Book Review and comments

I just finished reading FREE FLIGHT: FROM AIRLINE HELL TO A NEW AGE OF
TRAVEL written by James Fallows of the ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
Copyright 2001
ISBN 1-58646-040-5

This is an interesting book written in layman's language. He does a good
job of describing the possible future of light general aviation aircraft
in an air taxi role as an alternative to the increasing problems posed
by airline travel. (Just think about the news stories from the past week.)

In particular, he notes the efforts of NASA in partnership with various
aviation entities to develop solutions (GAP, GATS, AGATE) to present day
problems. In particular, he discusses Cirrus and Eclipse and the roles
they play or will play.

Fallows is an instrument rated pilot and owner of a Cirrus SR-20. He
doesn't fluff the abilities and prospects of GA and does a pretty good
job of "telling it like it is" in straight forward terms for the masses.
The book is heavily footnoted with references for the uninitiated. Users
of this list will recognize many of the sources.

Fallows doesn't promote an "everyone should be a pilot" philosophy. He
simply points out the advantages of GA travel. The premise being that
people are going to become more concerned with the actual time it takes
to get from the inital departure point (home?) to the final destination
via the airlines can be beaten and in greater comfort than via
commercial airlines. When one considers leaving home to arrive two hours
prior to departure, departure delays, arrival delays, waiting for
baggage, obtaining ground transportation, getting to the final
destination, the average groundspeed drops to around 60 mph or less for
a tip of 400 miles or less. He admits that for long haul
intercontinental transportation it is hard to beat the airlines. But
this is where the new very light jets will fill a niche. Especially in
the 400-1200 mile range.

228 pages of story, 14 pages of footnotes
The book has a list price of $25 US, but can be found at discount stores
for less. I paid $1 for mine at THE DOLLAR STORE.