ON-TIME, SOME TIMES--

US Airlines Post Miserable Records

American, the world’s largest airline, came in as the third worst among the major industry players, with its flights arriving on-time only 63.4 per cent of the time in July 2007, the latest information available.

The entire industry average for July for on-time arrivals was a dismal 69.8 per cent.

The top on-line arrival percentages were posted by Hawaiian and Aloha airlines with figures above 90 per cent. However, those figures are skewed by those airlines operating mostly shorter flights in marvelous Hawaiian weather conditions.

Pinnacle Airlines was behind those two “leaders” with a figure of 78.9 per cent of on-time arrivals giving them the de facto first place for the month.

Reasons for delayed arrivals include; those caused by the carriers themselves, weather, air traffic control, security issues, and other late arriving flights.

Other big carriers such as; United, Northwest, Continental, US Airways and Delta ranged between 65 and 70 percent for on-time arrivals.

For a handy table listing the rankings of all the major players check here: http://aviation.beloblog.com/archives/2007/09/post_9.html You should be able to click this active link. If not, highlight it and paste it into your favorite search engine.

The airlines have largely hovered in this area of on-time arrival percentages for the last 10 years. They managed to squeak just above an 80 percent on-time arrival average in 2002 and 2003.

So, if you hope to save yourself lots of aggravation with airline travel, you will 1) ship your luggage ahead, and 2) arrange your itinerary with lots of time between connecting flights plus allowing an unscheduled day or two at each end of your journey to absorb any of these pesky, delay fiascos.

Or, check the stage coach schedules.

AIRPORT LUGGAGE PROBLEMS WORSEN—

The Washington Post recently reported “More than 1 million pieces of luggage were lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered by the US airlines from May to July....(and) June and July ranked among the 20 worst months for mishandled baggage in 20 years.”

“The shoddy service is the crest of five years of steady deterioration in the ability of major airlines to deliver a checked bag,” they continued.

“In 2002, 3.84 reports of mishandled bags were filed per 1,000 passengers. In July, the figure was 7.93,” more than double.

“Frustration has mounted to the point...even a well traveled congressman...(D-Cal) is alleged to have barged screaming into a United Airlines baggage claim office...at Dulles airport and shoved a clerk”. He was charged with misdemeanor assault.

“Analysts say the industry’s problems are not likely to be resolved soon, setting the stage for more aggravations, especially during the (upcoming) holiday travel season.”

Another aggravated traveler said, “They never lose my bags in other countries...Other countries do this (baggage handling) well, but not here.”

“Representatives of a half-dozen airlines noted...though the rate of lost bags is at an historic high, such bags represent only a fraction of the luggage flowing through the system." They claimed, "More than 99 percent of bags are handled properly....”

Meanwhile, a solution is—ship your bags.

A business traveler from California, for example, said he shipped his clothes ahead of him for at least 25 trips last year.

A Fogeyism would assert; that also eliminates the aggravation of dealing with the aggressive Neanderthals at the baggage claim disaster which usually concludes each flight.

Bingo!

Now, if we can just get the airlines to arrive on time more than their current rate of 69 percent for on-time landings. Stop back. We’ll discuss that topic tomorrow.

THE RICHLAND COUNTY MUSEUM--

The home of the Richland County Museum in Lexington is itself of museum status--it was built as the original Lexington School in 1850. (Small picture).

It featured room for grades one through four on the lower floor and grades five to eight upstairs.

Eight grades were enough in those days. By then, students were well enough schooled in English, math and other fundamentals they could be productive citizens in the largely farming society that existed at the time.

Remember, in 1850 Lincoln had yet to be elected US president and the last Indians were just being evicted from Ohio—the Wyandotte’s up near Upper Sandusky.

On the day of my recent visit to the museum I had the pleasure of meeting Elsie Simon, (pictured in red above) a museum volunteer at the tender age of 87, and, it turns out, who was my neighbor when I first moved out to Madison Township in the mid 1950s.

She is also a living history book. She told me about her great grandfather moving to the Lexington area in 1832 and both he and her grandfather served terms on the Lexington school board.

When her great-grand pappy came here Andrew Jackson was president and in the summer of that year the first wagon train crossed the Rocky Mountains through the Wyoming territory’s south pass.

The museum is only open on Sundays 1:30 to 4:30 and will be closing at the end of October. It has two stories of nicely presented artifacts, all donated and all from Richland County.

When you visit take time to get to know the volunteers. You could be in for a real treat!

I certainly was.

http://www.richlandcountymuseum.org/home

BOOK REPORTS—

In the Naga’s Wake by Mick O’Shea

This is a vivid tale of the first-ever traverse of the Mekong River from it’s origins in the Himalaya Mountains of Tibet to the South China Sea—in a kayak. The book bulges with graphic descriptions of the thundering river gorges, the outrages of ecological destruction by the Chinese government and the marvelously varied people who live from the Alpine north to the tropical sea. Outstanding!


Crashing Through by Robert Kurson

A mesmerizing story of a 43 year old man, blinded by an explosion at age 3, who regains his sight by stem-cell technology (not the fetal variety). Imagine “seeing” with your hands all those years then being able to see steam but not be able to feel it. How could that be? Or the freckles on his son’s face; same perplexing experience. Readers are taken for a poignant ride through a life’s experience known by precious few human beings in history. Start reading this book—and hang on!


Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson

A piercing look at the super-human training course for US Navy SEALS which will leave your bones hurting, then, it moves to SEAL team action in Afghanistan where SEAL Team #10 and their back-up force suffer the greatest loss in SEAL history as told by a very humble survivor; ultimately awarded the US Navy Cross for combat heroism.


Armed and Dangerous by William Queen

Queen, a former Green Beret and now ATF agent, spins a yarn about the capture of a notorious narcotics trafficker/survivalist in the California mountains. Queen and his co-author, Douglas Century, manage to turn what could have been an explosive adventure into a fairly ho-hum good guy/bad guy read.

Pictured are some of the estimated 25,000 folks who are expected to visit the Prairie Peddler this year near Butler. Son Brian and daughter-in-law Kathy are in the right foreground in gray/blue denim shirts as they wander the picturesque, wooded setting.

THE PRAIRIE PEDDLER—

It is a crafter’s extravaganza in the hills of rural Richland County near Butler and is celebrating its 20th season with this year’s back-to-back weekends; two days in late September and finishing on October 6th and 7th.

Officials expect more than 25,000 folks to visit the four-day event this year held at the facility’s 130 acre rolling, wooded site.

It is a juried event meaning crafters have to meet rigorous standards in the quality and variety of the products they make and offer for sale.

Each crafter has a booth area which, itself, must meet the style of an old prairie village and crafters themselves are costumed in dress of the old west or even earlier, colonial period.

This year’s show features more than 180 booths with an additional 20 plus vendors of food delights.

Fans also are treated to musical entertainment and craft demonstrations every ½ hour throughout the days.

Top that off with horse-drawn wagon rides, a petting zoo and an opportunity to pan for gold to satisfy your entertainment pallet.

Another popular attraction this year was a live scarecrow which simply lurked quietly near a booth and sent unsuspecting passers-by scurrying off in fits of hilarity enjoyed by both the victims and observers.

Event officials were reluctant to discuss the magnitude of business done during the show but simply multiplying an attendance of 25,000 folks by a conservative guess of each visitor spending an average of, say, $50 and those four days could account for more than 1.25 millions bucks of entrepreneurial commerce.

I noticed tastefully small debit/credit card advertisements in many booths. Since there is very little electrical power either visible or utilized by the vendors I inquired of one exhibitor how they managed to do such modern sales transactions.

She promptly reached under her counter and produced a battery powered, credit card scanner equipped with a keyboard and an antenna, and informed me she simply directed her gadget toward a satellite and had an approved transaction in less than 30 seconds.

And, all this while her colleague stood at his trundle powered lathe and worked on the production of their next, hand-crafted creation.

IS WAR INEVITABLE--

Our country was born out of the Revolutionary War between 1775 and 1782.

We finished the job with the British in the War of 1812.

We fought the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848.

We fought our own Civil War from 1861 to 1865.

Then there was the Spanish-American War from April to August 1898.

That was followed by World War I from 1914 to 1918.

Then came World War II from Pearl Harbor in 1941 to 1945.

That was followed by the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

Then it was Vietnam from 1959 to 1975.

Then Desert Storm January 16 to February 27, 1991.

Then came Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 20, 2003 and continuing.

Not to mention military action in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, and Bosnia, for other examples.

And, the Cold War, a chilling face-off during which my generation grew up fearing nuclear annihilation.

I repeat my question: Is war inevitable?

RICHLAND COUNTY STEAM THRESHERS—

Wood smoke filled the air along with the marvelously antique sounds of a calliope as the threshers celebrated their 53rd annual reunion recently on rural SR 603 near Mifflin.

Paul Ward of Lexington had his Peerless Model Q 1897 vintage, steam powered tractor at the show while Roland Brodbeck from Michigan displayed his 1924 Nichols & Shepherd 20/75 horsepower model which weighed in somewhere near a very hefty 15 tons.

Broadbeck explained the 20 horsepower was the draw bar rating while the tractor could sustain 75 horses worth of power while operating its belt driven accessories. His big machine (pictured above) would be worth between 20,000 and $30,000 on today’s market.

These machines enjoyed their prime years between 1900 and the 1920s on the farms of America.

Wards “Geiser” model tractor cost $1,300 new and takes nearly two hours of boiler firing to reach its 100 pounds of steam pressure necessary for operating.

After sweating over yet another reload of wood in his tractor’s boiler Ward quipped, “Makes one appreciate the internal combustion engine.”

In fact, that is what led to the demise of these delightful brutes of machinery. Farmers of the day quickly adapted to filling the tank with gasoline and turning a key to start their newer model tractors.

Shawn Volz, of Lexington, also was there with his ageless, belt driven hammer mill which was busy making chicken feed out of a generous supply of dried corn on the husk.

He also was showing his collection of “Hit and Miss” engines from the early 1900s. New, these machines ranging from 4 to 8 horsepower, cost between $130 and $220 from the Sears and Roebuck Company.

They still fuss and pop and snort a lot as they lumber along in their role of historical reenactment only occasionally needing a drink of water and a few squirts of oil to keep their moving joints loose.

All in all, the event really is a bunch of boys playing with their antique toys while sharing with appreciative onlookers these amazing machines that bridged the gap between actual horse power and today’s incredibly complex and powerful farm machines.