By: Toby Martin-Kohls

Airlines have flown many routes over the course of their existence, mergers, recessions, and some routes we have today were the same as routes that were used in the 1960s. American Airlines has flown between New York and Los Angeles for many decades. They have had a daily service leaving New York at 12:00pm daily since the 1960s. 

The 1967 version of this flight took a grand total of 5 hrs and 43min long for travel time. Today’s version of this flight is listed at 6hrs and 27min.  In reality, in this example, the time spent in the air is the same. Today’s schedules now account for congestion and delays at airports, and things going wrong. 

We have made many advancements in technology in the last 50 years, so why is the flight time longer or still the same?

Let’s take a look at how airplane engines have evolved. There are 3 main types of engines. They are the turboprop, the turbofan, and the turbojet. Each of them has a range of speeds at which they are most efficient. 

The turboprop is what you will most likely see on propeller aircraft. Almost all of the thrust from turboprop engines comes from the propeller. These engines are typically inexpensive to buy and operate so a lot of smaller commuter planes use these engines. Of course, the trade-off here is that they are not as fast. They are most efficient at speeds of 325mph to 375mph. Any faster than that and it is better to use a turbofan.

Turbofans are the type of engines that you can see pretty much everywhere. Almost every commercial aircraft is turbo fan-driven. Turbofan engines are most efficient at the speeds most aircraft fly at today, 400mph to 620mph. 

If you want to go supersonic, you would have to go above 767mph, and you would need a turbojet engine. Turbojet engines are very similar to turbofan engines, except all the air goes through the engine’s turbine. This lets the engines reach really high speeds, but they also require immense fuel. The engines are really only efficient between 1,300mph and 1,400mph. 

The Concorde used a turbojet engine to go supersonic. It burned 46.85lbs of fuel per every mile flown. To put this in comparison with an aircraft used today, that is using new technology to become the most efficient, the new B787-Dreamliner consumes 18.7lbs of fuel for every mile flown. 

Compared to today’s commercial planes, the Concorde was pretty small. It held 100 passengers, compared to 291 passengers on the Dreamliner. The per-person fuel economy on the Concorde was around 14mpg, compared to 104mpg per passenger on the Dreamliner. 

There were only two commercial airlines that flew the Concorde, which was British Airways and Air France. They could not afford to keep flying the plane. Less than one-third of the seats were actually occupied by paying customers. Other seats were occupied by using miles to pay for their seat or upgrades from first class on normal flights. It cost a minimum of $7,500 (adjusted for inflation) to fly one way from London to New York in 3hrs, in seats that look very similar to economy class today.

British Airways introduced its first Business Class lay-flat seat in 2000, and many opted to choose this 7hr flight in comfort instead of the Concorde. 

The whole idea of the Concorde was to create the most efficient way to cross the Atlantic for business travelers, but now in the early 2000s, travelers from the U.S. could book 7hr flights leaving in the evening, sleep on the plane, and wake up in Europe. 

The Concorde is not the best luxurious or efficient option anymore. Its last flight came on October 24, 2003, ending the era of commercial supersonic flight.

For the airlines, speed doesn’t really matter. It really only exists as a selling point for the consumer. The cost of the airplane is a relatively small part of the overall cost to fly so you’ll never see an airline fly faster so they can use their planes more. 

Plane’s lifespans are generally rated in cycles; the number of times a plane takes off and lands. The Dreamliner we talked about earlier has a lifespan of 44,000 cycles and a list price of $224.6 million, which is often higher than the actual sale price. That means the cost of the airplane per flight is $5,104.54, while the fuel cost to operate a flight from New York to London is $18,727. Therefore, airlines just always fly their aircraft at the most efficient speeds. That speed is almost always between 500-550mph. 

That is well below the speed of sound, which is 767mph. Why don’t planes fly just below the speed of sound? Flying at just below this speed is flying in the Transonic Range, which increases drag, and destabilizes the aircraft, which would be quite dangerous. Flying in this range (Mach 0.8-Mach 1.2) actually requires more fuel than flying above Mach 1.2. So essentially, the speed limit for commercial aircraft to be economically viable is 613.8mph. 

With current speeds, airplanes are able to fly anywhere on earth within 24hrs. The barrier for most people to travel is cost, not speed, so manufacturers and airlines will continue to focus their efforts on driving down the cost of travel, not the time. In the end, time is the money of only a privileged few and cost is the enemy of the masses.

