Lex Anteinternet: The 2018 Wyoming Legislative Session.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2018 Wyoming Legislative Session.:

From the Casper Star Tribune:

Bills to watch in Wyoming's 2018 legislative session 

A good synopsis, some of these I would have had no idea about and with some I wasn't aware of what their status was. 

Here's one I wasn't aware of, for example:

What it does: This bill includes several major
revisions to Wyoming’s campaign finance laws. It expands the definition
of what is covered under the law and changes some reporting
requirements.

What they’re saying: The Equality
State Policy Center faced off against the Wyoming Liberty Group on this
legislation during interim committee meetings. ESPC was heartened to see
the definitions expanded, while the Liberty Group claimed that
strengthening the laws any further would be unconstitutional and was
successful in rolling back an existing reporting requirement. It
appeared some of the lawmakers were confused as to what they were voting
on during the interim committee meeting and amendments to this bill are
likely if it is successfully introduced to the full Legislature.

I still can't say I know much about it, but that is pretty interesting. 
Also interesting is that the Tea Party Wyoming Liberty Group is opposed
to a bill limiting corporate participation in campaigns via monetary
donations.



Here's another one that's interesting, which the Tribune titled with "Air Wyoming is Back"

What it does: This measure would move forward an
ambitious proposal by the Wyoming Department of Transportation to
effectively create a state-run airline, through which WYDOT would
contract with regional carriers to operate specific routes and
schedules. The idea is to ensure reliable air service to cities across
Wyoming without relying on the whims of commercial carriers.

What they’re saying: Critics
argued that the idea remains half-baked and that more information is
needed before acting on it. But proponents say if Wyoming doesn’t move
quickly, it may be frozen out of any regular air service in many cities
as commercial carriers begin using larger planes and have a harder time
staffing pilots for rural routes. Von Flatern resurrected this piece of
legislation after the full transportation committee declined to advance
it, and the bill has the support of Senate President Eli Bebout, which
may give it a boost. A similar measure is also included in Gov. Matt
Mead’s Endow economic diversification initiative.

I'll be very surprised if this passes, but I hope it does.  The backing
of Eli Bebout is interesting as well, as he's far from a gadfly of any
kind.  I'm skeptical of this bill's chances, but maybe I'm a bit too
skeptical.



February 12, 2018

Lex Anteinternet: ENDOW Study. Air Travel First

Lex Anteinternet: ENDOW Study. Air Travel First:     Federal Express at the Natrona County International Airport .  An airport that can  handle a plane like this could sure easily handle...

U.S. EP-3 Intercepted in the Black Sea

Air Subsidies Continue for Cody and Laramie. .. for now.

From Today's Casper Star Tribune, the following headline:

Air service subsidies expected to continue in Cody and Laramie. But larger questions loom.

But that apparently doesn't mean that such subsidies aren't on the firing line still, to some degree.

For those who might not be aware, air travel to Cody is subsidized by the Federal Government for the winter months, and for all passengers all year long for Laramie.  This provides for twice a day winter flights, for example, to and from Cody to Denver during the winter months.

It's pretty safe to assume that without these funds air travel to Cody would be impaired and for Laramie it would simply end.  The Tribune notes, regarding how this works;

United’s new contract to provide service to Cody guarantees the airline an annual payment of $850,000 to provide 14 nonstop trips each week from Cody to Denver between October and May.

That doesn't provide a reason to continue the subsidy, of course, and pure free marketers would argue that if the market doesn't support it, it should end.  On the other hand, it's been proven that a lack of convenient air transportation hinders Wyoming's economy fairly massively.  

For this reason, the state actually seriously took a look, and still somewhat is, on subsidizing air travel withing the state itself, although it didn't get to that. As the Tribune summarized it:

The Wyoming Department of Transportation presented an ambitious fix to the state’s reliance on commercial air carriers, who can currently decide whether and when to provide service — allowing the fortune’s of Cowboy State communities to rise and fall based on the whims of national corporations.

WYDOT proposed effectively creating its own airline, determining which communities would receive service as well as schedules, ensuring, for example, that it was possible for business people to catch an early morning flight into Casper or Rock Springs.

