I'm very excited to release that documentary that I teased in the ad-read at the end! It'll go up on Nebula at the end of November, but make sure to sign up for the Curiosity Stream/Nebula bundle so you can see that right when it comes out: CuriosityStream.com/Wendover
It would've been nice if the environmental impact of the program was mentioned, considering how terrible flying is from an emissions standpoint, and how much emissions must be generated from all those near-empty flights.
Van Quan As well as bookings via the airlines main site like booking on KoreanAir from Seoul to NYC with a layover in LAX your LAX-JFK flight would be Delta Airlines while you’re Seoul to LAX flight would be KA
They basically have ticketing agreements and since they have a partnership they can expand their destinations and you can connect l from 1 airline to the Code Share partner seemless, baggage, boarding passes etc. A good example. AA SAN-LAX when connecting you would go BA LAX-LHR. This makes the ticket price the same if you took 1 carrier. Separate tickets would be about 5x's higher. As far as $$ the airlines negotiate rates for code sharing. I used to work for the Tariff department for AA so I used to calculate some of these outrageous fares. There is a lot more that goes into it, but way over my pay grade
I used to be a Captain for Air Choice One. Great way to gain flight experience for new commercial pilots. We had a few empty legs, but the ATL flights were always full. Our shortest flight was FOD-MCW at 53 nautical miles. It’s about a 40 minute flight or a 1.5 hour drive airport to airport according to Apple Maps. The EAS program has been on the chopping block for decades since its inception in the late 1970’s. Regional airlines do still operates some of these EAS routes in larger airplanes like the CRJ-200s and EMB-145s mentioned. The Presque Isle flight is operated by CommutAir on behalf of United Airlines in the EMB-145, for example.
Me: This 'format' of 'commenting' on YT videos is getting old,, tired and cringey. Also Me: Especially when the same 'comments' show up again and again.
Demand for flights in small towns is even smaller when you consider that most of those people have never been more than two hours away from their town, let alone left the country.
There are also a lot of communities in the rural U.S. that have populations less than 100. Hell, 42,000 is the size of the largest city in Wyoming, 48,000 is the size of the largest city in West Virginia, 63,000 in Wyoming, and on and on. Only six states have even a single city with over a million people in it. People really underestimate how sparsely populated the U.S. is.
@@MrPhilsterable Exactly! Plus with cities like Phoenix and San Antonio, they're essentially giant suburbs with the ridiculous amount of spread-out land being the major contributor to their high population, not density.
@@jnyerere To be fair, Phoenix is actually a really highly populated city (~1.6mil), but then the surrounding suburbs take up an absolutely enormous area.
The Remote Air Services Subsidy Scheme here in Australia is probably nowhere near as expensive to run, however it serves 372 communities in remote areas, and we also have the Royal Flying Doctor Service as well providing medical treatment to the most remote parts of Australia as well, I think it'd be interesting to see a video on that
Employer: So tell me, why would you want to be the CEO of this airport? Me: I know everything that is to know about planes Employer: How are you so sure of that? Me: I Watched all of Wendover Production video's Employer: You're hired.
"It would fit comfortably in just California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona", listen I'm just going to recommend not including Arizona if your goal is fitting the US population *comfortably*.
@D. Steven Ever been there in the summer? You can smell barbecue in the senior homes, even when there's no grill. Just try not to ask about what's cooking.
@D. Steven Southern Arizona is only comfortable from late fall to early spring. Spring transitions into summer pretty quickly and summer is hot and miserable. Northern Arizona however, is much cooler and far more tolerable in summer because of higher elevation and a different biome. Northern AZ's problem though, is that it gets snow in the winter and not everyone wants that.
Also keep in mind wendover's implicit hatred of subsidies for rail or public transportation, but thinks this subsidized boondoggle is as natural as gravity.
Wendover: The US is the least dense… Me: He's obviously not talking about the collective intelligence we display when making critical decisions for our nation.
Are you stupid? He said in this video the US population density is far less than Europe or Asian countries thats why a rail system wouldnt be feasible. In California theyve already wasted billions on a train that literally connects two farm towns.
@@aespa690 No, there are also plenty of cases where we could make great use of trains, yet we either refuse to act or we find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I believe California's recent attempts at rail are examples of where we have been the cause of our own needless failure.
Being such a great communicator about logistics, you should do some similar work about passenger rail services. On a recent trip to Europe, after both rail and flying, it was clear that passenger rail was the superior choice for intercity travel. It would be great to understand why, say, trains are full on some European routes yet are almost unviable in the US and Australia.
@@bishop51807 It can be, but that's not easy to answer because you have to factor in all the maintenance costs for the rail network. But it's almost always better for the environment...
@@rioyoung1493 Because of how vast the US is. The us government would have to buy millions of acres of real estate to lay the rails, cost of building train platforms, salary of all the people working the stations and trains, the cost of building and maintaining the rails, and train trips between the largely populated cities on both coasts would take days. Population centers in the US are largely too spread out to make widespread train travel feasible. (The exception being New England which is why it has AmTrack)
Joey Knight Well, at least those pilots are going out with a bang? Possibly, quite literally, if the plane tears it’s way out the other side of the ship.
Joey Knight I make awful jokes so that I can laugh at a cruel, random, insane world. What they did was beyond brave. Questionably effective on a tactical scale and pointless on a strategic scale, but very brave.
Wow, Victoria is actually the city where I live and I am flying from Victoria to Houston for the first time on Boutique air in a few weeks, so it is really cool to see this video! One reason Victoria's Houston and Dallas routes have such low demand is because the city is less than 150 miles from both Houston Hobby and Houston Intercontinental Airports as well as San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi's Airports which are all mid-size to major airports. Most residents would rather drive the 2-3 hours to a major airport than fly the 1-2 hour route.
So a Cessna Caravan is still a fairly big aircraft, seating 9 people. If they are not filling that, what is the matter with filling the "essential need" with Cessnas/Pipers? (4 seater aircraft). An independent company could do that.
I live in Denver and used to live in ALS and GJT, having flown between the cities a couple times. I am a GIANT av geek and had always wondered about the cost of the flights to/from these airports. This video answered every question I ever had about Colorado’s aviation, and some I didn’t even know I had. Thank you! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
4:15 I flew that EXACT plane on Air Service routes in '08 out of Cleveland. Loved those routes and that plane. So much better than the Hub to Hub runs we had. It felt useful, as opposed to just being slightly cheaper than running an RJ.
