# The Great Ongoing Aviation Thread (general and other) (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499 "2011-10-23T02:17:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 499
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9963 "2026-06-11T12:33:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Here’s a fresh Dope topic that might be of interest to this audience Thanks for the shout-out! I thought about just coming in on this thread about it anyway, so I’m glad that anyone here who doesn’t browse the Game Room can see it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9964 "2026-06-11T12:37:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Is Patty Wagstaff still alive? It’s been decades since I’ve seen her in person, but judging from her website, she seems to be as busy as ever. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9965 "2026-06-11T12:47:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As said, fuel burn per mile will be higher. But wait, there’s more! There’s an adage about compromise. I may have even posted it, but I haven’t had enough coffee to remember it. Something like, ‘You can have speed, payload/comfort, economy, or price. Pick two.’ Like a Cessna 150/152 was inexpensive to buy and economical to fly. But it was slow, and the passengers could only be 170 pounds each if you wanted full tanks. A Bonanza is fast and comfortable, but it’s expensive to buy and operate. A Mooney is fast, and relatively economical for its speed, but not as comfortable as a Bonanza. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9966 "2026-06-11T13:19:52Z")
> [@ThisOneGuy](#): > > Yes. It takes more energy to go faster so fuel costs at least will be higher. It isn’t a linear function, for lower speed power required goes as the cube of airspeed. Supersonic is even worse. That makes sense. Still, the aerodynamics and other tech involved in these new planes are sufficiently different that I thought its fuel efficiency might scale differently. After all, a 2026 Honda Civic has better mileage at 80 mph than a 1967 Pontiac GTO has at 40 mph, so faster isn’t always less efficient. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9967 "2026-06-11T14:25:27Z")
Agree. I would generally expect a 2026 supersonic transport design to have better inherent aerodynamic efficiency than, say, Concorde. OTOH, it’s unclear (to me at least) whether the low-boom tech itself helps or hurts efficiency vs. current state of art supersonic designs w typical boom signatures. AIUI, the key innovation isn’t exactly reducing the shockwave (and hence drag) at the airplane source. But rather creating two similar shockwaves at carefully chosen points on the airframe that result in destructive interference which mostly cancels and spreads the boom front on the way down to the ground. So the perception is more of a distant thunder rumble than a nearby thunderclap BANG or WHUMP. Which rumble may well be lost in the normal noise of 21st Century living. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9968 "2026-06-11T14:30:14Z")
This post is of interest to aviation, but isn’t exclusive to aviation: > [@Russia invades Ukraine -- The regional situation](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/1717): > > In case anyone was wondering who’s behind the ongoing mysterious GPS outages affecting the northern hemisphere: ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9969 "2026-06-11T14:50:49Z")
Doesn’t anyone have a sense of impending doom here? Doesn’t anyone here have any clout and can prevent this catastrophe from happening? [For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about this thread will reach 10,000 posts in a very few days and will be closed. While a new thread will be created it won’t have the history of this one.] ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9970 "2026-06-11T15:19:45Z")
Well yes. But the OP of the new thread includes a backlink. And one’s bookmarks sure can too. In spirit it’s the same thread, even if Discourse likes it in smaller chunks. In a way it’s sorta cool to get to Part 2 (or Part 4). It proves at a glance we can have a coherent conversation spanning a long time and a lot of subtopics. The only downside I can see is it’s a bit more trouble to backlink to specific posts in the previous Part. Searching in [this] thread is less clicks than searching in [some other specific] thread. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9971 "2026-06-11T17:13:19Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about this thread will reach 10,000 posts in a very few days and will be closed You mean it’s going to crash? Whatever shall we [do](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6grVB1xT1I&t=4s)? 😲 On a related note, I’m bummed - there was a recent localish screening of Airplane! with Robert Hays & Julie Hagerty there to do a Q&A afterwards; wish I had made it. 😢 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9972 "2026-06-11T18:23:36Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > While a new thread will be created it won’t have the history of this one.] But the top post in the new thread is auto-generated and will include a link back to this one, if you want to review 15-year old posts. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9973 "2026-06-11T18:36:59Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > On a related note, I’m bummed - there was a recent localish screening of Airplane! with Robert Hays & Julie Hagerty there to do a Q&A afterwards; wish I had made it. 😢 Surely you could have made more of an effort to get there. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9974 "2026-06-12T02:46:16Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about this thread will reach 10,000 posts in a very few days and will be closed. While a new thread will be created it won’t have the history of this one. Maybe the new thread will capitalise General, and ‘General Aviation’ is a different thing from ‘general aviation’. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9975 "2026-06-12T11:32:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Maybe the new thread will capitalise General, and ‘General Aviation’ is a different thing from ‘general aviation’. There’s no grammatical reason why the last two words of the title (and only them) shouldn’t be capitalized, anyway. Either capitalize all the words, or just “general”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9976 "2026-06-12T12:25:01Z")
‘General Aviation’ and ‘general aviation’ are two different things. [General Aviation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_aviation), or GA, comprises civilian, non-commercial (i.e., not airlines) aviation. Lowercase ‘general aviation’ means aviation in general, including airlines and military. Admittedly, the Wikipedia article does not capitalise General Aviation; but doing so makes it clear whether you’re talking about General Aviation (GA) or aviation in general. (Also, the OP started the thread to focus on GA.) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9977 "2026-06-12T12:42:07Z")
That’s what I said. The proper way to write the title would be - # **[The great ongoing aviation thread (General and other)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other/600499)** Correct? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9978 "2026-06-12T13:43:57Z")
Quite. And when the thread was started, the title was different and it was explicitly about General Aviation. At some point years later, the actual ongoing content had morphed towards aviation in general. So, as shown by the mod comment at the top of the thread, **puzzlegal** elected to rearrange the title words to better reflect the actual content. Which of course also amounted to permission for the thread’s focus to formally change. And yes, introduced a casing error along the way. Whether we ought to have had a thread for aviation in general distinct from General Aviation for the last 15 years is an interesting question, but IMO moot. Given 2026’s membership numbers and posting rate, creating two threads for the future amounts to each of them almost dying of disinterest. Better IMO to keep the combined thread going. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9979 "2026-06-12T14:52:26Z")
If you’re providing air transport to people who just outrank colonels, that, too, would be general aviation. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9980 "2026-06-12T14:58:47Z")
_Navy and Coast Guard have entered the conversation_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9981 "2026-06-12T15:13:27Z")
If you wanna start an admiral aviation thread, knock yourself out! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499/9982 "2026-06-12T16:19:03Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > If you’re providing air transport to people who just outrank colonels, that, too, would be general aviation > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > If you wanna start an admiral aviation thread, knock yourself out! Can we court martial someone who is not in the military? 😠 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499.md?page=498) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-aviation-thread-general-and-other-part-1/600499.md?page=500)