptop (at least for an international flight) is
subject to siezure and search. Your luggage is gone through by TSA (you
just have to "trust them"). I have had things damaged and my personal
papers gone through. You can't take a bottle of Sonoma wine home in
carry on any more. You are only permitted three ounces of liquids,
which is not enough to drink. (Just trust the airlines to have water
for you if the flight gets delayed. Trust the flight attendants to not
be testy too.)

Our children are getting used to being searched like this, and will grow
up thinking it's normal. (It's not just airlines. Stores, schools, and
websites do the same thing.)

But it's ok. Ziplog bags protect us from terrorists. Just obey.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

In article ,
Jose wrote:

Your laptop (at least for an international flight) is
subject to siezure and search.

Which is why one should use TrueCrypt.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:12:18 GMT, john smith wrote:

Your laptop (at least for an international flight) is
subject to siezure and search.

Which is why one should use TrueCrypt.

hell no. only have the OS on the laptop and have the data in a secure place
in Europe (encrypted, of course). I'll never travel again to the US
bringing any sensitive data with me (_IF_ I'll ever go there again and
spend some AMUs just for the fun of it; there are not so hostile [in terms
of security, censorship, freedom and _privacy_] places also taking this
money nd offering similar features). I'd like to see any stats if there was
an impact on the US-tourism industry due to the changes during the last
couple of years.

#m
--
Enemy Combatant http://itsnotallbad.com/

I'd like to see any stats if there was
an impact on the US-tourism industry due to the changes during the last
couple of years.

I subscribe to a number of lodging industry magazines, naturally, and
if there's been any impact it's not been measurable. In fact, the
lodging industry as a whole has been experiencing record and continuous
growth since 2002, after taking a big hit right after 9/11.

Now, of course, there's more to tourism than simply lodging, but it's a
good bellwether.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

I'd like to see any stats if there was
an impact on the US-tourism industry due to the changes during the last
couple of years.


I subscribe to a number of lodging industry magazines, naturally, and
if there's been any impact it's not been measurable. In fact, the
lodging industry as a whole has been experiencing record and continuous
growth since 2002, after taking a big hit right after 9/11.

Now, of course, there's more to tourism than simply lodging, but it's a
good bellwether.

Many more people are flying now than ever before. Hell, United just
reported a profit.

In article .com,
says...


I'd like to see any stats if there was
an impact on the US-tourism industry due to the changes during the last
couple of years.

From what I've understood, the tourism markets on both sides have proven
quite resilient in the face of new threats and restrictions. Visits to the
US are not substantially off despite the fact that many people now require
Visas who didn't previously. And France remains the world's first tourist
destination (with London gaining fast) despite the whole flap over Iraq.
Apparently the largest tourist draw in France has changed though - today
more people visit Euro Disney than visit the Eiffel Tower, which indicats
significant numbers of people make the trip all the way to the outskirts of
Paris, but never mak a detour away from Disneyland to visit the city of
Paris!

Martin Hotze wrote:

(_IF_ I'll ever go there again and
spend some AMUs just for the fun of it; there are not so hostile [in terms
of security, censorship, freedom and _privacy_]


You're such an idiot, you should learn what you're talking about. I
just read that a video game was banned in over there, presumably for
whatever content was in it the freedom loving people didn't like. That
would not ever happen here. Not ever. We have no banned ideas here.
You have so much less freedom where you live it's laughable yet all you
do is whine about everybody else.

On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:12:18 GMT, john smith wrote in
:

TrueCrypt

http://www.truecrypt.org/
Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5,
Serpent, Triple DES, and Twofish. Mode of operation: LRW (CBC
supported as legacy).

Impressive.

And the price is right. :-)