I live in one of the towns serviced by the Essential Air service and it is a great option to have. If we didn't have it; then it's a 2 hour drive to the next closest airport; or a 4 hour drive to the next major airport.
Interesting stuff, never heard of something like this. I'd be interested to know if there is such a program in my own country, which I'd guess there isn't - Brazil. Around a decade ago, a few low cost airlines started popping up in the country landing in relatively small scale airports in mid sized cities. It didn't last long. They went bankrupt and stopped service altogether. I know this because my mom's hometown, which we go to every xmas, has a population of only around 6000 people. The nearest neighboring city 40 minutes by car has a population of 250 thousand people. That city has a tiny airport. It's less like an airport and more like a landing zone for crop planes, but they adapted it somehow. For a couple of great years, instead of taking a 9hr bus trip there, I paid up to double the price to take a 40 minute flight instead. For the most part though, if you live in a small to mid sized city in Brazil, without strong tourism, or some other reason for there to be an airport there... it's fuck you, drive or take a bus to a bigger city, and take the flight there. :P
As a Coloradian this video was very accurate. Although Hayden, CO isnt a ski town. Actually Alamosa is closer to ski resorts then Hayden. And who wants to go to Peublo?
It puts it into context though. If this program was a complete hole of money, we'd probably all turn against it eventually. The spending is still proportional to its benefits.
But what he said is the cost of building new highways which do last, so it's not a fair comparison. I believe that maintaining existing highways would cost much cheaper.
The point isn't that it being a small amount of money in context means that money should continue being spent this way. The point is that the money being spent on this program isn't worth much as a counter to idiots who are inclined to go "wow, $290M is a lot to me, therefore it's such a waste because I'm a selfish prick who has no concern for other people and can't conceive of another perspective."
Essential air service. It allows smaller communities to have air service whereby they otherwise would not.. This could be critical in remote places like Flagstaff, AZ. Bute, Montana. etc.
Denver-Pueblo ought to be rail. There's even a name for the proposed project: Front Range Rail :) hopefully more of these areas are connected with more sustainable and economic modes of transit!
Why would I want to travel to Pueblo by rail? Honestly, it's nice for a few people to live in Pueblo and take the rail to work in Denver due to the cost of living in Denver being higher than Pueblo. But that's about it. Even a high speed train would turn a 2 hours trip into a 1 hour trip. That sounds nice, but then the rest of Denver public transportation is mediocre so if I was commuting from Pueblo, I'd save maybe 20 minutes a trip once you account for transfers. Seriously, that project is a waste of resources that would benefit a handful of people. It's way better to spend the tens of millions of dollars on improving Pueblo.
The TV Channel effect is happening gain. First there was Netflix. It became popular because it had all the content you wanted for a low price in one place. Before then, you'd have to sign up to all these TV package bundles you didn't need just so you could watch that one TV show you liked. Now, with Nebula and all the other streaming services, the same thing is happening. You need to subscribe to many streaming services just to watch the few shows you like.
Thanks for making this. After this video, I did a bit of searching and found out that the small plane I use to get to the large city nearest me from my small town is part of this program. I can't drive, so I'm really glad this exists. Especially since my tickets are usually around $30-$60 one way. I've always wondered why they are so cheap, and now I know!
Perfect timing! Not only great video but I decided today that I was going to join CuriosityStream BUT I wanted to use your code because I love what you do and want to support in the little ways I can, plus you always do such a good job on the adds! Then before I get around to looking for your code up pops this notification, perfect timing and I’m now all set up with CuriosityStream 😁
As somone who lives in Victoria I’ll say that tens of thousands use them planes a year to get to Houston and Dallas cause it cost only 60$ and they can be to work and back home to Vic in a day every day for 100$. For these old people down here that’s a blessing
Hana here! That subsidized Mokulele flight between our small town and Kahului operates a couple times a day. Used to sit on the sea cliffs just off the runway and watch the late afternoon flight depart. We have no control tower, and the one person that works the "terminal" just calls Kahului Airport to let them know the plane left.
@Wendover Productions Why do those airlines not operate a bunch of Cessnas with 2 passenger seats (or whatever else is small)? If they waste money flying 50 seaters with no passengers, it seems that if the subsidy was instead "per passenger transported", you could connect perhaps a hundred more small communities for the same price. It seems that the structure of the subsidy is highly inefficient. Like they're mostly burning money for the sheer joy of it.
@@tornado1050 Stop using normie formats that have been spammed countless of times. Humour isnt as simple as finding "le funny phrase" and spamming it and expecting a result. Humour needs originality. No ones gonna laugh from a shitty reskinned joke
For example Bangor Maine is a small city that gets lots of flights a day. It’s because it’s the only large airport in northern Maine and is close to a national park
To be fair that isn’t contradictory, you can still think that these flights shouldn’t be subsidised even if it were just 1 dollar. Wendover previously has stated he supports access to transport for all, you don’t necessarily have to share _that_ view.
Dan Scannell Well if every passenger using a subsidized plane increases local GDP by 0,12 %, and these flights allow for the upkeep of jobs in these areas, such a program can be an investment. Let’s be honest, the government earns money through taxes, if it pays 1 $ for a program knowing they’ll receive 1,01 $ back in tax revenue, it is a win-win situation for them. Plus they get to create jobs in rural areas, etc. Thus, 290 million is not much.
I agree with fetchstix™. The relative price of the subsidization doesn’t matter nearly as much as the principle. We the people shouldn’t be forced at gunpoint to pay private businesses
At your conclusion you were saying 290m is not much and would only cover 40miles of highway, but a highway lasts more than a single year. Maintaining and repaving the road every few years would add up too, but over the span of 20-30-40 years of that much money you never know what you could do with it. Especially if we're paying airlines for empty flights and they're still making profit on those flights, seems like a waste.
Just a quick correction, Grand Junction is not in the mountains. Not sure why it isn’t subsidized but no ski resorts are anywhere near. It rarely snows in the winter. Just wanted to point that out.
