An Airplane Ride from the Vantage Point of a Pensive Passenger - Essay Example

An Airplane Ride from the Vantage Point of a Pensive Passenger Vehicles were created primarily for the reason of transporting people and thingsfrom one place to another. In the modern world, the term ‘vehicle’ has become synonymous to ‘transportation.’ From a distant a distant point of view, it is just like any other thing in the world; it has motion, it has mass, and it occupies space. From a utilitarian perspective, which definitely dwells on the use value, vehicles are mere conveyances. These just make possible the movement of things that are either inert or whose movements are limited. From the viewpoint of philosopher and artists, however, vehicles are not just means of transportation. Ideas that come from it are formulated by one’s reaction to the changing of sceneries as the vehicle moves from one point to another. This experience can only be felt by the person being transported, by the passenger. For one who sees a vehicle passing by, the vehicle itself is nothing but a mobile speck in seemingly still scenery. For the cargo forwarder or the airline staff, whose job is to ensure the delivery of things and people to another location, the vehicle is a means for completing a service or a business process. Therefore, their impression of the vehicle is nothing more but practical and mechanical. The philosophers and the more introspective artists have a higher degree of appreciation with a vehicle ride. For the philosophizing passenger, who seats by window of a vehicle and watches the changes of the scenery outside happening in rapid succession, a vehicle provides him something more than just a travel through space and time. As he absorbs the sight in his mind, he also transports himself from the real sensible world to one that is fictitious or surreal. What he sees are real but the quickness of the changes does not allow him to grasp fully its reality. With portions after portions only of what is real absorbed in his mind, it becomes convenient for him to create his own imaginary world. This paper provides a description and analyses of what the airline passenger or experiences as he takes a flight from an airport to another. This experience is presented in the form of an analogy to the airplane’s ten-point manual. Each point of the manual shall be the basis of the description for what the passenger notices and absorbs as he is transported. An airplane provides the passenger the sensations of being in “a relatively inert body traversing the world at high speed.” (Morse 109) This mode of transportation, however, is often the preference of the members of middle class in American society. Therefore, such experience may not be shared by many in the country. Nevertheless, it has similarities with that felt by a person who is taking a train ride where there is “immobile motility, virtual and actual, in which spatiality retains a semipublic nature.” (Morse 113) Part I. Point number 1 of the user manual: Airlines and the facilities associated with them are enclosed interior spaces with activities sustained over time and run by very rigid standards, routines and protocols. Although the passengers have no control over their actual operation any more than they do over buses and trains, they seldom realize that the plane virtually runs itself during most of the flight, through a computer-controlled autopilot. Just like those who are merely watching his plane from the outside, he cannot manipulate the plane according to his desires. However, as he watches the lands below from inside the plane, he begins to appreciate his difference from the others who are not in the plane. The passing images from the window make him realize that he is moving from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ Point number 2 of the user manual: Except during takeoffs and landings or because of some emergency or break in the routine, the pilots have relatively little to do besides monitoring the systems. Passengers are confined in restricted spaces during most of the flight. This feeling of confinement must be sustained for certain period until the plane arrives at its destination. A passenger, of course, must be decided on enduring this sensation if he wishes to take the plane towards his destination. Just being in his seat provides him stability though as he is taken from one airport to another at high speed. If he sits far from the window, or if he travels at night, he may not sense that he is being transported at all, noticing only that he is seated in an enclosure. This impression can be disturbed, however, when the plane ride becomes bumpy or when plane starts landing procedures. Point number 3 of the user manual: While the passenger is inside the aircraft, he receives communication from the crew or the pilots regarding the safety procedures and other protocols that should be observed during the plane ride. All such rules and instructions are definitely related to the fact that being in a plane requires certain degrees of discipline that are unique from those needed by other vehicles. Therefore, these are not just subjectively imposed by the airline crew but by the demands of the vehicle. It is actually the vehicle that expresses itself only that it uses the crew as its medium. There are, however, instances when it automatically gives instructions on what to do, such as when the wind turbulence outside sets off the plane’s mechanism that drops oxygen masks for the passengers. Point number 4 of the user manual: For the ordinary passenger and from the people below who see it pass by, the plane is simply the means of transporting things and humans. Actually, as the more pensive passenger will attest, it is something more. An airplane is a means of transition not just of places but also of time and emotions. Travelling through time zones is definitely a transition. However, that is not only it. Whenever a passenger departs from a city, he leaves behind also the moments spent in that place. He leaves the past, embarking towards another place, which is the future, as the plane ride is the present, which is a mere transition. The plane ride can also be a transition of moods or of emotions. If the moments spent in the city that a passenger leaves were happy, he could be on his way to another city, which he can experience longing and sadness. It can also be the other way around, such as the instance when a passenger leaves the city to search for a better and happier life. Point number 5 of the user manual: Transitions in time and space