What Lies Beneath

Since the beginning of the human race, man has looked skyward and watched enviously as birds flew effortlessly above him. Some of our most creative predecessors were bewitched by a desire to join the fowl. To soar beyond them must have seemed an impossible feat.

One of Davinci's flying machines

On February 15th, 1914, Lieutenants J. C. Carberry and W. R. Taliaferro set a new Army altitude record in a Curtiss biplane, ascending to 8,700 feet. From the beginning of powered flight in 1903, it had taken a mere 11 years to ascend beyond the cruising altitude of most birds.

Curtiss and one of his biplanes

Like many records, this one was set by courageous explorers utilizing the best engineering a nation had to offer. And like many advances in aerospace history, what was one day dangerous and groundbreaking would soon become unremarkable in every aspect except its accessibility. For example, Telluride airport is located 9,070 feet above sea level -- higher than Carberry and Talieferro's record-breaking flight -- and serves over 20,000 passengers per year.

Telluride Airport

The pattern continued. In August 1963, a North American X-15 rocket plane piloted by Joe Walker flew to an unofficial altitude record of 354,199 feet. This met the internationally agreed definition of space flight, and Mr. Walker was awarded a set of astronaut wings.

North American X-15

In October 2004, test pilot Brian Binnie flew Scaled Composites' Space Ship One to an altitude of 367,440 feet, beating Joe Walker's record and opening up an era of commercial space travel to any joy rider who can spare $200,000.

Virgin Galactic Space Ship Two. Now taking reservations!

But in this race for the stars, we may be missing something. By looking ever upward, we remain blind to the wondrous discoveries which lie deep in our own oceans. The potential is huge -- discoveries of wondrous new species, chemical compounds useful as medicines, and an understanding of our history lie beneath the surface.

Deep Sea Cusk Eel

We'd better get started.

Flyover Country

In 1869, the world's First Transcontinental Railroad was completed. It was possible, for the first time, to travel between the eastern and western halves of the United States on one continuous rail line stretching from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. Supplanting earlier means of travel, the railroad turned what used to be a hazardous, months-long journey by wagon train and stagecoach into a safe, relatively comfortable one-week affair that could be had for as little as $65.

Airplanes came on the scene in 1903, but the first coast-to-coast flight wouldn't happen until 1911, when Calbraith Rogers flew from Sheepshead Bay, New York to Pasadena, California. Sponsored by Armour Meat Packing Company to the tune of $5 per mile, Rogers' trip required 70 stops for fuel, sleep and food. (His mechanic, who rode by train, often arrived at their meeting points before Rogers did.) That wasn't the only record Rogers set -- he was also aviation history's first casualty due to a bird strike.

This trip time would be shortened significantly by other historically significant aircraft (some of which are still in use today), but on February 11, 1939, Ben Kelsey flew the XP-38, an experimental fighter aircraft which would go on to play a major role in WWII, to set a record by flying from California to New York in 7 hours and 2 minutes. Kelsey also punctuated his own record with a crash when ice fouled his engines (but lived to tell about it).

In just 70 years, the time to travel across America had fallen from months to days to hours, a reduction of over 99%.

Air travel became ever more efficient, and today we're herded into pressurized aluminum tubes and disgorged five hours later on the other end of the country. But amidst what we've gained, something has also been lost. The coasts, fat with technology and media conglomerates, have risen to dominate an influential segment of public opinion but can be accused of having lost touch with the way of life and values which persist in the nation's interior. The coasts ignore the middle at their peril. Flyover country will have its say.