This is especially fascinating considering I used to live in Gunnison and would drive the 4 hours to Denver because of the cost of flights and now live in a small town in Alaska where the flights to Anchorage cost about 1/4 of the cost of flights from GUC to DEN. It would take me less time to drive to drive from my town to Anchorage than it did from Gunnison to Denver. You can always drive to an airport in Colorado and there are multiple roads to get to a major airport, but in Alaska that is generally not the case.
when ancient rome conquered much of europe, roads connecting everything was probably seen as unrealistic, not worth it, etc etc... but they did it, and look what happened to it since
When batteries get good enough for robotic EVTOLs to take off things will change quite a bit. Travel 300 km in an hour point to point on demand between any landingpad, making passenger rail, coaches and small airports obsolete. Also change housing with airtaxi suburbs up to 300 km away from the city.
He's trying to make sure we understand the equivalent value of that program without trying to express whether that means its justified or not. "It's not that much" is not the same as "it's worth it"....
@@forgottenfamily It's a matter of principle. If we cut all the crazy programs like this one the government would save billions. If not, the programs will continue to grow and our debt will consume us all.
@@stevencooper4422 Again, no position was made on whether it was or wasn't worth it. Whether you think it's worth it is up to you and you may vote based upon those beliefs. All that was expressed was to give a proper reference point to what the cost is actually since we actually have very limited ability to understand expenses that are orders of magnitude above numbers that we routinely deal with. However, if we want to talk about practical realities, here are some things I do ask: 1) What is the actual economic benefit of the program? While the video gives a percentage of economic growth from increased traffic, that doesn't actually translate to an actual dollar amount of economic activity. Did that economic benefit exceed the 290M? In fact, I'd actually want it to greatly exceed it - if it's a 1:1 ROI, then it's basically a direct funneling of money from Washington to that town which is not necessarily a practical policy. 2) Are there more effective ways for that 290M to be spent from an economic standpoint? 3) Are there secondary economic or cultural benefits. I posted elsewhere on here that one of the areas I'm thinking about is how primary resource gathering such as mining and farming are fairly rural oriented just by their nature. While the economic benefit of growing the town might not necessarily be there, having farming communities be connected enough to continue to sustain the farming industry may be a worthwhile investment. I'm sure if pushed, I could come up with additional questions, but the point of the questions is that there are a lot of reasons to consider this a worthwhile investment. On the other hand, it would not shock me if many of these flights are terrible investments and are far more about ensuring that communities that have no remaining economic value are propped up. I'm not convinced that a small youtube video can truly do justice to answering the questions that need to be answered for judging a program. But I do know that just looking at the price tag and saying "that's too much" without asking the question "is it worth it" is just bad government.
I mean, yes, but we all know by "what to think," he means "what opinion to have on the matter." If you consider facts as matters of opinion you probably shouldn't try having opinions about anything of consequence at any point in your life.
@Steven Cooper "We should cut this program because it costs money." That is all your comment said. Morons like you are why there's a debt problem in the first place.
Woohoo! I was hoping you would do a video on the EAS! My favorite wasteful EAS route is Owensboro, KY to St. Louis on Cape Air. OWB has twice weekly unsubsidized service on Allegiant to Orlando-Sanford. The Cape Air EAS route runs three times a day with some tickets as low as $19. OWB is only 43 miles from Evansville Regional Airport. EVV has service to all the major US3 east coast hubs as well as service to SFB also via Allegiant. Cape Air makes $2 million for their 21 flights a week, or $1,831.50 per flight before a single ticket is sold.
About the only place that literally needs “essential” air service is Alaska and Hawaii. All the people in the 48 mainland states can actually drive to larger airports so the flights are not actually “essential” it is basically to fly lazy people around who don’t feel like driving
i really want to see the Canadian version of this cause when I lived in the Arctic, it would cost my 3k round trip to visit my family in Ontario. i met some people in the Eastern Arctic and it costs them between 5-8k to fly to Ottawa and back. I don't think we have a similar program or if we do, it works a lot differently
This is because commercial air service is essentially a form of public transportation. Not really different from buses and trains, which are also generally not profitable and funded by the government. Public transportation is provided as a public good, not as a profit making business. Airlines are a little different since so many passengers are leisure travelers but there are also lots of airline passengers who travel for work as well, of course.
Resident of the DMV (DC, MD, VA). The estimate you give at 9:33 is a best case scenario. With the traffic issues we have, especially when crossing the Potomac river during rush hour, it will probably take longer than stated. Though I agree with Wendover that the subsidy makes no sense...
6:40 also you forgot that trains are the go to mean of transport that European countries subsidize as they are cheaper than planes and often ran by state owned companies
Yes, it is quite nice when a crushing world war breaks any semblance of property rights, allowing the government to build massive civic works without dealing with the headache of relocating literal tens of millions of citizens from their houses. It also helps when your entire nation is the same size as a single state of the United States.
Also, the entire European continent packs about twice the people in about 75% of the land (if we exclude the European portions of Russia from both, and Alaska from the USA).
Subsidising Public Transport is a very good sign. Here in India Leaders are not caring to subsidise public transport instead they give subsidies to plane routes and tax heavily on buses that run to rural areas.The recent strike in TSRTC(Telangana state road transport corporation) is due to negligence of Telangana government.Not giving money to TSRTC but TSRTC is giving subsidies.But government isn't paying them
Ehh, I don’t think it’s as comparable. Transport is more necessary than higher education for a start, and I’d say e.g. free healthcare should come over free college
If they spread that money out evenly to the US population we would all get about $0.80. That same US government spends more in subsidies to universities and paying peoples loan interest than they do in the EAS program.
@@TheOwenMajor it's hard to feel those subsidies when you're sitting on a 6 figures worth of debt, especially when those costs didn't use to be so high
@@hydrochloricacid2146 The costs are so high primarily due to government intervention. Demand is high, faculty are paid more, more services are offered, more programs need to be supported. This idea that everyone needs to have a college education is what is driving up the costs.
I actually flew from Victoria to Houston over the summer to get a connecting flight back to Denver. The plane had 6 seats and wasn’t a very long flight. Didn’t know about this service but it’s really cool to know that I was apart of something bigger.
Hmm it does seem a bit strange and wasteful that flight companies get paid for operating a flight even with no bookings, but at the same time you need to run a certain amount of services for people to know that they’re reliable. It’ll probably be difficult to justify payments on a “per passenger” basis, there’s a reason they have to be subsidised in the first place. I think the bigger question is what is the alternative? I’m not from the US so can’t really make a comment on how transport is, but it might be that flights are the most economically (but not environmentally) sensible way of providing services.
