The aviation industry is, to me, a magical place, where very smart people cooperate with near perfection to move massive numbers of people and tons of cargo through air too thin to breathe, a miracle that happens every hour of every day, give or take a volcanic eruption. Absent natural catastrophes and man-made disasters like wars and terrorism, the flow continues, moving people and stuff around the globe, creating a system of travel and commerce that breaks down international barriers that have stood for millennia.
Watching a documentary about The Beatles’ early days, I saw an interview with the band after their first visit to France, a country you can see from England on a clear day. The lads were asked how they found France, and what was the electricity like there? Today, this question seems silly beyond belief, but in 1964, on the brink of the transportation revolution, even close neighbors were not much informed about each other, and distant countries and cultures might as well…
