"Coming In On Wing and a Prayer" with Richard Wing
Last Week’s Program on December 11th was presented by Richard Wing, a long-term resident at Lake Minnewashta. Richard is a retired Northwest (Delta) Airlines pilot, having flown for the airline for 39 years. He retired in 2004.
His talk centered on the changes in the aviation industry in the past few years. He didn’t even start to talk about the changes in the way passengers are treated – just the equipment and safety changes.
The most important change is in air traffic control. The days of radar as the airplane location system in use are numbered. Using GPS technology, traffic controllers can pinpoint the location of an aircraft to within 25 feet. Shifting to GPS, more aircraft can safely be allowed in an area, making obsolete many of the traffic patterns currently in use.
The new planes being built are more automated and lighter because there is very little metal in their construction. The engines being used are more powerful and economical, so there should be room for more passengers in the new planes at lower cost for the airlines.
TRIVIA: The MOA (Mall of America) is the size of 78 football fields – 9.5 million square feet. Because wool has outstanding elastic recovery, 150 yards of wool yarn are used in each official baseball.
NO MEETING DECEMBER 25, OR JANUARY 1. Our next meeting is January 8th at Bayview.