Man has contemplated this dilemma for centuries and even today looks for answers to this perplexing question—namely, "exactly how does one ‘throw away' his old garbage can?" I have placed mine in front of the house for years, hoping and praying throughout the night that...

A single glance at the Voisin Biplane reveals exactly what one would expect of a vintage aircraft: a somewhat ungainly design with dual, fabric-covered wings; a propeller; an aerodynamic surface protruding ahead of its airframe; and a boxy, kite-resembling tail.  But, by 1907 standards, it...

1. Introduction and History  Located on the east side of the Hudson River in Dutchess County some 100 miles north of Manhattan, Rhinebeck, accessed by the Taconic State Parkway, Route 9, Route 9W, and the New York State Thruway, is both a picturesque and intensely...

Seeking to complement its original, although larger-capacity, A-300 on thinner sectors with a low-cost, minimally redesigned counterpart and thus expand its product range, Airbus Industrie explored a shorter-fuselage version designated "A-310." A consortium of European aircraft manufacturers headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus Industrie itself had...

We have all been there.  And the more you travel, the earlier is the likelihood that you have been there.  After having made an extensive number of road trips, I have concluded that the size, quality, and décor of motel rooms vary considerably, placing them...

Introduction  Long Island MacArthur Airport, located on 1,310 acres in Suffolk County, is the region's only commercial service facility which has, for most of its existence, struggled with identity and purpose.  Its second--and oval-shaped--50,000 square-foot passenger terminal, opened in 1966 and sporting two opposing, ramp-accessing...

1. Long Island's Aviation Seed  The aviation seed planted on Long Island's Hempstead Plains in 1909, when Glenn Curtiss had first flown above it in his Golden Flyer biplane, had sprouted and grown over a six-decade period until it had ultimately connected its own soil...

Glancing into New York's East River at the U.S.S. Intrepid's slender bow which progressively arched, almost triumphantly, many stories above to support the flat steel deck from which take offs of considerably gross weighted aircraft had been routinely conducted, I could not refrain from awing...

Echoing the Wright Brothers’ technology-transfer of the bicycle to the heavier-than-air aeroplane, René Hanriot, hitherto a Darracq racing car driver, climbed the engineering ladder from the ground-based motor car to the airborne flying machine by designing his first, albeit frail, single-seat monoplane in 1907 after...

Day Eleven Transcending the demarcation line between the Amazon's muddy waters and the Rio Tapajos' clear, blue ones beneath clear, early-morning skies, the Royal Princess had docked to port at the Docas do Para Terminal in Santarem at 0846 at a two-degree, 24-minute north latitude...

Crossing the New Jersey-Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware Water Gap, I paralleled the muddy-appearing Delaware River near the Appalachian Trail, the interstate narrowing to two lanes and shallowly ascending into the brown-treed, gray shale rock-covered Pocono Mountains.  The slender, finger-like white patterns representing the...

I could hardly believe it. More than a year had passed and it had once again been time for the annual company ski trip to the Pocono Mountains. Unlike last year, almost everyone had decided to go the night before and stay in the same...

Take George, long known for his grueling, bumpy, back-road, low-fare bus service to Florida, as one of the van drivers; Adam, consistently seeking to act out his "ground pilot" fantasy, as the other van driver; Sidonie, whose list of alter-names is so long no one...

Day One                          Dwarfed by Royal Caribbean’s 137,000-ton, balcony-lined metropolis, Enchantment of the Seas, docked ahead of it, the 180.45-meter-long Royal Princess, sporting only a tenth of the former ship’s gross weight at 30,200 tons, featured a 28.3-meter molded breadth, ten decks, and accommodated 710...

1. Austrian Airlines’ Origins  Austrian Airline’s genesis can be traced back to March 20, 1918, at which time the Austrian Postal Administration had inaugurated daily scheduled mail service from Vienna to Kiew with intermediate stops in Krakow, Lwow, and Proskurow, a route whose average stage...

                As the sun pinnacled at its noon trajectory on Saturday, July 11, 2009, so, too, did Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.  The staff, having already arrived at 0900, had prepared this pocket of history for its pioneer aircraft air show, and the parking lot, across Norton Road,...

                It had somehow appeared tattered and weathered—and lifeless.  The closed metal gates at the entrance to the dirt-and-grass parking lot impeded vehicle entrance.  The chain extended across the covered, wooden footbridge, gateway to the grass airfield and time portal to the barnstorming era of...

                Parked in a meticulous, seemingly-measured row, and angled away from the wooden fence on the rolling grass field of Bealeton’s Flying Circus Aerodrome, the N2S-1 and –3 Stearman, Fleet, and Waco biplanes, all accommodating single pilots and either one or two passengers, had been...

Initial inspection of the Curtiss Model D aircraft at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome reveals a biplane, deviating from the other flying pioneer designs in the collection, the Bleriot XI and the Hanriot, which sport single wings and are therefore considered “monoplanes.”  Yet, the Model D’s unique...

I                  Misty clouds, rising from the dark green faces of the Great Smoky Mountains during the morning, appeared like smoke tendrils.  The twelve-car train, wearing the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad’s tuscan red and Rio Grande gold livery and pulled by an EMD GP-9 diesel...