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Amazon.com
We've all heard, if not experienced, the horror stories: hours spent standing in line, lost luggage, a night passed on an airport bench waiting for a connecting flight that never arrived. And that's not even during the holidays. Though cutting-edge technology has made planes safer and more efficient, air travel is still an often arduous process, leading James Fallows to ask, "How can a system be so technically advanced and admirable, yet lead to results so unpleasant for everyone involved?" Part of the answer involves congestion: currently, over 80 percent of all flights are routed through 28 major hubs across the country, and according to federal officials, traffic to these same few airports is expected to double by 2010.

In Free Flight, Fallows details an "impending, potentially broad change" in how we travel--one that he compares to the introduction of the car. This shift involves the use of small planes that "offer much of the speed, and as much as possible of the safety, of the big airlines, but at a small fraction of the cost of today's corporate jets." In this new world, people would either buy their own planes or hire piloted air-taxi services for no more than current coach fares. These planes would fly as directly as possible from one destination to another, taking advantage of the 18,000 small airports and landing strips currently available across the country.

Focusing on the colorful personalities and visionary designers leading this nascent transportation revolution, Fallows looks at the opportunities and obstacles small-plane manufacturers are likely to face. A national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and a recreational pilot, Fallows is both knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. Portions of the book will appeal mainly to flight enthusiasts and venture capitalists, but the bulk is interesting enough to hold the attention of those who are neither. And it's short enough that you can read it cover-to-cover the next time you're stuck at a hub. --Shawn Carkonen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Like many airplane rides, this timely book is a bit of a bumpy journey: smooth takeoff and landing, with some turbulence along the way. A national correspondent for of Atlantic Monthly and former U.S. News & World Report editor, Fallows believes that the small-plane industry will revolutionize air travel the way computers and wireless devices have communications. In forming his argument, he focuses on those small startups that are making planes for individual flight; Fallows foresees a time when many travelers will hop on private air-taxis. But the book is most engaging at its beginning and end, when Fallows narrates in illustrative prose his own love affair with planes and a cross-country trip he piloted with his wife and son. He describes the view from a low-flying plane the "connectedness of physical features that seem separate from the ground." He's less successful, however, at bringing his story home to the general reader: many will find that the book's focus on technology and business makes for a difficult read. Some of the excitement of this nascent field comes across when he describes the personalities behind it and the obstacles they face, but readers may find their hopes deflated by the book's end, for the breakthrough that Fallows predicts does not appear to be on the horizon.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence:
When I was growing up in Southern California in the fifties and sixties, I had no more or less than the typical boy's interest in airplanes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
computerized design tools, kit plane, big airliners, airplane business, aircraft business Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Alan Klapmeier, Sam Williams, Van Staagen, Bruce Holmes, Paul Johnston, Vern Raburn, Williams International, World War, New York, United States, Dale Klapmeier, Salt Lake City, Burt Rutan, Cirrus Design, Walled Lake, San Francisco, Dan Goldin, Scott Anderson, Federal Aviation Administration, New Haven, Grand Forks, North America, Beech Bonanza, Lake Superior, Mount Rushmore New!
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