What Was Your Worst Air Travel Experience?

Photo: Jasmin Merdan (Getty Images) Remember when air travel was all comfort and luxury, jet-setting around on the Concorde in full black tie regalia? Yeah, me neither. My years of air travel began in the era of discount fares, with airlines cutting costs and packing riders together to eke out every dollar, and things have … Read more

Broken Bridges, The Enduring Legacy Of The School Bus And A Solar Eclipse In This Week’s Beyond Cars Roundup

School District of Philadelphia buses parked in a lot while public schools remain temporarily closed for in-person learning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022.Photo: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg (Getty Images) While car design has changed radically over the decades, school buses look almost the same as they did nearly 100 years ago. Sure, they … Read more

Here’s How Modified Concorde Chased The 1973 Solar Eclipse Across The Sky For Science

Total solar eclipses don’t happen every day, so when they do you’ve got to take advantage. That’s exactly what a group of scientists did from the inside of a Concorde back in June of 1973. These folks were able to spend 74 minutes in total darkness as they raced at Mach 2 against the sun. … Read more

President Kennedy’s Pursuit For A Supersonic Airliner Was Doomed From The Start

President John F. Kennedy, in June 1963, walked out to a podium at Falcon Stadium, the football stadium at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. While addressing the graduating class of cadets, he announced that the United States would embark on the challenge of constructing the world’s first supersonic commercial airliner. It was the … Read more

There’s A Relic Runway From America’s Failed Supersonic Future Hiding In The Everglades

Supersonic airliners never became as common as airlines and government officials hoped.Photo: Victor Drees/Daily Express/Hulton Archive (Getty Images) When supersonic flight was set to transform passenger air travel in the late 1960s, Miami-Dade County had grand ambitions of becoming the center of commercial aviation’s fledgling intercontinental network. Local government wanted to construct the world’s largest … Read more