In normal times and seasons, air travel is a routine thing – at least in my time. My dad was born in 1912. That year, a trip between Tampa and St. Petersburg, two cities sitting on opposite sides of Tampa Bay, took two hours by steamship, at least 4 hours by rail. Traveling by automobile around the bay took as much as 20 hours. On Jan. 1, 1914, the world’s first scheduled passenger airline service took off, operating between St. Petersburg and Tampa in a Thomas Benoist-designed flying boat. The 21-mile flight took 23 minutes. The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line was a short-lived endeavor — only four months — but it was a profound technological shift in the way we lived and perceived our present and future. Some refer to such things as “shock level” events – events that impress, frighten, and make us wonder about tomorrow in new ways. Continue reading →