For more information, please visit:

• https://skybrary.aero/articles/transonic-flight
• https://aircraftexchange.com/blog/what-determines-an-aircrafts-lifespan
• https://aerocorner.com/blog/types-of-aircraft-engines/

By: Liibaan Yusuf

The financial crisis of 2008 is said to have been worse than any global economic meltdown since Black Tuesday of 1929, which lead to the Great Depression.

The 2008 financial crisis was an extremely complicated full meltdown of the housing market in the US. Unlike the rest of the world, the housing market in the US is interconnected with the financial market, as to where it is impossible too purchase a house without the intermediary of a bank.

In the years leading up, banks were giving out loans and mortgages left and right with no regard. In late 2001, the federal reserve had lowered the national interest rate from 6 percent to a mind-blowing 1 percent! Upon hearing this, banks and aspiring home owners jumped to getting loans with dirt low interest rates. Banks also took advantage and sold those loans to Wall Street Banks.

By 2004, the Federal Reserve had brought up interest rates to almost 6 percent again but in the 4 year rush, homeownership was at almost 70%! People had gotten great deals on homes! In early 2006, banks began to re-evaluate homes and the majority of prices dropped sharply. People who had gotten a loan on a 500,000 dollar house were being told their house was only worth 300,000 dollars! These people were locked in loans paying off amounts their home wasn’t actually worth! Some were almost done paying it off and some were in the beginning stages of doing such.

People were scared to sell their homes because of horror stories! Those who did sell now owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, that they didn’t have, to their original lenders! Banks had essentially given people money in a loan, the receivers took the loan to buy a mortgage for a house, locked in a deal for what seemed great, but were told their house wasn’t worth what they were paying, and now the banks couldn’t get back the loans they had once given out to everyone and anyone!

One by one, banks started filing for bankruptcy. By early 2007, 25 subprime lenders had went bankrupt. Swiss Bank UBS, one of the most renowned banks in the world, had announced that they were 3.4 billion dollars in the red. But in the US, IndyMac bank, one of the biggest US based banks to have been affected, had be seized by the US government, but it would be a bank named after a different set of brothers to take the biggest fall. Lehman Brothers, had completely been demolished, and their name tarnished. They were known as the bank behind the whole collapse!

By mid 2008, it was the US government who issued a Wall Street bailout in response to the carnage.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/financial-crisis-review.asp
• https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/subprime-market-2008.asp
• https://www.history.com/.amp/this-day-in-history/lehman-brothers-collapses

By: Liv Miller

Cultural appropriation is defined by Britannica.com as “When members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way.” Cultural appropriation is a growing topic in this country that when it occurs, or is discussed, often creates controversy.

The cultural appropriation of Native American or indigenous culture happens more often than you think, and it occurs, more times than not, without it even being recognized as wrong. Things such as Halloween costumes, sports team names/mascots, logos, and festival wear, may seem innocent and harmless but are actually dehumanizing and create a false interpretation of Native Americans.

Dina Gilio-Whitaker is an independent writer and researcher in Indigenous studies. She argues on Beaconbroadside.com that “The dehumanization of these peoples is ingrained in American culture. The majority of Americans are so desensitized to certain images” and acts of cultural appropriation that the problem still continues to exist.

Despite the long history and record of human rights violations against Native Americans, the American public still remains fascinated with its own image of the “Indian”. American companies, time and time again, have profited off of putting highly stereotypical images of an “Indians” on their products. Anywhere from toys and jewelry, to tobacco products, and common groceries like butter, baking soda, and cleaning supplies. The Indians shown on these labels are created by people who have little to no understanding of Native American communities and culture. This lack of education and understanding leads to inaccurate and stereotypical images on products that have absolutely nothing to do with the people supposedly being portrayed on the labels.

Cultural appropriation is known to often happen in sports as well. There was much controversy surrounding the names of sports teams like the Washington “Redskins” and the Cleveland “Indians”. Fans for the Washington Redskins used to dress up in Native American attire and wear body and face paint, painting themselves red. The team has since changed their name and is no longer allowing fans to enter the stadium dressed in this attire and makeup.

Many of these issues stem from the lack of knowledge on Native American culture. There are so many ways that we can honor and appreciate this culture rather than appropriate it. But to do so we must find ways to respect them and listen to the voices of indigenous people rather than create harmful stereotypes and advertise incorrect perpetuations on Native American culture, customs, and history.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/finders-keepers-adulteration-native-american-cultures-name
• https://ascjcapstone.com/terms/spring-2019/kchristy/