The state would contract with the same regional providers, like SkyWest or GoJet, that United and Delta Air Lines use on branded flights to connect relatively small communities, like those in Wyoming, with major hubs in Denver and Salt Lake City. These arrangements are known as capacity purchase agreements.

“This idea of capacity purchase agreements, for decades, has worked very well for airlines,” WYDOT director Bill Panos told lawmakers last summer.

At a bare minimum, a lack of air service certainly isolates Wyoming's economy.  So, at the end of the day, the argument somewhat comes the degree to which you favor practicality over economic purity, or whether you believe the government should have any role in subsidizing transportation.  The Governor's office noted, according to the Trib:

“Commercial air service is a significantly limiting factor,” Endow’s Jerimiah Reiman said earlier this year. “There’s a lack of air service particularly to global destinations.”

Of course, if we're going to go for economic purity, at some point we'd have to request that the Federal Government cease funding highway construction, which is a subsidy and a fairly direct one.  I can't see that request coming any time soon, but its interesting how in a state that tends to argue for a fairly laissez faire type of economics, we don't feel that way about highways.  No, not at all.  Of course, to be fair, funding the infrastructure, massively expensive though it is, is not the same as funding transportation itself.  I.e., there's no Federal bus subsidy, or Federal car subsidy.  

There isn't a Federal rail subsidy of any kind in most places, of course, although we do still have Amtrak, so I guess that's not fully true.  When railroads carried passengers everywhere cars were not as commonly used for over the road transportation and the Federal Government hadn't gotten in to highway funding yet.  Indeed, if the Federal Government quit funding highway construction it'd change the transportation infrastructure massively and we'd have to wonder if railroads and airlines would be big benefactors.  Anyhow, even at that time the railroads weren't necessarily super excited about passengers and the Federal Government somewhat forced the rail lines to carry them, but it didn't subsidize them.  The U.S. Mail was a big moneymaker for railroads back then, which it no longer is in any fashion, so the railroads had to listen to the Federal Government for that reason if none other.

Blog Mirror: Women In Aerospace History: Katherine Stinson

11 December 1917: Katherine Stinson

11 December 1917: Katherine Stinson flew her custom-built Curtiss-Stinson Special from Rockwell Field, North Island, San Diego to the Presidio of San Francisco, a distance of 606 miles (975 kilometers)¹ in 9 hours, 10 minutes. This was a new American duration distance record.

And more on this interesting story follows on the noted blog site.

Piper Seneca. Natrona County International Airport

Boeing 737 Max, Natrona County International Airport.

 

 This is the new Boeing 737 Max, Boeing's new narrow-body airliner which is the fourth generation of the venerable Boeing 737.  This example was at the Natrona County International Airport undergoing some testing at this famously windy airport featuring very long runways.

National Aviation History Month

Somehow I managed to miss the fact that November is National Aviation History Month.

Something that would have fit in well as a topic here on our blog.

Well, at least there's a little November left anyhow.

Face of Defense: Marine Aviator Draws Forward Air Controller Duty

Face of Defense: Marine Aviator Draws Forward Air Controller Duty

Lex Anteinternet: Persistent Myths XIV: The Korean War Edition

Lex Anteinternet: Persistent Myths XIV: The Korean War Edition:  The Korean War, we were poorly armed with antiquated stuff, edition.   " U.S. Marines wounded at Kari San Mountain are evacuated...

Wyoming Air National Guard Static Display, Republic F-84 Thunderjet

This is a F-84 Thunderjet on a static display at the Wyoming Air National Guard's main gate at the Cheyenne Regional Airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The Republic Thunderjet was a very early USAF jet fighter, first entering service in a straight wing version and then being modified to be a swept wing version, like the one on display here. 

Plagued with various problems throughout its service life, the F-84 none the less was a very significant US combat aircraft during the 1950s and saw heavy use during the Korean War.  It later saw widespread use around the world and completed its service in Angola in 1974.  As can be seen from this example, it saw use by Air National Guard units as well as the regular United States Air Force.