Plane Conversations

So, last time we spoke, I was in the international terminal at LAX awaiting my over 14 hour flight to Sydney.  The flight on the Airbus was long but the aircraft was amazing…at least to me as a pilot and Middle Tennessean it was.  Some components of the newest jumbo from Airbus, the A380, are built right here in Nashville and the aircraft is nothing short of a technological marvel with plentiful on-board amenities.  

Our experience began by feeling like being on a cruise ship with our flight attendants Kayleen and Jane offering fresh juices or champagne.  They made us feel quite comfortable in our home for the next 14+ hours. We departed Los Angeles at a little before 11PM Pacific Time.

We were presented with menus from which we chose a white fish supper, which was served on real linen table cloths with real linen napkins and, get this, real silverware.  Guess you can tell I don’t get out much on the jumbo jet scene sitting in upgraded seats, which were listed as premium economy.

After that dinner, it was time to snooze for a few hours.  Deep vein thrombosis is a concern on flights this long; so, after a snooze, I did some stretching to keep the circulation in order.  Afterwards, I watched a movie and took some time to do some much overdue reading before enjoying a nice, hot breakfast.

We landed at Sydney, gathered our things and prepared to depart the aircraft.  However, before we deplaned, the captain remained behind to give me a cockpit tour.  Incredible!

It took about an hour and a half to clear customs, which gave us just enough time to make our local flight to Brisbane.   We arrived there tired but excited, and to our delight there was a driver there waiting to take us to our hotel—The Stamford .

Traveling that distance, there are a multiple of opportunities for misconnects, lost luggage, poor service and other irritations.  I’m pleased to say that the most frustrating thing thus far was the inability to get my Verizon BlackBerry to function properly.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

Next task:  getting my 90-day Australian license…….

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I recently finished reading Falcon 7 – the new novel by best selling author James Huston. His last book, Marine One, made the NYT best seller list. I needed to try out my I-Pad book reader and Apple has this title in their bookstore so this was the book to try out the I-Pad reader.

James Huston takes aviation, international law, and the world of military special ops intrigue and weaves a story that will not let you put the book (I-Pad) down until you are finished.

The name for the book comes from the new long range business jet the Falcon 7X, manufactured by French company Dassault Falcon. The Falcon 7X is the culmination of state-of-the-art technology in business jet manufacturing and has a non-stop range of 5950 nautical miles at high cruise speeds. The aircraft incorporates fly-by-wire technology that has usually been reserved for airline class aircraft.

The Falcon 7X plays an important role in the book, a role revealed in the first few pages, and it continues to play a part in the plot as the story progresses.

For aviation lovers, the book includes great scenes involving helicopters, low level flying, FA-18 fighters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

James Huston is an attorney with a practice in international and aviation law. He was also a Top Gun Naval aviator and flew the F14. He has used his knowledge of aviation and law to tell the story that will keep you spellbound and will convince you that this could really happen..  

The book starts with an FA-18 over the skies of Afghanistan on what was to be a routine mission. While on their flight back to ship, the crew is diverted to a target across the border in Pakistan. After making what was assumed to be a bomb drop on a terrorist meeting site, things start to go wrong, the aircraft is shot down and the crew ejects.

I won’t go farther in the story and give it away. If you like aviation and you like to read Grisham novels you will love this book.

Buy it in the airline terminal or at the Apple Book Store on your I-Pad and it will get you through a long stay in the terminal or a cramped and boring international flight.

You will wish you were in the back of the Falcon 7X instead of the coach seat in the back of the Boeing; but, you will not want to go where the Falcon 7X takes the characters in this story.

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There is a lot of buzz these days about “social”, evidenced by the fact that anytime a topic is brought up online with the words “social” or “social media” all of us who claim to be social tweet it out. 

So what is social and anti social about the experience of traveling by air? 

A good definition of social in this context of travel is “allowing people to meet and interact with others in a friendly way”.

Conversely, Encarta defines antisocial as “hostile or indifferent to the comfort or needs of other members of a community or society as a whole”

So here’s a question for those of you who travel routinely in the airline system: 

Would you rate the experience of airline travel social or antisocial based on the definitions presented above? Is the experience friendly or hostile?

Maybe hostile is too strong of a word to use to describe traveling by airline but “indifferent to the comfort or needs…” may accurately define the experience.

As I queue up in line to take off my shoes, unload my I-Pad bag, get searched, wanded and body scanned I don’t feel real social. The weary and worn out road warriors who spend valuable hours in the waiting areas of terminal buildings most likely don’t feel social either.

Compare the experience of airline travel against the experience of traveling in a business jet or even in a small private airplane.

Come hang out in the lobby of a fixed based operation, a terminal for private flights, and see the difference in the traveler’s demeanor over what you see at a busy hub airport.

We see it every day in our business. Smiling people passing through the lobby departing to go on vacation or a business trip, or getting ready to go home from a trip, knowing they will be back home soon. Knowing the experience they are about to have will be positive from beginning to end.

I grew up flying in small airplanes and some of my fondest memories of travel were the flights riding up front with a father who was a corporate pilot. The passengers in the back of the aircraft most always enjoyed the trip with my father smoothly flying them to the destination. Even when the weather did not cooperate he somehow still made it a good experience.

So what’s it worth to you to have a social versus antisocial travel experience?  

Is there a monetary value difference in the two experiences?

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