the abbreviated reign of “neon” leon spinks

OOPS 226
Like Cockroaches, Styrofoam, and Disposable Diapers
When the world’s inventors were trying to develop practical air-
planes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they had an obvious ad-
vantage over today’s flying-car visionaries. If those early aviation pioneers
wanted to put something in the air, they simply had to find a place to do it
and make a daring leap into the empty sky. Today, though, American
airspace is far from empty. Time and again, the nation’s air- traffi c control
system has been strained by the task of managing the existing amount of
commercial, military, and civilian aircraft. The thought of launching tens
of thousands more aircraft into those overcrowded skies—vehicles owned
and operated by the same people who drive their cars while jabbering on
cell phones, applying eyeliner, and ingesting Egg McMuffi ns—gives even
the most dedicated flying-car believers pause.
In short, the cart is solidly before the horse on this one. What good
are flying cars if no system exists to manage them–especially in a post-
9/11 world where the threat of terror from above is a proven reality. The
eternally optimistic Moller managed to spin 9/11 as a possible boon to the
development of flying cars (since traveling on commercial airlines from
regional hub airports has become such a time-consuming hassle), but even
he concedes that the infrastructure must be in place before his dream
machines become practical. The multibillion- dollar national investment
required to build such a system seems about as likely as President George
W. Bush’s ambitious—but vaguely outlined and achingly underfunded—
plan to colonize the moon and undertake a manned mission to Mars,
which became a national priority for the entirety of his eighteen- minute
speech to NASA on January 15, 2004. And that’s where the fantasy and
reality collide.
That unavoidable collision finally spelled the end of the fl ying-car
fantasy, right? Well, not quite. The ongoing efforts to push the idea forward
may be the greatest demonstration that the dream probably will
outlive us all, like cockroaches, Styrofoam cups, and disposable diapers.
Beginning in 1999, and with an estimated $69 million in funding, a fi ve-