Relationship between Transportation Innovation and Friction of Distance.
What is "friction of distance"? It is the time, and money it takes for you to travel from one place to another. Air Transportation, one of the quickest and most efficient transportation in modern days, ever since the Wright brothers succeeded their first flight ever in the world, the air transport has been made huge progress in developing. Now days air travel from New York to Chicago only takes 2hrs 30min, but in 1800s when we don't have the current transport technology it took us about 6 weeks to travel. Recently the cost of money and time to travel from one place to another is comparatively cheap compare to about 100 years ago, this brought to a question of: How transportation innovation decreases the friction of distance? This article will be main focus on air transport, with discussing how the history of development in air transportation, the advantages and disadvantages of air transport, and the other factors and types of transport influences and causes the friction of distances to decrease.
The first ever air plane successful fly in 1903 built by the Wright brothers, the development of air transportation developed rapidly. The first ever commercial flights started in 1938, in 1952 commercial "passenger" flights started, which is "De Havillland Comet". Also it is the first commercial jetliner, and the first to have oval window after 3 pathetic incidents spanning over a year. In the year of 1970 Boeing 747 first introduced, enters to the commercial service, which is the model that the current aviation still using use today. In later 1970s, in 1976 legendary air transportation entered commercial service, the "Concorde" the supersonic passenger jet airliner, it continued flying for 27 years. However, due to the enormous amount of small accidents happened, and the fatal accident happened in 2000, causes to determined the retirement in 2003.
Air transportation (mostly air plane) has both advantage and disadvantage. Mentioned about "Concorde", the fatal accident. Air transportation has huge disadvantage, which is the high risks of death, which only occurs when the problem of plane be noticed after the plane has takeoff, once it takeoff it requires time to get landed again. Which is why there's high death rate for passengers and crew, when the problem being noticed after it takeoff if the problem were noticed when it's too late or too big, and it requires immediate landing, almost 100% the plane will crush, causing most of passengers, and crew ends up dead. Yet, it is the safest transportation in the world, it just when there's a problem almost 100% you will die. On the other hand, air travel decreases time to travel from one place to another. Now days, cross boarder travel, most people choose air travel, especially travelling to places requires to cross the ocean. Also air travel is comparatively cheap compare to 50 years ago.
Recently, besides the innovations of air transport it self, the development of technology overall decrease friction of distance. Innovation of air transport decreases the time to travel from one place to another. However, the price to travel is comparatively cheap compare to 50 years ago. The main reason is development in mining technology, recent technology allow us to get more oils than before, with also having substitutes for oil. Despite the fact the demand of oil is exceed to what the current world can supply, that oil will run out in the very near future. Also, increase "budget" airlines decrease the friction of distance. Budget airlines offers cheaper price, compares to regular ones, they are cheaper because of they only offers the seats on the plane, with no services and food. Cheaper price allow people to travel easier, and more people has ability to take planes to travel from one place to another.
In the past, we only had air balloons for travel in air, but now we have planes, and helicopters. Planes increases the convenience of all man kind in terms of travelling long distance, the innovation of air transportation saves us more time, and the improving technology also allow us to get access to oil more easily. This allows the decrease in price, allows to decrease in friction of distance. Friction of distance is decreasing, as the transportation technology keep developing, new ideas of transportation keep coming up, and people are keep to trying out, trying to make it happen. Friction of distance influences the way of people's choice on the choose of way to travel. Yes, we may now have more options of transportation, yet such as ships are not available for travel across the ocean only expensive "cruise" are available. Friction of distance, in these days not much of options are provided to people in terms of price and time. However, decrease in friction of distance brought us increase in interaction between countries, more foreign products we can get, more chances to learn other culture, and interact with people from different places around the world. Innovation of air transportation not just brought us the decrease in friction of distance, but brought us the "Globalisation". Getting closer to the "Global", to the one.