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Published On: Sep 15, 2008 02:26 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Sep 15, 2008 02:26 PM
United Airlines' "Channel 9" and its links to Microsoft and Robert Scoble - the scobleizer
Sometimes
you have to allow for some strange forms of synchronicity in this
world!
I usually take two or three trips to the US each
year, for conferences, talks, lectures and holidays - yep, vacations as
Americans are wont to say.
If I go to direct, rather than via Europe, it is always with United Airlines. My very first trip to the US in 1982 or so was with Pan Am - well, it was meant to be. When a fault in the plane couldn't be fixed in Melbourne, on a half empty flight, we were all transferred to QANTAS, which became a packed plane which made its way to Los Angeles (LAX) via Tahiti (PPT). PPT doesn't mean you get to see lots of Powerpoint presentations, but is the three letter code for Papeete, where the big planes land.
Our's was a 747-200 which then took us on to LAX, from where we took a Pan Am Lockheed L-1011 through the night into Miami (MIA). The return flight a few weeks later was just as eventful, except this time the same type aircraft took off west over Miami Beach, when I noticed we then turned left and headed west. To which I said, "we're heading back to the Airport!" which indeed we did!
Apparently, an oil supply problem to one of the three engines had occurred, requiring a return to base. A few hours later we were on our way again, landing in LAX too close to our return 747's departure to Sydney (via Honolulu, HNL).
We were told by Pan Am agents that they tried to hold our flight as long as possible, knowing a bunch of incoming pax were delayed in MIA, but we were too few in number to further delay the LAX-SYD flight. As we waited in the queue to be assigned another flight, we overhead the person in front being told they were up for their own overnight accommodation because their agent had not left enough time between connections. Looking at our own tickets, there was only 45" minutes between arrival in LAX and departure, so we thought our goose was cooked.
As it turned it, we did OK, being offered an outward flight on QANTAS the next morning, or out on Pan Am two days later, with Pan Am picking up hotel and all meal costs.
Since we were only scheduled to pass through LA we took the two days and were put up at the Sheraton LAX, which remains one of my favourite airport hotels at LAX, although the Westin edges it out for comfort. So the next day, after a breakfast of fluffy pancakes which I still remember to this day (few Australian eateries do good pancakes), off we went on our bus tour of the LA environs, including Farmers Market, Hollywood, and a few supposed movie stars' homes.
The return to Australia then went off without a hitch.
Later in the eighties, Pan Am sold its routes and aircraft to United Airlines, including its long distance 747SP aircraft (the little stubby 747s with the extra tall tails) which could do the long trans-Pacific flights before the longer range standard 747s were in service.
Since that time I have continued to fly United Ailrines, in the belief that its Frequent Flyer scheme, as part of the Star Alliance network, offers more value for frequent trips to the US than does the QANTAS/American Airlines combination. Flying into LAX or San Francisco (SFO) from Australia then moving on to other US cities is a more seamless experience with UA than QANTAS since it has its own customs area, so no buses to catch around the airport from the international to domestic terminals.
One of the things I like to do on UA flights is listen to Channel 9 on the in-flight audio entertainment system. This allows you to listen into communications (comms.) between the flight traffic and air traffic control (ATC). Having listened to such communications for many years over a scanner - a one-way receiver which allows you to monitor various frequencies which aircraft use - I have learnt much of the aviation terminology which sounds like double-dutch to most naive listeners. Additionally, in very busy areas such as the New York region, ATC speak very quickly and you need to have your wits about you even if you are proficient in airline speak.
I've always wondered what fearful flyers would make of listening to these broadcasts. Would it seem so foreign and strange that it would increase anxiety, or would the level of emotion - essentially zero - and very crisp efficient comms allay such fears?
Well over on The Economist's online site, is a story about Microsoft evangeliser Robert Scoble and how his weblog is changing the nature of public relations. You can listen to a recent talk of Robert's here, if you want to know more about weblogging in the business sector.