@@fetchstixRHD I agree, with the economic side of it. It will generate jobs and income for remote areas and give them much needed links to larger towns / cities. As the video points out, the train / public infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired in the US. But, it's just the empty planes flying around for no passengers.
@@fetchstixRHD maybe not as strange as you think. as some are really remote, as in cargo is probably the main transport to the area. such as rural alaska.
Urbanization is generally good for the environment so anything that promotes continuation of rural communities is often bad for it. That said, rural communities are necessary for various things - most notably natural resource development/extraction including farming and mining - so there is a necessity of balance involved. Whether continuing to service small factory or formerly-factory-towns is worth it is a more complex topic - often you're subsidizing people to live in a remote area because they prefer it and it does benefit the area economically, but it may be more economical and environmentally friendly for the entire town to just move to a more urban area. Sometimes government subsidies are great. Sometimes government subsidies can be for ensuring voters don't have to change their behaviors even if such a change would be for the benefit of society at large. And defining each is a complex task considering everyone has a different definition of "value"
Unless there are nasty surprises, the government can lease out those unused buildings to fund some of programs, like a slightly expanded EAS. And those leased out buildings, especially ones within places with high real estate prices, can help young people and start-up businesses greatly.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm very excited to release that documentary that I teased in the ad-read at the end! It'll go up on Nebula at the end of November, but make sure to sign up for the Curiosity Stream/Nebula bundle so you can see that right when it comes out: CuriosityStream.com/Wendover
Still no Android app for Nebula?
Why can't I see this video () on Nebula now without the curiosity/nebula ad?
:)
It would've been nice if the environmental impact of the program was mentioned, considering how terrible flying is from an emissions standpoint, and how much emissions must be generated from all those near-empty flights.
This the one in like Ethiopia?
10:57 ok now I want a video on disused US government buildings. Theres gotta be some wild stuff there
There. are. so. many.
Yes, there are. Have you ever seen any of the orgy videos? They're all filmed in those buildings.
@@scotthenrie5674 I haven't. Got any links?
@@scotthenrie5674 I'd google orgy videos, but that doesn't feel like a good idea for some reason.
You'll only get a video like that if a building has ever interacted with an airpl....oh....
How do airline alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam, Star Alliance) work? It would be a great vid!
Van Quan As well as bookings via the airlines main site like booking on KoreanAir from Seoul to NYC with a layover in LAX your LAX-JFK flight would be Delta Airlines while you’re Seoul to LAX flight would be KA
"The Logistics of Airline Alliances"
They basically have ticketing agreements and since they have a partnership they can expand their destinations and you can connect l from 1 airline to the Code Share partner seemless, baggage, boarding passes etc. A good example. AA SAN-LAX when connecting you would go BA LAX-LHR. This makes the ticket price the same if you took 1 carrier. Separate tickets would be about 5x's higher. As far as $$ the airlines negotiate rates for code sharing. I used to work for the Tariff department for AA so I used to calculate some of these outrageous fares. There is a lot more that goes into it, but way over my pay grade
Everyone: memorizes state capitals.
Wendover: memorizes towns with commercial airport in every state.
I used to be a Captain for Air Choice One. Great way to gain flight experience for new commercial pilots. We had a few empty legs, but the ATL flights were always full. Our shortest flight was FOD-MCW at 53 nautical miles. It’s about a 40 minute flight or a 1.5 hour drive airport to airport according to Apple Maps. The EAS program has been on the chopping block for decades since its inception in the late 1970’s. Regional airlines do still operates some of these EAS routes in larger airplanes like the CRJ-200s and EMB-145s mentioned. The Presque Isle flight is operated by CommutAir on behalf of United Airlines in the EMB-145, for example.
Sees Wendover has a new plane video.
*tightens tourniquet*
I need my fix
Private Companys need a fix - taxpayers money.
Planes in the veins!
Planespotting.
Me: Books a seat on a plane
United Airlines: It’s free real estate
Me: Books seat on a plane
United Airlines: Your real estate was already bought. GET OUT!
Me: This 'format' of 'commenting' on YT videos is getting old,, tired and cringey.
Also Me: Especially when the same 'comments' show up again and again.
KKK, oh that took me back cuh
Technically, CommutAir, dba United Express.
So quit reading them! DUH!
Demand for flights in small towns is even smaller when you consider that most of those people have never been more than two hours away from their town, let alone left the country.
"Town of 30,000"
Well that makes some of my countries smaller cities essentially squat little towns internationally speaking.
There are also a lot of communities in the rural U.S. that have populations less than 100. Hell, 42,000 is the size of the largest city in Wyoming, 48,000 is the size of the largest city in West Virginia, 63,000 in Wyoming, and on and on. Only six states have even a single city with over a million people in it. People really underestimate how sparsely populated the U.S. is.
@@MrPhilsterable Wyoming must of multipled
@@MrPhilsterable Exactly! Plus with cities like Phoenix and San Antonio, they're essentially giant suburbs with the ridiculous amount of spread-out land being the major contributor to their high population, not density.
@@MrPhilsterable Cheyenne has 65,000 people. Not sure where you are getting the 42,000 figure, or why Wyoming was mentioned twice.
@@jnyerere To be fair, Phoenix is actually a really highly populated city (~1.6mil), but then the surrounding suburbs take up an absolutely enormous area.
*plane topic exists*:
Wendover:I will take your entire stock
@Double Darrel who gives a shit
The Remote Air Services Subsidy Scheme here in Australia is probably nowhere near as expensive to run, however it serves 372 communities in remote areas, and we also have the Royal Flying Doctor Service as well providing medical treatment to the most remote parts of Australia as well, I think it'd be interesting to see a video on that
Employer: So tell me, why would you want to be the CEO of this airport?
Me: I know everything that is to know about planes
Employer: How are you so sure of that?
Me: I Watched all of Wendover Production video's
Employer: You're hired.
Production's videos*
cats and fruits ok
cats and fruits Ok Boomer
cats and fruits boomer
This is a wholesome qualification.
"It would fit comfortably in just California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona", listen I'm just going to recommend not including Arizona if your goal is fitting the US population *comfortably*.
