ABSTRACT
For most of the twentieth century-ever since the Wright brothers tookto the air in 1903-the prospects for aviation seemed brighter with each passing year. From the start of transcontinental passenger flights in the 1930s, through the beginning of the jet age in the 1940s, to supersonic and wide-body air travel in the 1970s, progress was rapid. Air transportation made the world seem smaller, and by the 2000s it had given rise to a billion-dollar tourist industry. Some people thought nothing of flying across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to America for a weekend’s shopping or from the United States to a Pacific island for a vacation.
