One and only book-promo announcement

Guest Discussion
1

Greetings Cirrusites. Here is a copy of a note I just posted to a couple of rec.aviation newsgroups, and which also applies here (minus the several ‘lurker’ apologies)

New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows

 I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I'll do this only once and explain now why I'm posting this message.

        I've just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the

logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.)

It tells mainly three stories: how NASA's small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc.

I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the “general” press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample.

http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA's decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus's; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too "technical" for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.)

If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.

        Jim Fallows

        National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

        Berkeley, Ca,

        [email]Jfallows@theatlantic.com[/email]
2

Can’t wait to read it Jim. You clearly have seen the real problem…standing at a airline ticket counter listening to all the lies. When NASA finishes the “Highway in the Sky”, there will be a few less airlines IMO. I also wonder what Piper, Beach, Mooney, Comander, etc. are thinking. When Cirrus, Lancair and Eclipse are producing 3 & 4 aircraft per day each, these guys will be in deep …

Denis

Greetings Cirrusites. Here is a copy of a note I just posted to a couple of rec.aviation newsgroups, and which also applies here (minus the several ‘lurker’ apologies)

New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows

I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message.

I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the

logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.)

It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc.

I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the “general” press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample.

http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too “technical” for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.)

If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.

Jim Fallows

National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

Berkeley, Ca,

Jfallows@theatlantic.com

3

Jim,

Be sure to post your book signing/speaking/radio interview promotion tour schedule so we can catch you out on the road. Will you tour by Cirrus?

-Curt Sanford

4

Jim,

I’ve ordered mine from Amazon. Just promise to sign it if we ever meet face-to-face :>)

Thanks especially for “unfreezing” the general perception that commercial air travel as it now exists is what it necessarily MUST be.

Cheers,

George Savage

SR22 #95

5

But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

???

Ah, now I realize this must have been the book reviewer for 'Highlights" or “My Weekly Reader.”

I’ve read the book and heartily recommend it. It provides an exciting and plausible picture of what could come to pass in the world of travel within just a few years.

Also some of the best writing I’ve seen on what is so compelling about the experience of flight, and on aviation safety and why GA accidents happen.

Will it happen? Not guaranteed. Can it happen? Absolutely! We can only hope that Cirrus, Eclipse, and their fellow travelers such as Lancair & Safire will bring their products to market on target, in quantity, and on or ahead of schedule. Once the general public gets a taste of on demand, cost-competitive point-to-point travel, even the blue-haired old lady types will have a sudden “strange new respect” for GA and the value of local small airports. I can’t wait to see 5 or 6 Eclipses loading in front of the PAO terminal every day, only yards away from several dozen Cirri, Columbias, and what the heck, a 260se or three in the tiedowns.

FAA ought to start planning now for that scenario lest they be caught flat-footed AGAIN.

6

Thanks for the varied kind words. I actually will be doing parts of this tour via Cirrus, including going to Oshkosh. Details to come later on. In the meantime, here is a link to an op-ed in the New York Times today (June 11). THe NYT links work only on the day of publication, so after that you’ll need to be registered on the Times’ site to see it. But for now here’s the link:

7

Free Flight is as wonderful as it gets.

I’ll be shouting its praises in my Forbes column, Digital Rules, in the July 6 issue (which hits the street on June 22.)

rusites. Here is a copy of a note I just posted to a couple of rec.aviation newsgroups, and which also applies here (minus the several ‘lurker’ apologies)

New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows

I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message.

I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the

logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.)

It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc.

I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the “general” press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample.

http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too “technical” for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.)

If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.

Jim Fallows

National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

Berkeley, Ca,

Jfallows@theatlantic.com

8

or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models<<<

Dear Jim,

Congatulations on your new book!!! I look forward to getting a copy. I wanted to comment, or ask a question really, on the “publicity gap” between Eclipse and Safire. If you ask how Sam Williams and Eclipse developed this new remarkable engine… the answer is with the help and support of NASA and our precious tax dollars. This is, to me, a good investment of resources resulting in an overall advance in aviation.

If I have my facts straight, however, (and I may not… please correct any misinformation on my part), Williams subsequently made use of this engine “exclusive”; only available to Eclipse. Of note, this exclusive arrangement seemed coincident with the investment from Microsoft and is similar to Microsoft’s usual way of doing business. This forced Safire to find an alternative engine… which they did in Agilis (also a remarkable engine).

Now all this would be OK except that I think EXCLUSIVE marketing of a technology partially paid for by me and you is, well, troublesome. In any case, why so little mention of Safire… which has developed many innovations, a similar price point to Eclipse… and deserves some recognition as well?

For me, BOTH projects are interesting, and important to aviation’s future.

Best luck with the new book.

Robert

Greetings Cirrusites. Here is a copy of a note I just posted to a couple of rec.aviation newsgroups, and which also applies here (minus the several ‘lurker’ apologies)

New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows

I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message.

I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the

logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.)

It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc.

I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the “general” press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample.

http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too “technical” for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.)

If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.

Jim Fallows

National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

Berkeley, Ca,

Jfallows@theatlantic.com

9

Jim: Enjoyed your article in The Atlantic Monthly. I’ve just pre-ordered your book from AllDirect.com for $15 + $3.45 shipping.

Free Flight: Inventing the Future of Travel

It’s where I usually find the best prices on books. Thanks for trying to improve the shape of the future!

  • Steven

P.S. I’m not affiliated with AllDirect - just cheap!

Greetings Cirrusites. Here is a copy of a note I just posted to a couple of rec.aviation newsgroups, and which also applies here (minus the several ‘lurker’ apologies)

New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows

I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message.

