..... But my main reason for
pessimism is that people are inherently afraid of flying. Even with
mountains of statistics showing that a commercial airliner is safer than
driving, most people feel safer on the ground.


My Great-Grandmother was afraid of going faster than 35mph in a car. It's
all what your used to I guess.

I have a 1950's era Popular Mechanics of my dad's that proclaims that we'll
all be flying to work in personal aircraft by 1979. Hrm. Missed that one
abit. But to say it's "whimsical" puts your head on a chopping block.
We've proven over the years that if we can imagine it, then we *could* do
it, for the most part. Heck, even transporters like on Star Trek are being
worked with now (VERRRRY early stages compared to TV).

Flying is the next step in our quest for faster transportation and ease. At
this rate, we could easily be flying to space in another 100 years. BTW,
did anyone see the landing of SpaceShip One? They collapsed a main landing
gear and it skidded off the side of the runway. Scaled Composites
statement was to the effect of "ah, we'll buff it out. No big deal.". If it
had been a government project, the program would have been shut down for the
$47 million repair to the craft...lol.