Airline travel is an accepted mode of transportation used by millions today. Its hard to believe that airplanes and airports havent really been around for that long. In this fast paced day and age traveling by plane is the only way to get business and pleasure accomplished in a short period of time, but did you ever think about what it might be like if air travel wasnt around? Airline travel has been in the news for quite some time. At first, newspapers would report only about airplane trips taken by daring single pilots over long distances. Lindbergs flight was one example. The tragic flight of Amelia Earhart was another such example. This mode of transportation was more of a lark back then, no one could imagine that traveling by plane would become commonplace in our society. Before World War II only a few wealthy people enjoyed airline travel. Wealthy businessmen, such as Howard Hughes, looked for ways to make money from airline travel. Hughes exploits led to the building of many airplane lockers on the fields west of Los Angeles. Today, in Culver City, CA, one can view what remains of those lockers by taking a short bus ride from the Los Angeles International Airport. The efforts of Hughes and other businessmen created an environment that encouraged airline travel. Such travel became more affordable, so that larger numbers of people could fly. In the 1950s the public enjoyed the arrival of the jet, an airplane that could cross the American continent on a single flight. One morning in the mid 1950s radio announcers mentioned the first flight across country by the TWA jet. It had left Los Angeles, bound for the eastern seaboard. It was a little intriguing and very frightening for many people around the world. In fact, it was such a new innovation, many people on the ground were afraid airplanes might leap from the sky. Soon air travel became more and more common. This mode of transportation enabled everyday people to visit place that were unreachable for them before. Vacations would take on a whole new meaning as you were no longer limited to where you could travel to by car or train. Air flight became a popular mode of getting from one place to another and still is today. It was an era of airline travel that continues today, although with a different perspective. The events of September 11, 2001 placed airline travel in a new and different light. The public found that it did not find satisfaction in all of the news about airline travel. Today however, there are few plane crashes and most air travel is very safe. In fact, the news on airline travel is typically non-existent or good news at that. |
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