Nation

Only flew once since then…Mid-80’s it would have been…
Thats plenty for me..Y’all can have my fuel ration

A few years back, when the Soviet Union opened up its borders and let out her hoi-polloi, Washingtonian magazine had a feature article about a couple of gypsy wagons that appeared out of the blue in Potomac, the posh and exclusive suburb of Washinton, DC.

An investigative reporter was sent to the River Road location outside the Beltway and interviewed the newsmakers. It turned out that the drivers of the wagons were ethnic Russians, who lacking funds to buy airline tickets had bought Gypsy wagons In Russia, when they decided to come the US as tourists.

After they kissed their respective families good-bye, it took them a better portion of one or two years to do so, but they accomplished the feat on the cheap. The two Russians had talked to the reporter with pride of their favorite Russian quip: "The more slowly you go, the farther you will get".

Maybe the American truckers who came to DC recently should have traded their eighteen -wheelers for Gypsy wagons before setting out on the journey. Since the Russian adage is obviously correct, they would have a better chance of making it all the way to Capitol. Be it as it may, the truckers-patriots (unlike their Canadian counterparts) accomplished nothing of significance other that support fast food outlets in Hagerstown about an hour away from the Beltway, where they stayed for a few weeks.

Another interesting Washingtonian magazine article about their failure to penetrate the Beltway or the Wisconsin/Georgia/Connecticut Avenues or the inside the Beltway River Road below!

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/03/28/trucker-convoy-will-leave-dc-without-accomplishing-anything/

I was on a full flight from DC to Palm Beach on the runway with the engines revved up and ready to take off when the pilot was instructed to go back to the gate. Then the flight was canceled as the one before it had been and later the one after was. No mention of weather. Friends waiting for me at PBI said the weather was sunny. Two friends leaving Tampa had their flights canceled. Several airlines, several airports affected, all citing weather and “IT” issues. I think it’s possible it was a cyber attack…

We need more trains.

I was told years ago, that due to the normal high costs of doing business, along with all the expensive government mandates piled onto the airlines, they operate on profit margins of 5% or less. This percentage was also pre-Covid, so you can imagine how much worse it's gotten since then. This means, it doesn't take much of a cost increase(like expensive fuel) to destroy their bottom line. I'm fairly certain we're seeing that happen now. In the near future, airline travel is going to again become the rare and expensive service it once was back in the early days. Might be a good time to start a cross-county bus service like Greyhound. Soon, a lot of people who won't/can't drive or can't afford hyper-expensive airline tickets will be looking for options.

The Airline business is not one I would touch with a 10ft pole. No worries, when it all crashes we can build it Back Better. . .

Boycott the airlines if at all possible!

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Stands to reason that this is only the beginning
of such moves before the airlines enact major
maneuvers to cope with fuel upsets.