Captain Patch I think the heat will kill most non-Arizona residents
@D. Steven Ever been there in the summer? You can smell barbecue in the senior homes, even when there's no grill. Just try not to ask about what's cooking.
The last time I was in Arizona in the summer, I thought I was going to die just walking over a parking lot.
D. Steven actually you can look up cases where senior citizens died from the heat in Arizona! It really sad.
@D. Steven Southern Arizona is only comfortable from late fall to early spring. Spring transitions into summer pretty quickly and summer is hot and miserable. Northern Arizona however, is much cooler and far more tolerable in summer because of higher elevation and a different biome. Northern AZ's problem though, is that it gets snow in the winter and not everyone wants that.
11:13 "I've just filmed a documentary about... something..."
It's about planes, isn't it.
EAS is amazing. I used them to fly from Morgantown (WV) to Baltimore a whole lot in college. It was like flying a private jet
I live in Hagerstown MD. Can’t believe it took them this long to axe the program.....
USA: "we can not afford high speed rail"
also USA: "we should keep subsidising flights and roads that are 10 lanes wide"
Also keep in mind wendover's implicit hatred of subsidies for rail or public transportation, but thinks this subsidized boondoggle is as natural as gravity.
Mmmmmm high speed rail that goes nowhere I wanna go..
Wendover: The US is the least dense…
Me: He's obviously not talking about the collective intelligence we display when making critical decisions for our nation.
Are you stupid? He said in this video the US population density is far less than Europe or Asian countries thats why a rail system wouldnt be feasible. In California theyve already wasted billions on a train that literally connects two farm towns.
@@aespa690 No, there are also plenty of cases where we could make great use of trains, yet we either refuse to act or we find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I believe California's recent attempts at rail are examples of where we have been the cause of our own needless failure.
In Maryland we have like 3 different international airports to choose from that are practically right next to each other
I know a guy that flies to Presque Isle once a year or so for work. One person works all the car rental counters.
Being such a great communicator about logistics, you should do some similar work about passenger rail services.
On a recent trip to Europe, after both rail and flying, it was clear that passenger rail was the superior choice for intercity travel.
It would be great to understand why, say, trains are full on some European routes yet are almost unviable in the US and Australia.
Meanwhile, in europe we actually subsidise trains lol
Is it cheaper than fueling a plane?
@@bishop51807 It can be, but that's not easy to answer because you have to factor in all the maintenance costs for the rail network. But it's almost always better for the environment...
Sadly the US's geography makes passenger rail a near impossibility.
Shigg McDigg why? It seems largely flat other than some mountains on either coast
@@rioyoung1493 Because of how vast the US is. The us government would have to buy millions of acres of real estate to lay the rails, cost of building train platforms, salary of all the people working the stations and trains, the cost of building and maintaining the rails, and train trips between the largely populated cities on both coasts would take days. Population centers in the US are largely too spread out to make widespread train travel feasible. (The exception being New England which is why it has AmTrack)
Planes do anything
Wendover: Wright that down
Joey Knight That joke was awful. Plane crash awful.
@@Erakius323
No one
Kamikaze pilots: suicides is badass
Joey Knight Well, at least those pilots are going out with a bang? Possibly, quite literally, if the plane tears it’s way out the other side of the ship.
@@Erakius323 of course i nothing but respect for them they may have enemy's but still i respect them. I feel quite bad about joking about it
Joey Knight I make awful jokes so that I can laugh at a cruel, random, insane world. What they did was beyond brave. Questionably effective on a tactical scale and pointless on a strategic scale, but very brave.
As someone who lives in a small town where it costs $200+ to fly an hour away, I sure wish OUR flights were subsidized down to $64
1 hour from Hagerstown to National!? This guy hasn't seen Beltway traffic
Wendover and airplanes are just like hot chocolate and marshmallows, the perfect combination
fug man. You are everywhere. Get a job man.
Adblock NYT I do have one, it’s part time
H0W AB0UT P!ZZA AER0PLANE W!TH HUGE 0F MEAT?!!
You always make logistics interesing AND I LOVE IT
Wow, Victoria is actually the city where I live and I am flying from Victoria to Houston for the first time on Boutique air in a few weeks, so it is really cool to see this video! One reason Victoria's Houston and Dallas routes have such low demand is because the city is less than 150 miles from both Houston Hobby and Houston Intercontinental Airports as well as San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi's Airports which are all mid-size to major airports. Most residents would rather drive the 2-3 hours to a major airport than fly the 1-2 hour route.
So a Cessna Caravan is still a fairly big aircraft, seating 9 people. If they are not filling that, what is the matter with filling the "essential need" with Cessnas/Pipers? (4 seater aircraft). An independent company could do that.
I live in Denver and used to live in ALS and GJT, having flown between the cities a couple times. I am a GIANT av geek and had always wondered about the cost of the flights to/from these airports. This video answered every question I ever had about Colorado’s aviation, and some I didn’t even know I had. Thank you! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
So what you are saying is that small towns depend on government handouts
A fact, oddly enough forgotten by small town folk
The irony is thicc
4:15 I flew that EXACT plane on Air Service routes in '08 out of Cleveland. Loved those routes and that plane. So much better than the Hub to Hub runs we had. It felt useful, as opposed to just being slightly cheaper than running an RJ.
u flew a floating plane?
@@rawleighsellers4525 Main gear is under the engines. Big wide stance. Framing means everything in Photography and cinematography.
This happens in Norway aswell in Northern Norway with Wideroe
I played this video to my dog...
He still a dog, but he liked it though
Airplanes: *exist*
Wendover: It's free real estate
Rev. Spooner: It’s reef real estate
How is it possible that under every video the same comment is one of the most liked comments?
Are -Wendover fans- people on TH-cam really that stupid?
@@Jehty_ not just a wendover meme. This type of meme is all over youtube and apparently they don't become boring to many
Great video as usual. Thank you Wendover for the quality content you provide. Keep up the good work!
Last time I was this early, the 737 MAX was flying.
JamesRB10 ayyyyyyyy
JamesRB10 No, just no
Last time I was this early, the 737 NG had sound pickleforks
Too soon. Too soon
this aged well
I live in one of the towns serviced by the Essential Air service and it is a great option to have. If we didn't have it; then it's a 2 hour drive to the next closest airport; or a 4 hour drive to the next major airport.
Interesting stuff, never heard of something like this.
