One of Jerry Seinfeld’s stand up jokes was why commercial airplane pilots tell the passengers they are cruising at 500 mph, when the plane is capable of 700 mph. Jerry: “There’s no speed limits w/airplanes, so why doesn’t the pilot go as fast as they can all the time?”
A turn signal on plane is not dangerous behavior.
Back when a few small airlines flew out of the Olympia Airport the pilot of the flight my dad was on over the cascade mountains pulled out a state highway map and started pointing downward and then at the map. Hopefully just pointing out where his vacation cabin was.
My brother had an instrument flight rules, IFR, private pilot license. He did mention IFR does not meane I Follow Roads.
I hope most pilots at least follow the urban area flight path restriction rules. Very bad accidents between private and commercial planes have occurred when private pilots didn’t follow these rules, one of these incidents in the LA area, very bad results.
I think most of the passengers are just glad the plane is finally in the air and flying. Cutting airport wait times would make a bigger impact on trip times than making the planes fly faster.
Airplanes fly the speed that uses the least fuel for the shortest flight time.
And 700 mph at altitude is faster than the speed of sound… which makes sonic booms… which tick off the neighborhoods.
Just like with cars, speed = $$
Not to mention drag increases sharply when you hit that speed. The speed of sound is slower at high altitude because the air is colder up there. Speed of sound in air in meters per second = 20.05 times the square root of the Kelvin temperature.
I flew with my brother once, he had a private pilot license with IFR.
Riding in the car to the airport scared the heck out of me, but his takeoff, flying and landing was flawless—Cessna 172.
He was horrible in a ground vehicle, great in the air.
Great little airplane.
Dad was a flight instructor. Among other things. Flew air ambulance for awhile. I remember flying in a new 182. New is nice.
Essentially the tricycle version of the older Cessna 170, which was the airplane I was allowed to take the controls of when I went up in an airplane with a qualified instructor. Literally an antique, the plane was older than I was.
Private airplane enthusiasts seem to really be enthused about their hobby. One of my coworkers had that hobby, appeared to be a very expensive pursuit. I can’t say I entirely understand the motivation. One good thing, every once in a while he had to purchase new maps, and he’d give me one of the old ones.
Also, the FAA has banned trans-sonic flight over the continental U.S.
Small planes are fun to fly. I am not a fan of ifr trips but it’s nice to have that skill in your pocket.
Ain’t no such thing as a cheap hobby.
But flying is in a class by itself. You gotta budget for hangar rent, annuals, insurance, operating costs, maintenance, and the divorce.