Bertie Taylor’s photos explore how people live with planes thundering over their heads, as well as the community of people who are drawn to the area. The images are startling, and he has managed to portray the juxtaposition between peaceful suburban life and the constant presence of roaring aircraft.
Ann Sim lives a double life. A member of Singapore Airlines cabin crew, she is also a volunteer medic with the Singapore Civil Defence Force, which responds to all kinds of emergency situations. While her job offers her the opportunity to see the world, Sim’s volunteer work enables her to give back to her community.
Just after midday on May 26th 1971, Australian authorities received a call from a mysterious Mr. Brown claiming that a Qantas flight from Sydney to Hong Kong was carrying a bomb. He then claimed that he would disclose the location of the onboard bomb in return for a hefty sum.
The problem with airfare deals is that you can’t just search for a great deal on a single website. Airfare prices change minute by minute. The old advice was to search for airfare on Tuesday or Wednesday nights, but that no longer applies now that airlines have become so competitive with each other.
In 1943, Saunders-Roe, an iconic British aircraft builder, began planning for the future by drafting a design for a truly next-generation flying boat. But by the time the Princess took its first flight, the world had been completely transformed by the rapid development of runways and advances in land-based aircraft.
Two planes from the same airline crashed in the same spot in the Alps, 16 years apart. Now the glaciers of Chamonix are melting. And as the ice turns to water, it is releasing secrets that have stayed frozen for the past 60 years.
Ben Schlappig, 25, is one of the biggest stars among an elite group of obsessive flyers whose mission is to outwit the airlines. They’re self-styled competitors with a singular objective: fly for free, as much as they can, without getting caught.
Back in 1989, a guy by the name of Igor Dmitrovsky filed the paperwork to incorporate a small little business in the state of New York. This company would enter the metal cylinder organism transport business under the name Baltia Airlines. The airline was to fly from New York, US to St Petersburg, USSR.
Despite the obvious vulnerability of the sector, boards/CEOs of the six largest airlines have spent 96% of their free cash flow on share buybacks, bolstering the share price and compensation of management… who now want a bailout. They should be allowed to fail.
Called the “ZER0”, it’s an electric plane designed for efficiency rather than speed. The vehicle is only a concept, but it’s a compelling case study in how we might reconsider air travel to help the environment, developed by designer Joe Doucet.
One that could shake up the duopoly of Boeing and Airbus to force competition and new designs? Take a look at the D8, nicknamed the Double Bubble, developed by Aurura, MIT and with the help of NASA.
Photographer Toby Harriman has been exploring the unique designs of different airports around the world. His slowly expanding Airport Aerials project is offering truly unique perspectives on these massive spaces.
Diego Garcia is a part of the British Indian Ocean Territories comprising the greater Chagos Archipelago. Its extreme isolation has made it a hotbed for unsubstantiated accusations of classified and even nefarious activity. The tent I lived in was supposedly part of a CIA “black site” for terrorist detainees.
One of the ultimate symbols of luxury and affluence is private jet travel. An experienced bizjet pilot breaks down the industry, the costs, who can really justify such an expensive luxury, and why.
It came out of the sky about five miles north of Clear Lake, Iowa, and slammed into the frozen earth. Outside lay the bodies of three young men who had been thrown from the plane at more than 100 miles per hour. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Jiles P. Richardson, also known as the Big Bopper, were dead.
The dizzying highs of the airborne lifestyle can come with a side of abject lows, including poor mental health, sleep disorders, and substance abuse issues. Those factors compound, with crew members sometimes resorting to alcohol and prescription drugs to combat sleeplessness or anxiety.
The story of the development of airline classes really isn’t the story of how airlines developed more and more luxurious seats, it’s how they cut costs to allow more and more people to fly. It’s also a fascinating demonstration of economics.
Commercial airlines often prioritize boarding for passengers traveling with small children, or for those who need extra assistance, before starting to board the faster passengers. It’s counter-intuitive, but it turns out that letting slower passengers board first actually results in a more efficient process.
Zaha Hadid Architects has completed Beijing Daxing International Airport, a five-pronged building that is one of the largest passenger terminals in the world. Designed by the late Zaha Hadid and current studio principal Patrik Schumacher, the 700,000-square-metre airport to serve Beijing has been designed to be as compact as possible.
