The Atlantic: What Was the Most Significant Airplane Flight in History?
Jul 15, 2015, 6:42 am
#1
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The Atlantic: What Was the Most Significant Airplane Flight in History?
"What Was the Most Significant Airplane Flight in History?" The Atlantic magazine is running a list.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...istory/395336/
They are taking submissions. My entry would be this one:
The most significant airplane flight in history was Pan Am's inaugural flight of the Boeing 747 in January, 1970. This was the aircraft that introduced the concept of affordable long-haul flying, and changed the face of global air travel more than any other plane in history.
Patrick Smith, author of Cockpit Confidential and host of www.askthepilot.com
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...istory/395336/
They are taking submissions. My entry would be this one:
The most significant airplane flight in history was Pan Am's inaugural flight of the Boeing 747 in January, 1970. This was the aircraft that introduced the concept of affordable long-haul flying, and changed the face of global air travel more than any other plane in history.
Patrick Smith, author of Cockpit Confidential and host of www.askthepilot.com
Jul 15, 2015, 4:14 pm
#3
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Mine would be around the same time, but different: the first flight in which someone in an airplane attacked someone or something on the ground by firing at them/it or dropping bombs on them/it, somewhere in World War I. That totally changed the face of warfare by doing things that could not be done before. Air travel did the same things that could be done before - moving people and cargo from A to B. It did them a lot faster, but the net effect of doing them usually didn't change much.
Jul 21, 2015, 7:37 pm
#5
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I'm curious what other people will post, but don't see how Wilbur and Orville aren't the most significant (I guess there are people who believe that the Wright brothers weren't the first)
Jul 22, 2015, 12:28 pm
#6
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The true measure of significance is perhaps how soon, absent that particular flight, the same thing would have happened anyhow. On that basis, probably none of the "firsts" were all that significant - including the one I posted here in post #3. If those people hadn't done that thing at that time, someone else would have done essentially the same soon after. What does that leave? I don't knowl
Jul 22, 2015, 4:24 pm
#7
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The true measure of significance is perhaps how soon, absent that particular flight, the same thing would have happened anyhow. On that basis, probably none of the "firsts" were all that significant - including the one I posted here in post #3. If those people hadn't done that thing at that time, someone else would have done essentially the same soon after. What does that leave? I don't knowl