I'd be interested to know if there is such a program in my own country, which I'd guess there isn't - Brazil.
Around a decade ago, a few low cost airlines started popping up in the country landing in relatively small scale airports in mid sized cities.
It didn't last long. They went bankrupt and stopped service altogether.
I know this because my mom's hometown, which we go to every xmas, has a population of only around 6000 people. The nearest neighboring city 40 minutes by car has a population of 250 thousand people. That city has a tiny airport. It's less like an airport and more like a landing zone for crop planes, but they adapted it somehow.
For a couple of great years, instead of taking a 9hr bus trip there, I paid up to double the price to take a 40 minute flight instead.
For the most part though, if you live in a small to mid sized city in Brazil, without strong tourism, or some other reason for there to be an airport there... it's fuck you, drive or take a bus to a bigger city, and take the flight there. :P
As a Coloradian this video was very accurate. Although Hayden, CO isnt a ski town. Actually Alamosa is closer to ski resorts then Hayden. And who wants to go to Peublo?
“It’s not as expensive as the other things we spend money on” is not a valid excuse to spend money.
I do think EAS is a good thing though
I think he's more trying to say that it's a lot more beneficial than a lot of those other things
It puts it into context though. If this program was a complete hole of money, we'd probably all turn against it eventually. The spending is still proportional to its benefits.
He did compare it against highways which is relevant...
But what he said is the cost of building new highways which do last, so it's not a fair comparison. I believe that maintaining existing highways would cost much cheaper.
The point isn't that it being a small amount of money in context means that money should continue being spent this way. The point is that the money being spent on this program isn't worth much as a counter to idiots who are inclined to go "wow, $290M is a lot to me, therefore it's such a waste because I'm a selfish prick who has no concern for other people and can't conceive of another perspective."
Essential air service. It allows smaller communities to have air service whereby they otherwise would not.. This could be critical in remote places like Flagstaff, AZ. Bute, Montana. etc.
Denver-Pueblo ought to be rail. There's even a name for the proposed project: Front Range Rail :) hopefully more of these areas are connected with more sustainable and economic modes of transit!
Trains are only real competitors over short distances.
They should have taken all they money they used to widen the I-25 gap and put it into a train.
Why would I want to travel to Pueblo by rail?
Honestly, it's nice for a few people to live in Pueblo and take the rail to work in Denver due to the cost of living in Denver being higher than Pueblo. But that's about it. Even a high speed train would turn a 2 hours trip into a 1 hour trip.
That sounds nice, but then the rest of Denver public transportation is mediocre so if I was commuting from Pueblo, I'd save maybe 20 minutes a trip once you account for transfers.
Seriously, that project is a waste of resources that would benefit a handful of people. It's way better to spend the tens of millions of dollars on improving Pueblo.
@@seigeengine Denver - Pueblo is only roughly 100miles, well within that range of effectiveness for rail :)
@archlinuxrussian The problem is that trains are expensive.
The track alone to cover that 100 miles could cost $5-10 billion.
The TV Channel effect is happening gain. First there was Netflix. It became popular because it had all the content you wanted for a low price in one place. Before then, you'd have to sign up to all these TV package bundles you didn't need just so you could watch that one TV show you liked. Now, with Nebula and all the other streaming services, the same thing is happening. You need to subscribe to many streaming services just to watch the few shows you like.
4:15 took me some time before I realised that the plane isn't levitating...
But where are the back wheels? I can only see the front one.
@@1998tkhri On the wings. You can see the one on the left-wing
@@1998tkhri google Q400-8
Thanks for making this. After this video, I did a bit of searching and found out that the small plane I use to get to the large city nearest me from my small town is part of this program. I can't drive, so I'm really glad this exists. Especially since my tickets are usually around $30-$60 one way. I've always wondered why they are so cheap, and now I know!
Next up can you do a video explaining china’s belt and road initiative and show how large of a project to it is
1:16 That is a Horizon Air Q-400 in PDX, I pilot that exact airplane regularly. Great airplane!
I hope by the time I get my CPL these routs will still be active, it might aid me in obtaining some valuable flight experience here in the US.
Perfect timing!
Not only great video but I decided today that I was going to join CuriosityStream BUT I wanted to use your code because I love what you do and want to support in the little ways I can, plus you always do such a good job on the adds!
Then before I get around to looking for your code up pops this notification, perfect timing and I’m now all set up with CuriosityStream 😁
I just realized that this is like an airplane related channel at this point.
As somone who lives in Victoria I’ll say that tens of thousands use them planes a year to get to Houston and Dallas cause it cost only 60$ and they can be to work and back home to Vic in a day every day for 100$. For these old people down here that’s a blessing
Planes: *exist*
Wendover: *plan(e)s and posts 5112019 videos on them*
Charles Ramos What a normie!
Hana here! That subsidized Mokulele flight between our small town and Kahului operates a couple times a day. Used to sit on the sea cliffs just off the runway and watch the late afternoon flight depart. We have no control tower, and the one person that works the "terminal" just calls Kahului Airport to let them know the plane left.
7:28
trans-siberian railroad: *cough*
Justice and honor built by countless slaves: *TB cough*
@@ChrisGeden we prefer to call them.. commited volunteers
Justice and honor incorrect. The trans-siberian road was built in the days of Russian Empire.
And all electrified
@Wendover Productions
Why do those airlines not operate a bunch of Cessnas with 2 passenger seats (or whatever else is small)? If they waste money flying 50 seaters with no passengers, it seems that if the subsidy was instead "per passenger transported", you could connect perhaps a hundred more small communities for the same price. It seems that the structure of the subsidy is highly inefficient.
Like they're mostly burning money for the sheer joy of it.
Hi I was wondering how do you take the reference of the cost of the highway at 10:54. Thanks
Goes to show that state intervention is more prevalent in the states than than you think, and also, it's good.
When wendover talks about planes in his TH-cam videos:
Commenters: *PLANES EXIST*
Wendover:I own these now.
not funny didnt laugh.
@@honkhonk8009thanks for the comment, could you suggest how it could be funnier?
@@tornado1050 Stop using normie formats that have been spammed countless of times.
Humour isnt as simple as finding "le funny phrase" and spamming it and expecting a result. Humour needs originality. No ones gonna laugh from a shitty reskinned joke
For example Bangor Maine is a small city that gets lots of flights a day. It’s because it’s the only large airport in northern Maine and is close to a national park
"Without telling you what to think, $290 million just isn't that much for the gov."
