Boarding Gate 101: 100 Years of Flight

By Kin Enriquez -

My blog post for today is about a bit of history. This day (January 1) marks the 100th year since the first commercial flight took off from St. Petersburg, Florida. The wooden plane, powered by a 75-horsepower engine, later landed in Tampa less than an hour later, and as the saying goes, the rest is history. The role of commercial flight to travelers cannot be stated enough; it enabled us to reach parts of the world that were too distant and inaccessible before.

As an avgeek myself (not a coincidence that my blog's name has something to do with airports),  one of the highlights of my travels as always, is the flying. I love airplanes and I love to fly. I like watching them land and take off while in the boarding gates, or even while peering through the windowseat. I even collect models of them as a hobby.

As a tribute to the century of commercial flight, here's a rundown of some of the aircraft that I have flown in over the years. According to my Jetlovers page, I have flown in 52 flights covering 78,000 miles and 22 airports from 2010 to 2013.  

Delta Airlines Canadair CJ900, from Detroit to St. Louis
Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, from St. Louis to Chicago-Midway
Delta Airlines Canadair CRJ700, from Detroit to Chicago-Midway. It was being de-iced here before flying

AirAsia Airbus A320, from Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur

Zest Air Airbus A320, from Legazpi City to Manila

Philippine Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, from Manila to Hongkong

Philippine Airlines Boeing 747-400, from Manila to Bangkok

Delta Airlines/Comair Canadair CRJ700, from New York-JFK to St. Louis

Delta Airlines Boeing 747-400, from New York-JFK to Tokyo-Narita. This was over Siberia

The Rans S12XL Airaile ultralight that I flew in Angeles
and one of my favorite, since it's my first time to fly in a helicopter:

Robinson R44 helicopter, over downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi

Barring some breakthroughs in cybernetics, I may not see the 200th year of commercial flight, but I intend to fly more in the future. 

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