Re:US airlines transported passengers over two light-years s...
by dredmorbius on Monday December 02, 2024 @04:23PM
(#42300562)
There are people who commute by air, usually the very rich and for shorter distances by helicopter. Speeds are lower than fixed-wing aircraft, but landings can occur in more places. Trips start in the 10s of miles range, which at airspeed is on the order of the 5--10 minutes I'd put at my lower-range of time budgets.
Current commercial helicopter transfer service from Manhattan to JFK (about 15 miles) is scheduled for about 5 minutes:
In your second example, you're missing the point. People tend not to take longer road trips out of a safety budget but a time one. With a limited vacation time budget, time spent travelling (unless that's the point of the vacation) is lost. Auto-based vacations tend to be closer to home.
If you are going on holiday, you have a time budget for reaching that particular destination. With a car you would maybe choose places within a drive of 3 to 11 hours (at highway speeds), whereas a plane would maybe be between 1 hour and 16 hours. But then a longer road trip might also be more dangerous.