Essay: ON FLYING MORE AND ENJOYING IT LESS

(5 of 5)

At present, it takes too long to convert to commercial uses the technical achievements of the military, NASA, and the Space Technology Laboratory. A new DOT planning division might assume this function and quickly adapt to civil aviation, say, the Air Force's new portable 65-Ib. instrument-landing system developed in Southeast Asia. Such equipment would increase the number of alternate fields easily available to a plane in trouble.

In short, a real planning effort would benefit and unify all transportation systems, but especially aviation. Without such firm national coordination, air travel is doomed to a succession of crises, each worse than the last. But why wait for the imperative of crisis? If all concerned, including the airlines, will only decide to act, the U.S. has both the means and the machinery necessary to attain the "magic" airborne ease of Tennyson's vision.