*shrug*
To be fair that isn’t contradictory, you can still think that these flights shouldn’t be subsidised even if it were just 1 dollar. Wendover previously has stated he supports access to transport for all, you don’t necessarily have to share _that_ view.
2019 US Federal budget is $4.4 Trillion dollars. $290 million is 0.004% of the budget. It's not that much compared to the size of the budget.
I agree with the sentiment, just thought the phrasing was funny.
Dan Scannell Well if every passenger using a subsidized plane increases local GDP by 0,12 %, and these flights allow for the upkeep of jobs in these areas, such a program can be an investment.
Let’s be honest, the government earns money through taxes, if it pays 1 $ for a program knowing they’ll receive 1,01 $ back in tax revenue, it is a win-win situation for them. Plus they get to create jobs in rural areas, etc. Thus, 290 million is not much.
I agree with fetchstix™. The relative price of the subsidization doesn’t matter nearly as much as the principle. We the people shouldn’t be forced at gunpoint to pay private businesses
Please make a video on major airport expansions! Great channel!
Hmmm
Yes
Yes
This channel is made out of airplanes
Now _thats_ what I like about it
At your conclusion you were saying 290m is not much and would only cover 40miles of highway, but a highway lasts more than a single year. Maintaining and repaving the road every few years would add up too, but over the span of 20-30-40 years of that much money you never know what you could do with it. Especially if we're paying airlines for empty flights and they're still making profit on those flights, seems like a waste.
you say 54$ is low for a flight in Europe you can buy a flight from London To Oslo for £4 if you're lucky or £21 from Dublin to Canarias Islands
SpieDzFN add bags, a meal etc... adds up
@@tcrossau don't bring bags prepare meal
Just a quick correction, Grand Junction is not in the mountains. Not sure why it isn’t subsidized but no ski resorts are anywhere near. It rarely snows in the winter. Just wanted to point that out.
I'm seriously running out of plane jokes for this channel.
Good.
Shoutout to my hometown of Durango!!!! Major tourist destination, with over 300,000 annual passengers through the La Plata County Airport
Like • Cheers from Mettetal Airport. Canton - Plymouth Michigan ✈️
ayyyyee canton
Howdy neighbor! Farmington Hills here.
Another fantastic argument for high speed rail. Pueblo would be an easy stop in the Denver corridor that would not need to be subsidized AT ALL.
4:21
how the hell is that plane standing ???
I also just thought that
Wings under the engine
Look at the wheels under the turboprop
@@OCinneide wings are above the engine!!! You meant to say wheels. 😜
@@pixoontube2912 check the new replies for an answer.
This is especially fascinating considering I used to live in Gunnison and would drive the 4 hours to Denver because of the cost of flights and now live in a small town in Alaska where the flights to Anchorage cost about 1/4 of the cost of flights from GUC to DEN. It would take me less time to drive to drive from my town to Anchorage than it did from Gunnison to Denver. You can always drive to an airport in Colorado and there are multiple roads to get to a major airport, but in Alaska that is generally not the case.
when ancient rome conquered much of europe, roads connecting everything was probably seen as unrealistic, not worth it, etc etc... but they did it, and look what happened to it since
When batteries get good enough for robotic EVTOLs to take off things will change quite a bit. Travel 300 km in an hour point to point on demand between any landingpad, making passenger rail, coaches and small airports obsolete. Also change housing with airtaxi suburbs up to 300 km away from the city.
"without telling you what to think"
proceeds to tell us what to think lol
He's trying to make sure we understand the equivalent value of that program without trying to express whether that means its justified or not. "It's not that much" is not the same as "it's worth it"....
@@forgottenfamily It's a matter of principle. If we cut all the crazy programs like this one the government would save billions. If not, the programs will continue to grow and our debt will consume us all.
@@stevencooper4422 Again, no position was made on whether it was or wasn't worth it. Whether you think it's worth it is up to you and you may vote based upon those beliefs. All that was expressed was to give a proper reference point to what the cost is actually since we actually have very limited ability to understand expenses that are orders of magnitude above numbers that we routinely deal with.
However, if we want to talk about practical realities, here are some things I do ask:
1) What is the actual economic benefit of the program? While the video gives a percentage of economic growth from increased traffic, that doesn't actually translate to an actual dollar amount of economic activity. Did that economic benefit exceed the 290M? In fact, I'd actually want it to greatly exceed it - if it's a 1:1 ROI, then it's basically a direct funneling of money from Washington to that town which is not necessarily a practical policy.
2) Are there more effective ways for that 290M to be spent from an economic standpoint?
3) Are there secondary economic or cultural benefits. I posted elsewhere on here that one of the areas I'm thinking about is how primary resource gathering such as mining and farming are fairly rural oriented just by their nature. While the economic benefit of growing the town might not necessarily be there, having farming communities be connected enough to continue to sustain the farming industry may be a worthwhile investment.
I'm sure if pushed, I could come up with additional questions, but the point of the questions is that there are a lot of reasons to consider this a worthwhile investment. On the other hand, it would not shock me if many of these flights are terrible investments and are far more about ensuring that communities that have no remaining economic value are propped up. I'm not convinced that a small youtube video can truly do justice to answering the questions that need to be answered for judging a program. But I do know that just looking at the price tag and saying "that's too much" without asking the question "is it worth it" is just bad government.
I mean, yes, but we all know by "what to think," he means "what opinion to have on the matter."
If you consider facts as matters of opinion you probably shouldn't try having opinions about anything of consequence at any point in your life.
@Steven Cooper "We should cut this program because it costs money."
That is all your comment said. Morons like you are why there's a debt problem in the first place.
Woohoo! I was hoping you would do a video on the EAS! My favorite wasteful EAS route is Owensboro, KY to St. Louis on Cape Air. OWB has twice weekly unsubsidized service on Allegiant to Orlando-Sanford. The Cape Air EAS route runs three times a day with some tickets as low as $19. OWB is only 43 miles from Evansville Regional Airport. EVV has service to all the major US3 east coast hubs as well as service to SFB also via Allegiant. Cape Air makes $2 million for their 21 flights a week, or $1,831.50 per flight before a single ticket is sold.
What I am doing here during my Physics lecture?
