Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: The Six Continent Club, lithium batteries, more defunct airlines: The pilot takes on a grab bag of topics

The first of these mishmash-style columns ran last April. (Best I know, I was the first columnist in the country to explore the phenomenon of <a href="http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2007/04/13/askthepilot228/">adolescent girls toting giant fluffy pillows through airports</a>.) My chosen title for the series was "Rummaging through the seat pocket of the mind," but my editor never seemed to like that. I have to say they're definitely fun to write, so I hope they're fun to read. <center>***</center> <P>Editors and fact checkers will go to the ends of the earth to verify certain details -- God forbid a writer get the birth date wrong of some obscure 18th century philosopher. But why is it that aviation references commonly slip through the cracks? Time and time again writers get it wrong, and nobody seems to care. Consider the New Yorker, arguably the most prestigious magazine in the country. In the latest issue, in a "Talk of the Town" piece, editor David Remnick speaks of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "Falcon 9" private jet. There is no such thing as a "Falcon 9." There is, however, a Falcon 900. Did somebody drop some zeroes? In the same magazine a couple of weeks ago, David Sedaris erred on the marketing name for Delta Air Lines' international business class, BusinessElite. Sedaris called it "Business Elite," leaving out the camel cap. That's less than egregious, I suppose, but it's the kind of thing the New Yorker prides itself on getting right. The magazine's style guide may restrict such usage, but that doesn't make it right. BusinessElite is a trademarked name. <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/214725609" height="1" width="1"/>

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