Travel this time of year feels like jumping off a grain elevator without a parachute: not because of being in the air, but because of the connections or delays on the way. Whether on the roads or in the air, we have to make decisions about which is better this time of year.
We fly from Jamestown to every airport in the world and think nothing of the history of air travel safety. We just want to get from point A to our destination. Airport congestion has become a news topic recently, which gives even us pause to book a flight. It’s probably as safe, however, or safer than loading the family in the car to drive to Grandma’s for Christmas — especially this time of year. Our choice is between icy roads or flying above the snow clouds. Just understanding some of flight history helps to give us more confidence in getting a ticket to board.
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On this day in 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Wright brothers clocked America’s first air flights in a plane. According to www.Britannica.com , Orville and Wilber Wright had taken gliding on air to the next step, following earlier experiments by German pioneer Otto Lilienthal, who unfortunately died in 1896 in a glider crash. The brothers Wright would go on to successfully test and improve glider lift and control on this day in 1903. The Wright brother tested their gliders on the soft sand beaches of Kitty Hawk near Kill Devil Hills, where the high sand dunes and winds helped them get airborne to test their glider. They were able to get that plane 20 feet into the air in Kitty Hawk, fly it 120 feet for 12 seconds, marking it as the first piloted flight on record.
Over the following century, technological improvements were made, testing at every level, until aviation travel became a first choice for distance travel. My dad’s career was in aviation. We lived at the end of the Wright-Patterson Airfield in Dayton, Ohio, where the planes constantly took off over government housing. I hated those loud airplanes as a child, but understood the role they played in dad’s work with the Air Force. During his and mom’s lifetimes, they always preferred the safety of flight over traffic on highways.
Over the years, my elderly mom was fascinated with how swiftly she could get from one of my brother’s homes to Jamestown when she was in her 90s. My first flight was as a teenager in a low-flying Georgia crop duster. The next one was to Italy for grad school: BIG differences in comfort, but each had its good points too.
It was from Jamestown’s airport that I first saw where I’d eventually work, and as life moved forward, I’d welcome being back home at our airport many times thereafter. There were boarding changes, plus flight times and connection changes as different airlines served our region. But fly we did, and always considered it the quickest and safest means of getting from here to anywhere else in the world.
So recognizing 122 years ago from today just seems a normal “air check.” From Dayton to Cape Canaveral, air flight was a “given” for dad. He instilled the love of flying and the security our air space gives. The Federal Aviation Administration was set up alongside our nation's weather observation system (NOAA) to help pilots know what to expect when flying. The FAA is responsible for safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic at every airport.
And if you think Minneapolis or Chicago’s O’Hare has busy airports, try connecting in Atlanta at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. My brother Walt (who lived outside of Port Canaveral) used to say, “If you were heading to either Heaven or Hell, you’d have to stop first at Hartsfield to make connections.” (He called Atlanta’s airport Purgatory.) Needless to say, making connections in the Deep South was always a booger-bear. But fly we did, and with confidence in the people running the radars on the ground at every airport. Having driven and flown to the same destination many times, booking a flight seems a “piece of cake” in comparison.
NOAA shows they are expecting more moderate temperatures than we are along the Outer Banks in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, this time of year, but here’s hoping your Christmas connection to grandma’s goes warmly and your return temperature is a balmy “anything” above zero.
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If anyone has an item for this column, please send it to Sharon Cox, PO Box 1559, Jamestown, ND 58402-1559.
Sharon Cox retired in 2020 after 28 years at the University of Jamestown, including as department chair and professor of art.