(no subject)

[rm]

This is a fantastic article:

http://nymag.com/news/features/53788/

It really captures of the competing narratives and realities of modern flight (and the general conflicts we have culturally when it comes to risk vs. reliability).

That said, if you have any fear about commercial air travel, this might not be the article for you. It doesn't tell horror stories or anything like that, but finding out just how computerized it all is strikes me as pretty disturbing.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Wow! Also, I hadn't known that the pilot had pulled off something no one had ever done before - managing that, while knowing that no one else has done this is pretty much the definition of heroism.

finding out just how computerized it all is strikes me as pretty disturbing.

As long as the pilot can over-ride bad computer decisions, I actually find that level of automation comforting.

As for flying, my own fears are far more pedestrian & unrelated. My one problem with flying is that such a wonder has been made so remarkably uncomfortable.

[argentla.livejournal.com]

My one problem with flying is that such a wonder has been made so remarkably uncomfortable.

I concur. I would like flying a lot if it were not for the idiotic security crap, the lines, and the rest of the herded-like-cattle parts. I've never been afraid of flying. The oh-god-instant-death stuff doesn't strike me as being nearly as frequent as in driving, where there's a high density of people with a large number of possible error or failures in judgment on a minute-to-minute basis.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and whether manual or automated, the numbers speak for themselves -- I don't care how they do it, as long as people aren't dying and getting hurt, and it's the safest way to get from one place to a far away other.

The real problem though, it's the ridiculously inefficient energy consumption. The technology is out there for an entire train system based on magnetic tubes that uses 1/1,000th the energy, and the only hurdle is that we're too lazy to invest in laying the tracks.