READING 3 Travel by Air: The DC-3

TRAVEL BY AIR: The DC-3

The DC-3, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 4.5

An American Airlines airplane left the Newark Airport for Glendale, California. By the time the plane arrived in California, the passengers had been traveling for 18 hours and 40 minutes—and they had made several stops. This was an amazing flight.

Amazing? 18 hours? Several stops? Well, this happened in 1938. In the early days of aviation, airplanes had been used primarily in the military and to deliver mail. But airlines, hoping to make money, were trying to attract passengers away from train travel. The DC-3 airplane changed the airline industry and started to attract more and more passengers.

Before this time, a flight from New York to Los Angeles had taken 25 hours and had required 15 stops and several changes of plane. But the DC-3 made a number of improvements and was the first passenger plane to make money. However, air travel was not for everyone. A round trip, coast-to-coast flight cost $300, which is the equivalent of about $5,000 today.

But this wasn’t the first passenger flight. Boeing had built another passenger airplane. United Airlines bought 60 of these early airplanes, which carried 10 passengers and flew at 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour. But it wasn’t a very attractive alternative to taking the train, even for those who could afford it. Passengers became dizzy1 on these planes, and some even fainted. Most people considered the airplanes to be unsafe. In fact, a famous football player was killed in a plane crash over Kansas in 1931.

If airlines wanted to attract passengers away from train travel, they had to become safer, faster, and more comfortable. The 1930s was one of the most innovative2 periods in aviation history. Airplanes became lighter, which made them go faster. The noise level was reduced, and the air became easier to breathe.

Since the 1930s, airline travel has been improving. As more and more passengers began seeking air travel, even greater advances were made. More powerful jet engines have made it possible to carry hundreds of passengers thousands of miles quickly. And advanced radar systems have allowed air traffic controllers a way of safely separating the flow of traffic.

Airplanes soon became a regular mode of transportation. Today the original DC-3 hangs in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

1 dizzy: lightheaded, faint 2 innovative: showing new ideas or improvements