being in motion again

[nibot]

I still think of air travel as this futuristic thing. How can you not feel this way as you find yourself levitating above the clouds, gently bumping up and down back and forth with a hundred other people, all calmy listening to music and writing in crossword puzzles, together in this clean white cylindrical plastic and aluminum machine? Maybe it's all an illusion, maybe air travel is really a holdover from the twentieth century, one day soon going the way of the Zeppelin?

After all, where will we get the kerosene to feed their turbines?

Comments

[xaosenkosmos.livejournal.com]

I recently learned that there are processes to break down organic matter into something close enough to Jet-A to work. It made me very happy.

[shephi.livejournal.com]

I usually feel teleported, as I sleep soundly on flights

[caerglas.livejournal.com]

Airplanes are my metaphor for my $120,000 in student debt. It's comfy and sleep inducing, hurtling hundreds of miles an hour hundreds of feet up in the air, surrounded by other people doing exactly the same thing--and so long as everything keeps moving, it's like I'm standing still.

But should anything go drastically wrong, then crash and burn.

But even if something DID go drastically wrong, then in the words of Aaliyah: "If at first you don't succeed, you can dust it off an try aaaAAAAAAH! THE PLANE'S FALLING!"

[likeabikemike.livejournal.com]

And C-fiber, don't forget C-fiber. I think the latest jets use a lot of it.

Fuel: Probably they'll find something. It'll just be a bit more expensive. Still diesel-like is my guess. I can't think of anything else with such good energy:weight. There is gobs of oil shale and tar sands to get it from. No need to go with anything more like gasoline or alcohol--lower energy:weight and more danger associated with the volatility.

Another possibility is to use an additive in jet fuel that would enhance ice crystal formation. The reflectivity of con trails is supposed to be significant enough that the global warming effect of such burning of fuel in the high atmosphere is only 2/3s that of burning it on the ground.

[likeabikemike.livejournal.com]

Also, it may be that there still is a niche for airships. Ever hear of the modern airship design that is sort of shaped like an aerodynamic pillow? The idea is that they could be heavier than air lifting bodies (lifting a *lot*), and when on the ground, suck themselves down so they need no docking facilities.