do not just occur in split seconds without undergoing any process. As the passenger sees the changes occurring in the world outside the window by his airline seat, he can hear and sense the plane’s engine working. He is conscious that such machine makes it possible for the plane to fly and to move through time and space. This machine, of course, is not an inert object. Inside, it is a continuous and repetitive process of fuel being burned to power the aircraft. The pilots, on the other hand, direct it by constantly manipulating the flaps. All these systematic actions internal to the aircraft may be small. However, such small redundant motions are actually the driving forces that allow the plane to cover far distances. The pilots’ repetitive manipulation of the buttons, flap controls, and rudder pedals are what makes the plane get to its destination, enabling it to complete transitions despite the immensity of space and time. Point number 6 of the user manual: It is not just the airplane’s movement or the explicit instructions and regulations coming from the crew that dictates the actions, perceptions and over-all behavior of the passenger. The aircraft’s design, especially of the interior, demands that passenger restrict his actions in compliance with the space and amenities offered to him. Otherwise, he will certainly meet accidents or cause irritation among his fellow passengers. A sensible passenger will naturally adjust his behavior according to what his environment. A plane’s interior is certainly too small for a passenger to run around in the manner that he does in the park. With aisles that can accommodate only two persons at a time, he has no choice but to walk away or towards his seat with a greater amount of caution. Even the absence of many other visual distractions can prompt him to open conversations with a total stranger sitting beside him. If he is in an outdoor restaurant, he will certainly not entertain the thought of talking with the person on the nearby table. A plane, however, offers limited options for other activities to beat boredom. Therefore, even a shy person may start up a conversation with the fellow passenger beside him. His behavior is dictated by the environment he is in. Point number 7 of the user manual: The unsaid and unwritten communication between the aircraft and the passenger is not only one way. It is not just the passenger that adjusts to the environment provided by the airplane he is in. He is not the only one that abides by the rules set to make the airplane ride safe and comfortable. The airplane itself adjusts to the demands and the interests of its passengers. This can be seen in the manner that airlines have developed through the years. In early years, plane rides were very boring. Soon, however, many airlines have installed entertainment systems such as movies and audio. Even later, individualized entertainment systems were introduced in consideration to those passengers who would rather sleep than watch a movie or to those who would rather listen to music instead. In fact, many airlines have gone to the extent of offering a variety of audio-visual treats to suit the taste of individual passenger. Changes can also be seen in the seat designs. Nowadays, seats can be easily converted to beds. These occurred alongside the developments of the passenger airplane’s capacity to cover longer distances. Point number 8 of the user manual: The airport is the area where modes of transportation overlap. In fact, other transportation means connect these modes. Once the passenger gets of the plane, he is most likely going to take a taxi, a bus, or a private vehicle waiting for him at the airport’s parking lot. This transition from air transportation to land transportation is not abrupt. In fact, from the airplane to the car, the passenger may take another means of transporting him from the plane to the airport lobby. He may use a motorized staircase in going down the plane, if the airport does not have any passenger tubes connecting the plane and the terminal. Once inside the terminal, he may use the moving walkways and escalators to go to the lobby while his luggage is transported by a conveyor system. There are also airports that employ trams to carry passengers from the tarmac to the airport terminal. Upon reaching the terminal’s lobby, the passengers again walk towards a waiting land vehicle that will take them to their destination. This just explains that the passenger may leave the plane but not the entire concept of vehicle. The airport is just where the transition from one vehicle to another is made. Such transition itself, is also made possible another vehicle. Point number 9 of the user manual: Planes have become very commonplace. Unlike before, during its earliest years when it was still a novelty, its existence have been taken for granted just like all other modes of transportation, especially cars. Even the airline passenger has come to think as nothing out of the ordinary. Again, the passenger who takes it too often because of the demands of his work or business can consider a plane ride a habit or a routine that deserves no further attention to details. He takes the plane oblivious of its other features. He does not care to learn about why it flies or how it is maneuvered. Hence, he regards its importance only as a means of achieving what he wishes to attain related to his job or business. People outside the plane also consider it to be nothing but a regular part of the skyline. It is during crisis situations that the plane’s value and dynamics are appreciated more. When a flight is delayed or cancelled, the jet-setting businessman or executive begins to realize how a plane can spell the difference between the success and failure of his endeavors. When a plane crashes, resulting to deaths and damages to property, people begin to consider how an ill-fated plane ride can bring so much pain and misery. It is also in such accidents, that people attempt to understand the anomalies that can occur in the plane’s jet engines. Ironically, it is when the plane ceases to be because it has lost its use-value that people begin scrutinizing its interior and exterior as a vehicle. Point number 10 of the user manual: The airplane is bound to improve in the years to come just like all the other vehicles that exist in these current times. In fact, its current state is a product of decades of improvement ever since the first passenger airline took the skies. Development is an occurrence that cannot be avoided for as long it continues to cater the human need