This jet changes everything is the modest claim of an advert in the October issue of the Harvard Business Review.
One of the things that I do to try to stimulate my brain (OK - maybe unsuccessfully!) is, every now and then, to buy a random magazine off a rack, one that I don't necessarily expect to interest me, and see what it contains. It's not a sure-fire winner, but it is how I came to be a subscriber to HBR because I discovered a lot of interesting articles.
But this month an advert caught my eye. Apparently the Embraer Phenom 300 changes everything because it only costs $3,519 per hour, cruises at 518mph and carries seven passengers. Well, I'm pretty sure that this won't change my life. But my first hope when I read the headline was that this was the greenest plane yet invented - that it uses less fuel and flies much more efficiently. Maybe it does - but that isn't how it is being sold.
There's a long way to go before we are truly in the mindset that will minimise our damage to life on Earth.
Like almost all problems nothing will probably be done until it is almost too late,that long way to go leaves you ,me and millions of others feeling exasperated that the powers that be won't agree and take serious action now,at least you and me have got that off our chest but doesn't feel much better really.The bits that individuals can do such as recycling are the tip of the iceberg and we need serious actions from all the polluting country's leaders,afraid it is a job for Superman but at least you keep trying much more than most.
Maybe time to resurect a contemporary version of the Seven Deadly Sins of old - what would they be?
Syldata - nice name! From Dartford? Which would be your seven?
See my previous comments because I am convinced if we must have air travel, some of the burden must be taken up with accepting that travel will be slower (after all, Concorde is gone). Alarmingly, British Airways have concluded that their best option lies with jets to replace the Dash-8 fleet with Embraer jets on feeder routes. Cleaner (relatively) turboprops flew the globe at one time, in a short period before the world became seduced by jet travel because of its speed. I am sure it is no accident that cargo airlines use medium distance aircraft to fly quick turnarounds for short sectors. Unfortunately, no one designed modern and greener replacements for Viscounts, Il-18s, Vanguards and Electra IIs with the otherwise good DHC-7 being passed over because it was initially designed as a short-range feederliner. Consider the DHC-7 with PW-120 engines and redesigned fuel/capacity and you have a modern medium range airliner/freighter.