Re: GZGL FH - Jumbos, Jets and Turbo Props

>***
>Andrew & Alex wrote:
>Colony worlds have a low population, but I would expect populations of
>two or three million to be easily attainable after, say, 50-100 years
of
>colonisation. New Zealand has a population of 3.5 million, yet it has
it's
>own fleet of jets and other aircraft (Air New Zealand). So do even
smaller
>places like Fiji, Tonga and Cook Islands.
>***
>
>My feeling is the analogy may be a bit thin. These 'relative' small
>populations may have the larger aircraft for
>commerce with a very large world indeed. However, John's analysis below
>seems right on the mark, given
>the experience in Australia, where I believe there are light aircraft
on
>almost every station, or the commonality of
>bush pilots even today in Alaska.

As an Alaskan, I feel I can actually comment on this last bit.	Bush
pilots
are more common than ever in Alaska. A slogan used at times is "the
flyingest state in the Union." (don't shoot me, I didn't write it)  The
ratio of airplanes/people in the state FAR exceeds any other place in
the
US, and if I'm not mistaken, the World..  Off the top of my head I could
name at least 20 families that have their own plane.  Anchorage (with a
population of ~260,000) has 3 commercial airports, including a busy
International airport, The worlds largest float-plane base, and a busy
small-plane airport (where you could land a 747 in an emergency, but I
wouldn't want to - It's in between a mall and a car dealership...) as
well
as at least a dozen shared semi-private airstrips/floatplane lakes
supporting dozens of planes each.

In fact I know several families that don't own a car - but they have a
plane, 2 snowmobiles, and 3 4-wheelers.  I think there are some
similarities in the dispersed population base and low infrastructure
here
with what might exist on a colony world.  Half the state's population in
one place, and the others scattered all over.  and FWIW - the majority
of
the planes in AK never really leave Alaska -at least not the small ones.
That's something that's left for the big boys. (who are numerically
inferior, though superior capacity wise)

>What would be used would depend on a number of factors beyond pop
numbers;
>density, terrain are two that
>spring to mind. How dense these colonies would be was debated at some
>length a while ago.
>
>If you think holdings/towns/ranches/stations/whathaveyou would spread
out
>equidistantly, then a sub-orbital version
>of your scramjet would be hopping all over the globe. If you think
they'd
>be clustered in one place spreading out,
>smaller, shorter range craft would be more likely, with various ground
>transports for the shortest hops.

I agree here. Whatever the means of propulsion, I think smaller
population
colony worlds will use a large number of smaller aircraft, sometimes
surplanting ground based vehicles as primary transportation, while
larger
worlds will sustain larger 'jumbo' air transports.

>I see a mix of the above: several clusterings of holdings with a few
>central cities, and remote sites in inhospitable,
>but lucrative locations. I'd think light aircraft licensers would be
doing
>quite well.

Another Alaska analogy - Ketchikan, AK receives regular, daily flights
from
an Alaska Airlines 737 (in and out twice daily), and the combination of
location and population makes it a profitable service to offer.  On the
other hand, Eek, AK has a small volume of traffic - I would be surprised
if
anything larger than a 8-seat commuter prop ever gets there, and even
the
probably no more that a couple of times a week.  If you believe as I do
that economics will still play a part in the administering of the
colonies,
I don't think there's a more reasonable way to arrange things.	Of
course,
when all your atmospheric craft are VTOL/Grav, you can bring in larger
units when needed (not always an option today) but you will typically
utilize craft that most closely match your needs - to use more is
resource
wasting.  To use less is an impediment to operations, but certainly
could
happen in a resource-strapped colony or environment.

Jared Noble