History Lesson No. 1 Follow up

Ran out of time before work this morning . . .

One thing that needs to be made clear here. It was not the awarding of airmail contracts that enabled the early American airlines to get started. It did help, but in a larger sense, it just stimulated the overly competitive natures of their founders. Like a pack of wolves fighting over a carcass, they very nearly cut each others throats in their drive for dominance. In reality what brought stability and profitability to the early airlines here in the U.S. was federal regulation of the airline industry. To attribute the historical success of these companies to airmail contracts is to view the past through rose-colored glasses. Even after the airmail contracts were awarded, they still continued to try to drive each other out of business.

As the tired old saying goes, those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Like so much of aviation progress, the history of the early airlines here in the U.S. has its share that's written in the blood of the unfortunate victims of crashes. If there is not sufficient government oversight and regulation of the future commercial manned spaceflight industry, we will once again have to learn those lessons, once again written in yet more blood. And while an airplane crash is bad enough, with the speeds and highly explosive fuel loads inherent in spacecraft launches, a crash involving a spacecraft could easily exceed the worst air disasters. We really need to tread carefully as we get into commercial manned spaceflight.