golden age

It is hard to not be nostalgic for the golden age of air travel after a visit to the Airline History Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. I'd share a hyperlink with you but the Blogger interface for iPad is so poor that it doesn't seem to support embedding links. Thank heavens Blogger supports the camera directly. That way I can just take a picture of the URL for you and save you a bunch of trouble. This must be the multi-media I've been hearing so much about.

An URL
Photo Credit: Your correspondent

The Museum's centerpiece is a beautiful Lockheed Super Constellation. Everything about that plane is gorgeous. I think Claire McCaskill, the senior senator from Missouri, must have visited recently. Her office put out a press release yesterday in the form of an open letter to the FAA administrator.


I would just go with a chant -- '2 4 6 8 10 / make flying fun again' and a fist pump. McCaskill singles out restrictions on electronic device usage and then rambles. I haven't read anything duller or less coherent since I proofread my last post on smart homes.

Here's my favorite part:

"As you surely know, the public is growing increasingly skeptical of prohibitions on the use of many electronic devices during the full duration of a flight, while at the same time using such devices in increasing numbers. For example, a traveler can read a paper copy of a newspaper throughout a flight, but is prohibited from reading the same newspaper for major portions of the flight when reading it on an e-reader. The fear of devices that operate on electricity is dated, at best. Importantly, such anachronistic policies undermine the public's confidence in the FAA, thereby increasing the likelihood that rules of real consequence will be given too little respect. The absurdity of the current situation was highlighted when the FAA acted earlier this year to allow tablet computers to replace paper flight manuals in the cockpit, further enhancing the public's skepticism about the current regulations."

This is a damning criticism of our current copyright rules by a senior lawmaker. Progress! Why should it be a big deal that you want to read some text on an electronic device of your choosing? Sadly, the topic is not copyright reform.

Here's a new argument based on McCaskill's reasoning...

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the public is growing increasingly skeptical of prohibitions on the use of fire during a flight. The fear of fire is dated, at best. The absurdity of the current situation was highlighted when the FAA acted earlier this year to continue to allow fiery jet engines to be used during every phase of flight.

A traveler can read a paper copy of a newspaper throughout a flight, but is prohibited from filling the same newspaper with tobacco, rolling it up, and smoking it for major portions of the flight.

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The ashtrays at every seat in the Constellation speak to Lockheed's position on fire in the cockpit.

I get it. Newspapers are dying. Easing them out of the airline cabin, a traditional stronghold, is really an act of mercy. Still, McCaskill's position is absurd. The existing rules, sane or not, are not actually about newspapers.

I welcome new and better rules. Here's what I fear from McCaskill's office:

The Omnibus Air Travel, Patent, and Copyright Reform Bill of 2013

Whereas the hoarding of Intellectual Property is the engine of our current prosperity and the principal basis of the new American Economy ...

Whereas airplanes are also powered by engines ...

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... that neither the FAA nor the FCC nor any Executive Instrumentality shall make any rule restricting the freedom of air travelers to consume the properly licensed intellectual property of their choosing during any flight portion on any patented device whatever nor restrict their ability to contact a DRM licensing server of their content provider's choosing throughout flight.

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