Robb Reader: James Fallows

James Fallows

Robb Report, September 2001

James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly's national correspondent, has shared his passionate interests with readers for more than 20 years. He's covered Asia, computers, politics, and the sorry state of journalism, with clarity, depth, and vigor. A few years ago, he indulged a lifelong interest in learning to fly, and discovered a complex and dynamic world of small aircraft, a world that most of us never hear about.

His latest book, "Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel," explores the leading edge of that world, where NASA and industry entrepreneurs develop new technologies and products. Fallows acquaints us with small airplanes that carry built-in parachutes; simplified "highway-in-the-sky" navigation systems; and super-efficient, low-cost, six-seat jets that could provide air-taxi services at thousands of small airports, relieving the overcrowded hubs.

This summer, Fallows made his second pilgrimage to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the annual convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association. The EAA show attracts 10,000 airplanes and three-quarters of a million visitors for a week of aviation excess unparalleled anywhere. Everyone goes, from the Piper Cub pilot who camps under a wing, to Chuck Yeager, to space-station astronauts, airshow aficionados, and aeronautical engineers. Even writers, who talk between the roars of low-flying jets showing off for the crowd.

You contend that the public will soon become aware of recent innovations in small-aircraft design and development. Why is that?

What's going on in the aviation world now is like what went on in the home-brew computer club 30 years ago ... computer innovators were just working by themselves, talking with each other about these cool new designs they were coming up with, and suddenly, it became a mainstream product. Small planes will never be as popular as personal computers are now, but their impact on general public life, I think, is destined to be much larger than it is now, just because of the saturation of the airline system.

What about people who already have escaped from "airline hell," who have access to business jets and personal airplanes? How will the changes you foresee affect them?

The only negative I can imagine, really, is increased crowding at currently underused small airports. My own experience is that small airports are generally SO underused now, they could handle two or three times more traffic without people being very inconvenienced. That minor consequence would be offset by more airports surviving, better facilities, and a more receptive public attitude that would lead to better research and other products. So the experience could be better for everybody.

What got you started in flying...

I had always been, not intensely, but somewhat interested in flying. About five years ago, when I was in my mid-forties, our kids were getting older, my wife felt I'd fulfilled my biological destiny, we had a little more money, and I had an office job for the first time in my life, so there was a weekend. I decided I would use these weekends to go out and take flying lessons. I was somewhat deterred at first by all the drawbacks of today's general aviation infrastructure. I was learning in a 1971 Cessna Skyhawk. It worked fine, but it was beat up and ratty. When my wife came out to see the plane, she couldn't believe it. I got my private certificate, and when we moved to Seattle I got an instrument rating.

...and what keeps you at it?

First it was a simple challenge I wanted to meet. I found it engrossing being in the air traffic system. I found it also admirable, I like the way the whole system operates. I found it, in the right circumstances, practical. Mainly I just found it interesting and fun. I really like seeing things from above, the way you can just watch the land unfold and see all these vistas you could not possibly see if you weren't in a little plane. I rationalize it for practicality, I rationalize it for keeping up proficiency, but basically I just like seeing the world that way.

What's going on that interests you here in Oshkosh?

I find it fascinating to see so many small companies trying to come up with interesting new ways to do things. Part of it is, it's heartbreaking, because you know it's not going to go anyplace. It's also a sign of a healthy, fertile, percolating industry, that so many people are trying new ideas. I find the variety of the people who attend here to be quite interesting. As a spectacle, it's part county fair, part science fair, part alien invasion, and fun on all counts.