for transportation. As the global trade environment change and as more countries open its doors four tourism and businesses, airplanes have been designed to fly longer distances and carry more passengers and cargo. Changing social conditions, therefore, prompts transformations in the character and situation of the airline passenger. Consequently, the passengers demand that airlines introduce improvements that will suit their changing needs. The increasing number of passengers may certainly encourage airlines to double the planes in their fleet. However, changes in the airplane do not only fall under the law of supply and demand. The transformation of the airplane also considers past and current weaknesses. These vulnerabilities will be the main bases for future improvements or optimizations. Therefore, the essence of the airplane as a vehicle will remain but its form will change through time in response to social conditions, to calls for improvement, and to the inherent tendency of engineering and science to develop technology to fit the ever changing demands of human beings. Using the ten-point manual of a vehicle in appreciating the airplane has resulted into a more holistic understanding of its being. The passenger no longer considered himself as an entity detached from the vehicle he is in. Instead, he identifies himself with it, realizing that his essence as a passenger, as a person in transit, is realized by the fact that he is inside an airplane. At the same time, he acknowledges that the bonding between him as a passenger and the plane as a vehicle results into the mutual benefits of both. Such benefits are not just for the immediate. These are also for future developments. Such inter-action negates the idea that men are masters of machines. The truth is that machines, after these are created by men, can become powerful enough to influence man. This can be considered similar to Karl Marx’s proposition that man can become enslaved by machines or become mere “appendage of the machine.” (Marx) Therefore, in these modern times, when defining the essence of man, it has become important to consider his increasing inter-dependence with vehicles and other machines. Part II. I am now taking a ride in my chosen vehicle, which is an airplane. It is a Boeing 747 that is transporting me from an airport in the Pacific side of the US to a city in the Philippines. As soon as I got in the airplane, the stewardess immediately took me to my assigned seat according to my ticket. I want to sit somewhere else but I cannot do anything about it. Before taking off, I and the rest of the passengers are given instructions regarding safety procedures as well as regulations. After that brief orientation, I begin to feel the sensation of being locked up in a cell and imposed with a set of instructions and rules that I must abide with. This annoyed me a bit because I am a free-spirited person, one who loves open spaces and freedom. However, I also realize that selfishly thinking only about myself can spell trouble for me and for the passengers. I see that I have to adjust myself to the environment. As I struggle to keep my complaints to myself, I also begin to reflect on my own weakness, which is part of my identity. As the plane taxies through the runway and distances itself from the terminal, pictures of the city and the people I am leaving behind flashed in my mind. The plane’s movement made me conscious of the fact that I am leaving one place and heading for another. Then I experience a transition of emotions just as the plane takes off. From a mixture of longing and sadness for leaving people I have to come to enjoy being with, a surge of anticipation and excitement. What lies ahead of me? What waits in the Philippines? Three hours into the flight I feel that I am becoming sleepy. The plane is not a bedroom, of course, and it is not the best place to take good night’s sleep. However, I simply cannot sleep on a seat with a nearly perpendicular back rest so I adjusted my chair to make the back rest more reclined. Silently, I mutter my thanks to the plane for being considerate enough to its sleepy passengers by providing them with reclining seats. With my eyes closed, I listen to the soft sound of the jet engines. Just by the sound of it, I assure myself that everything is fine and that the plane is having no trouble in carrying me and the rest of the passengers towards our destinations. The monotonous hum of the engines sends me to sleep. I am awakened when the airplane shuddered strongly. The crew informs us that we are meeting some turbulence somewhere near Hawaii. The plane struggles away from the turbulence when it suddenly activated its emergency systems. Oxygen masks fall down from the interior’s ceiling. I am about to put it on when the plane abruptly stops from shaking. The pilot then informs us that everything is fine, that the plane has moved away from the area where there is turbulence. We have passed through a time of risks to another time of safety. As the plane flies to Hong Kong, there is nothing much to do than to read a book or watch a movie. Since, I am already done with my book and the movie menu is not my type, I have no choice but to open up a conversation with the person beside me. I am the shy type actually, but the enclosure and the limited options for entertaining myself makes me break my timidity this time. It is an unusual behavior on my part but it makes me realize that I can indeed change depending on the situation. The plane ride transforms me for a moment. Several minutes before plane lands, the airline staff asked us for comments and suggestions regarding the service as well as the plane itself. I notice that there are still areas in which the plane can still improve so I forward my suggestions, knowing that I can benefit from it the next time I take this airline. After we landed, I took a moving walkway towards the lobby with the thought in mind that I barely have time to exercise my legs since I keep changing one vehicle for another. WORKS CITED Aitkin, Doug. Electric Earth. www.youtube.com, 1999. http://www.ubu.com/film/aitken_electricearth.html Anger, Kenneth. Custom Kara Commandos. www.youtube.com, 1965. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_28AhRynu0A Biotin, Dominquez. Transports Exceptional. www.youtube.com, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1eWKBHXr6k&feature=player_embedded Cardenas, Micah. Becoming Dragon. www.secondloop.com, 2003. http://secondloop.wordpress.com/ Chaplin, Charlie. 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