SST'S OUT!
It seems to be set.
Both the British and French are adamant about closing their trans-Atlantic SST service. That pretty much puts the damper on my own dream about taking a quick trip on one of them some week-end. Truthfully, my projected flight was quickly curbed the day years ago when I first saw the price of passage from here to there or from there to here.
I have a strong feeling that price may be among the many reasons for discontinuing the the zip trip schedule. It seems that the thousand dollar-and-up price has not been a major cause of anyone staying home. We may well have lost a few citizens, however, because a favorite plan was to fly from here to London or Paris on an SST flight, and then, for contrasts in time and comfort, to take the Queen Elizabeth back from there to here. I see not accounting covering the actual number of people who anted up a wad of wampum for the air fare needed and who, then, had to stay in Europe long enough to save up enough currency to pay their sea fee to come home. I find no dependable tally totally the travelers who never made it back.
A word from your travel agent: Travel people suggest you go to Europe by sea it and return by SST. Why? It's faster coming this way. Then too, if you go broke, it's better to be broke at home than in a critical credit card country.
They're big, those SST's, and common talk has it they are planning to put them in museums for people to gawk at. The SST was not meant to be a still-life specimen at all. It looks best in flight with a combination dragon fly/preying mantis stance especially when it is about to land. It has been an efficient plane in many way and has suffered only one disaster which strikes me as being a remarkable record. It was so far ahead of its time; ahead of the actual need for such a plane and they are old in technical ways which were not known when they were on the drawing boards.
a.l.m. APRIL 23, 2003 [c533wds] .