I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the

logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.)

It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc.

I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the “general” press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample.

http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too “technical” for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.)

If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.

Jim Fallows

National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

Berkeley, Ca,

Jfallows@theatlantic.com

10

Jim,

No apologies needed for the posting, I believe most of us in this forum look forward to your book with great anticipation.
Also, the recent announcement by Raytheon regarding their second round of layoffs (only a few weeks after Cessna’s layoff announcement)has caused me to ponder the future of ‘spam can’ aircraft manufacturing. Compare these layoff announcements to the one year SR22 wait list and two year plus SR20 wait list. Granted, Cirrus experienced their own layoffs earlier this year, but those layoffs were driven by a need to provide their product with more efficiency. They were not due to a lack of demand. Cessna and Raytheon do not seem to understand that they cannot provide their customers with increased utility with remakes of 30-40 year old designs.

I am hopeful the apparent difference in demand between Cirrus and the ‘spam cans’ is an early indicator that the future is here, now.

Greg

P.S. The article in The Atlantic was great.

Can’t wait to read it Jim. You clearly have seen the real problem…standing at a airline ticket counter listening to all the lies. When NASA finishes the “Highway in the Sky”, there will be a few less airlines IMO. I also wonder what Piper, Beach, Mooney, Comander, etc. are thinking. When Cirrus, Lancair and Eclipse are producing 3 & 4 aircraft per day each, these guys will be in deep …

Denis

Greetings Cirrusites. Here is a copy of a note I just posted to a couple of rec.aviation newsgroups, and which also applies here (minus the several ‘lurker’ apologies)

New book on GA future / Free Flight by James Fallows

I come out of lurker realm to mention this book. Knowing that newsgroups are not for spamming or advertising, I’ll do this only once and explain now why I’m posting this message.

I’ve just published a book called Free Flight, about the prospects for expanded GA activity really serving as an alternative to the

logjammed airlines. (Full title is ‘Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.’ Basic information here, http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/index.php. It should be in bookstores later this coming week, and of course is available for pre-order via Amazon and B&N.)

It tells mainly three stories: how NASA’s small-plane program has tried to stimulate innovation in airplane and airport design; how Cirrus Design tried to come up with a radically simpler, safer small piston plane; and how Eclipse is trying to break the pricing model for small turbine airplanes. This is surrounded with discussions of small-plane safety, why some people become entranced with the life of the air, what the logistical barriers to more GA use are, etc.

I mention it here for two reasons. One, frankly, is that I think many newsgroup readers might be interested. The other involves the only dissonant note of reaction I’ve gotten from the “general” press. The main initial response has been positive. (See here for a sample.

http://www.jamesfallows.com/freeflight/blurbs.php ) But one early review said that some of the material might be too “technical” and “difficult” for readers.

If you think that a discussion of whether the tort-liability issue really was a factor in GA’s decline; or how, exactly, Eclipse and Sam Williams made a turbine engine so much lighter than other models; or the arguments pro- and con- a built-in parachute like Cirrus’s; or the challenges of financing an aviation start-up are not too “technical” for you, you might be interested, and therefore I mention the book. (I also will be making a presentation on it at Oshkosh.)

If this is intrusive, sorry. Also, I send my gratitude for the advice I’ve absorbed from these groups while lurking over the years.

Jim Fallows

National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly

Berkeley, Ca,

Jfallows@theatlantic.com

11

Dear Jim,

Congatulations on your new book!!! I look forward to getting a copy. I wanted to comment, or ask a question really, on the “publicity gap” between Eclipse and Safire.

Thanks for your note. As you can imagine, I spent some time talking with NASA, Williams International, and Eclipse about the funding terms of the Williams engine. I go into this in some detail in the book, but the headline version is:

  • What Williams/Eclipse is doing is consistent (as I understand it) with the terms of the NASA grant;

  • The reason it’s consistent is that Williams and Eclipse are both having to put in very, very substantial extra amounts of dough to develop the engine, beyond the intial NASA demonstration grant. So it’s not just as if NASA built an engine and Williams and Eclipse get to monopolize it.
    Williams has a time-limited exclusive supply deal with Eclipse. In a finite, small number of years, I would guess they’ll be selling to all comers.

In a little more detail, NASA held a competition for its turbine engine grant. Williams won that competition. In the first stage of engine development it had to put in at least as much money as NASA did – and it did so. In exchange it gained some proprietary control of the technology. From that point on, the development money has been Eclipse’s and Williams’s, not NASAs. As I understand it, NASA’s funding was a competitive “seed” grant, not long term subsidy.

That said, I can understand why Safire wants to get more attention, and I’ll see how to redress that. jf

12

Jim: Enjoyed your article in The Atlantic Monthly. I’ve just pre-ordered your book from AllDirect.com for $15 + $3.45 shipping.

Wow! Cheap! I’ll have to start shopping for books there. (This is about the price at which I can get them from the publisher!)

13

Jim: Oh good! I’ve ordered lots of books from them without any problems. They’ve also been great about backorders.

BTW, you might want to check out:

EdgeGain.com

It’s an add-on to MS Internet Explorer that automatically finds the lowest prices on books, CDs, computer gear, etc. It even factors in shipping and sales tax. It’s $30, but for me it has paid for itself many times over.

  • Steven

P.S. Same disclaimer as before: I’m not affiliated with EdgeGain - I’m just frugal! :slight_smile:

Jim: Enjoyed your article in The Atlantic Monthly. I’ve just pre-ordered your book from AllDirect.com for $15 + $3.45 shipping.

Wow! Cheap! I’ll have to start shopping for books there. (This is about the price at which I can get them from the publisher!)