One of the touchiest subjects in all of air travel is the seat recline. To some, leaning your seat back on a flight is a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you take that precious spare space for relief? For others, the sight of the seat in front barreling toward them is a living nightmare.
Many of the most iconic plane and airport scenes were filmed in the same place — Air Hollywood, the LA production studio entirely dedicated to aviation. The studio has three full aircraft interiors and an airport terminal set that’s reconfigurable into any part of the air travel experience.
When you fly a lot for work, as I do, you check your frequent-flier mile balance often, to provide data for competitive commiseration. Frequent fliers sometimes go to great lengths to keep their airline élite status, and those efforts are often completely out of proportion to the perks.
Gate Gourmet is one major player in the airplane catering game, feeding about 750 million passengers a year in about 60 countries. On a typical day at its Dulles International Airport branch, in suburban Washington, the company is responsible for getting 18,000 meals onto 275 flights.
New York to Auckland is one of the longest flights in the world. Because the flight is roughly 17 hours and 40 minutes, Air New Zealand has been working on how to make Economy passengers more comfortable for the duration. The Skynest is a well-designed tower containing six bunks.
It was sunny and warm on 30 June as residents in south London finished their lunch and unwound on a leisurely Sunday afternoon. But the peace was shattered in Offerton Road with a terrifying thump. A man occupied a crater in one of the back gardens after falling through the sky for a kilometer.
Pan Am was once the largest international airline in the US. In 1970 alone, it carried 11 million passengers to 86 countries worldwide. But after 60 years of flight, decades of financial turbulence, and a devastating terrorist attack above the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland, Pan Am went bust.
My dad was one of the only people with a good-for-life, go-anywhere American Airlines pass. Then they took it away. This is the true story of having—and losing—a superpower.
To the average buyer, airline ticket prices appear to fluctuate without reason. But behind the process is actually the science of dynamic pricing, which has less to do with cost and more to do with artificial intelligence.
Landscape architects from the firm H+N+S worked with artist Paul De Court and drew on the work of acoustician Ernst Chladni to create over 100 grassy pyramids. Instead of simply disrupting sound waves, though, the Buitenschot Land Art Park also included paths for cyclists and pedestrians.
In the wake of the 737 MAX disasters, caused by a software feature, Boeing and regulators initially placed blame on the planes’ pilots. Since Samya Stumo’s death in a 737 MAX crash, her parents and her great-uncle, Ralph Nader, have devoted themselves to proving that the company put profit over safety.
I can’t explain airline pricing but I do know some plane tickets can be cheaper depending on where you buy them or, even better, where you appear to buy them from. This is all about leveraging foreign currencies and points-of-sale to your advantage.
Designed as an entrant for the 2020 eVolo Skyscraper Competition, the 737 Max Tower turns one of the world’s most controversial aircrafts of modern times into housing.
It was May 2001. And Boeing’s leaders, CEO Phil Condit and President Harry Stonecipher, had decided it was time to put some distance between themselves and the people actually making the company’s planes. How much distance? This flight—a PR stunt to end the two-month contest for Boeing’s new headquarters—would reveal the answer.
When LAX offered me the opportunity to work with its TSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) teams, I couldn’t say no. From dead bodies in the security line to a cobra in a Pringles can, you wouldn’t believe the crazy things that happen at America’s busiest airport of origin.
Five grand for mystery sushi. Seven for plastic cups. And more fuel than the plane could possibly hold. Such are the deceptions stinging the billionaires and mere millionaires of today’s private jet-set class. In an era of ultra-wealth, reports of shady billing related to private-jet travel are on the rise.
In 1982, American Airlines had an idea to offer a lifetime free first-class air travel pass to its wealthiest customers. The person holding this pass could fly on American Airlines at any time it wanted, to any destination it wanted, for as many times it wanted, for the rest of its life after paying a one-time fixed membership fee.
The current Boeing 737s, the world’s most flown craft, are all longer than the original by up to 45 feet. And yet, on the inside, we’re getting squeezed. That’s because more space doesn’t equal more space in Airline World. It equals more seats—and typically less room per person.
