Author: Willem

I was reading this Bloomberg Businessweek article with the provocative headline at the airport on Thursday night.  Read it here !  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-18/how-airport-security-is-killing-us   From the article – ‘To make flying as dangerous as using a car, a four-plane disaster on the scale of 9/11 would have to occur every month, according to analysis published in the American Scientist.  People switching from air to road transportation in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks led to an increase of 242 driving fatalities per month – which means a lot more people died on the roads as an indirect result of 9/11 than died from being on the planes on that terrible day.

We take state route UT-39 from the hotel in Ogden to the factory next to the Great Salt Lake where we are doing our project.  Utah is nicknamed the ‘Beehive State’, hence the beehive on the road signs.  And the name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe, which means ‘people of the mountains’.  Speaking of mountains, it has not snowed much since I first arrived at the Salt Lake City airport two weeks ago.

This is Sunday night at the gate in Seattle airport on the way to Salt Lake City.  I am sitting in the exit row right up front in the coach section of the Boeing 757.  My seat cost me $19 extra but it is completely worth it to me.  As the picture shows, we have the most legroom of anyone in the plane!  Are we willing and able to operate the door in an emergency? The stewardess asked.  Absolutely – we will be the first ones out the door, we assured her.

My flight into Seattle from Salt Lake City late Thu night was fine and without incident (the way all travelers like it).  It’s just two hours.  Friday’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting write-up about Delta’s fleet.  It is very large, but older than most airline fleets, and made up of many different types of aircraft – 10 different models and some 750 planes altogether.  The airline has been profitable for the third year running last year, but spent $12 billion on jet fuel : its biggest expense.  So recently it made a bold move.  In September it plonked down $150 million for an idled Conoco refinery, as a way to manage high jet fuel costs.

Ogden lies at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, about 10 miles east of the Great Salt Lake and 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.  I still have to go and look for the newly renovated Ogden Utah Temple of the Latter Day Saints and of course, take a closer look at the Great Lake.