Oh I learn more easily here. Lol
It’s not the Vf=Vi+at that kills you, it’s the F=m(deltaV/deltaT)
About the only place that literally needs “essential” air service is Alaska and Hawaii. All the people in the 48 mainland states can actually drive to larger airports so the flights are not actually “essential” it is basically to fly lazy people around who don’t feel like driving
The US will pay the airport.
It's gonna be HUUUUUGE.
Keep up the good work Sam.
Will Wendover Production ever run out of Plane videos ?
Wait until the airplane industry starts leaving Earth's atmosphere to make the trips shorter! ( I doubt that will happen )
I actually suggested this topic on your form a few months ago. Glad to see a video on it!
3:18 my town finally mentioned in a TH-cam video
Which one, he lists a bajillion Coloradan towns
PewDiePie is still a bad TH-camr Grand Junction
Taprman Oak a thanks
i really want to see the Canadian version of this cause when I lived in the Arctic, it would cost my 3k round trip to visit my family in Ontario. i met some people in the Eastern Arctic and it costs them between 5-8k to fly to Ottawa and back. I don't think we have a similar program or if we do, it works a lot differently
This is because commercial air service is essentially a form of public transportation. Not really different from buses and trains, which are also generally not profitable and funded by the government. Public transportation is provided as a public good, not as a profit making business. Airlines are a little different since so many passengers are leisure travelers but there are also lots of airline passengers who travel for work as well, of course.
Wow! You make very informative and entertaining videos on airplanes...i hope you make more!
*oh wai.....*
Resident of the DMV (DC, MD, VA). The estimate you give at 9:33 is a best case scenario. With the traffic issues we have, especially when crossing the Potomac river during rush hour, it will probably take longer than stated. Though I agree with Wendover that the subsidy makes no sense...
6:40 also you forgot that trains are the go to mean of transport that European countries subsidize as they are cheaper than planes and often ran by state owned companies
And yet every year Europeans fly more and more often.
Yes, it is quite nice when a crushing world war breaks any semblance of property rights, allowing the government to build massive civic works without dealing with the headache of relocating literal tens of millions of citizens from their houses. It also helps when your entire nation is the same size as a single state of the United States.
Also, the entire European continent packs about twice the people in about 75% of the land (if we exclude the European portions of Russia from both, and Alaska from the USA).
@UC9LdrViPBSyykPs4CAGogBg The reply function didn't seem to add in the user name you are responding to.
@@williamforbes6919 Can you please send me a link to proove it? Because the majority of railroads in Europe were built before ww2
Subsidising Public Transport is a very good sign. Here in India Leaders are not caring to subsidise public transport instead they give subsidies to plane routes and tax heavily on buses that run to rural areas.The recent strike in TSRTC(Telangana state road transport corporation) is due to negligence of Telangana government.Not giving money to TSRTC but TSRTC is giving subsidies.But government isn't paying them
4:19 gravity needs a patch.
@@randomperson01 there are no wheels in the back.
@@randomperson01 there is 1 wheel at the front supporting all of the weight
In Europe many subsidies go into the rail network rather than air traffic.
Wendover: Flights and Planes
In other news, the sky is blue and the sun is shining
Life's good when wendover uploads a new video. Waiting for Extremities season 3.
and the same US government makes me pay for college smh
Ehh, I don’t think it’s as comparable. Transport is more necessary than higher education for a start, and I’d say e.g. free healthcare should come over free college
If they spread that money out evenly to the US population we would all get about $0.80. That same US government spends more in subsidies to universities and paying peoples loan interest than they do in the EAS program.
The government gives massive subsidies to higher education. God you people are insufferable, you don't have any idea of what you are talking about.
@@TheOwenMajor it's hard to feel those subsidies when you're sitting on a 6 figures worth of debt, especially when those costs didn't use to be so high
@@hydrochloricacid2146 The costs are so high primarily due to government intervention.
Demand is high, faculty are paid more, more services are offered, more programs need to be supported.
This idea that everyone needs to have a college education is what is driving up the costs.
Yeah, Grand Junction is small, but the people there got money. Not much need for subsidies there.
How effective is it at creating unnecessary polution? *YES*
Let me guess you live on the coast.
I actually flew from Victoria to Houston over the summer to get a connecting flight back to Denver. The plane had 6 seats and wasn’t a very long flight. Didn’t know about this service but it’s really cool to know that I was apart of something bigger.
Very interesting, what about the environmental impact though?
Hmm it does seem a bit strange and wasteful that flight companies get paid for operating a flight even with no bookings, but at the same time you need to run a certain amount of services for people to know that they’re reliable. It’ll probably be difficult to justify payments on a “per passenger” basis, there’s a reason they have to be subsidised in the first place.
I think the bigger question is what is the alternative? I’m not from the US so can’t really make a comment on how transport is, but it might be that flights are the most economically (but not environmentally) sensible way of providing services.
@@fetchstixRHD I agree, with the economic side of it. It will generate jobs and income for remote areas and give them much needed links to larger towns / cities.
As the video points out, the train / public infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired in the US.
But, it's just the empty planes flying around for no passengers.
@@fetchstixRHD maybe not as strange as you think. as some are really remote, as in cargo is probably the main transport to the area. such as rural alaska.
Urbanization is generally good for the environment so anything that promotes continuation of rural communities is often bad for it. That said, rural communities are necessary for various things - most notably natural resource development/extraction including farming and mining - so there is a necessity of balance involved. Whether continuing to service small factory or formerly-factory-towns is worth it is a more complex topic - often you're subsidizing people to live in a remote area because they prefer it and it does benefit the area economically, but it may be more economical and environmentally friendly for the entire town to just move to a more urban area. Sometimes government subsidies are great. Sometimes government subsidies can be for ensuring voters don't have to change their behaviors even if such a change would be for the benefit of society at large. And defining each is a complex task considering everyone has a different definition of "value"
@@forgottenfamily this, exactly.
Unless there are nasty surprises, the government can lease out those unused buildings to fund some of programs, like a slightly expanded EAS. And those leased out buildings, especially ones within places with high real estate prices, can help young people and start-up businesses greatly.
Space A: hold my c-17 for free
Space A: Corrupted to be more useful for retirees than active duty or reservists.
Great video! You're a great inspiration for me and my channel 😊😊😊