In the Economist article, we learn how he was poached from NEC's Silicon Valley operations where he was evangelising Tablet PCs, and invited to come to work for Microsoft in Washington. His boss was Lenn Pryor, who was then Microsoft's "Director of Platform Evangelism."
Let me allow the Economist's article take up the story so you can see the connection to a Fear of Flying weblog:
"Mr Scoble started blogging four years ago. At the time, he worked for NEC, a Japanese technology company, and was based in Silicon Valley, a place rife with loathing for Microsoft. Mr Scoble's area of expertise was tablet PCs—laptop computers that allow users to handwrite their notes, and that have been mostly a dud, both then and now. But Mr Scoble used his blog to converse with NEC's customers, giving tech support and listening to feedback, with such disarming honesty that his blog became a must-read for gadget lovers.
This caught the attention of Lenn Pryor, who is—really—Microsoft's “director of platform evangelism”. Until then, says Mr Pryor, Microsoft had been evangelising mostly one-on-one, “which doesn't scale well”. But Mr Pryor had a radical idea. Afraid of flying, he had met a pilot at United Airlines who told him to tune into channel nine from his plane seat, where he could listen in on the communications of the pilots. Mr Pryor did, and soon “the irrational nature of my fear started to fade”. It had something to do with hearing real people talking honestly. He realised that Microsoft, the target of similarly irrational fears, should have its own version of channel nine, and that public blogging by insiders should be an important part of it.
Mr Pryor figured that the straight-talking Mr Scoble would make a reassuring pilot or “a great evangelist”. So he hired him. Mr Scoble, for his part, simply kept doing what he was good at. His blog—which he has kept outside of Microsoft's computers, and to which he usually posts in the wee hours after midnight—reads like a stream of consciousness. A reader might discover, for instance, that Mr Scoble's new wife just became an American citizen, or how to win a cheese contest. “A good blog lets you see the mess; lets you see behind the scenes,” he writes in one entry."
So there you have it! An interesting story and link I think. If you want to visit Microsoft's Channel 9, here is the link.
If I go to direct, rather than via Europe, it is always with United Airlines. My very first trip to the US in 1982 or so was with Pan Am - well, it was meant to be. When a fault in the plane couldn't be fixed in Melbourne, on a half empty flight, we were all transferred to QANTAS, which became a packed plane which made its way to Los Angeles (LAX) via Tahiti (PPT). PPT doesn't mean you get to see lots of Powerpoint presentations, but is the three letter code for Papeete, where the big planes land.
Our's was a 747-200 which then took us on to LAX, from where we took a Pan Am Lockheed L-1011 through the night into Miami (MIA). The return flight a few weeks later was just as eventful, except this time the same type aircraft took off west over Miami Beach, when I noticed we then turned left and headed west. To which I said, "we're heading back to the Airport!" which indeed we did!
Apparently, an oil supply problem to one of the three engines had occurred, requiring a return to base. A few hours later we were on our way again, landing in LAX too close to our return 747's departure to Sydney (via Honolulu, HNL).
We were told by Pan Am agents that they tried to hold our flight as long as possible, knowing a bunch of incoming pax were delayed in MIA, but we were too few in number to further delay the LAX-SYD flight. As we waited in the queue to be assigned another flight, we overhead the person in front being told they were up for their own overnight accommodation because their agent had not left enough time between connections. Looking at our own tickets, there was only 45" minutes between arrival in LAX and departure, so we thought our goose was cooked.
As it turned it, we did OK, being offered an outward flight on QANTAS the next morning, or out on Pan Am two days later, with Pan Am picking up hotel and all meal costs.
Since we were only scheduled to pass through LA we took the two days and were put up at the Sheraton LAX, which remains one of my favourite airport hotels at LAX, although the Westin edges it out for comfort. So the next day, after a breakfast of fluffy pancakes which I still remember to this day (few Australian eateries do good pancakes), off we went on our bus tour of the LA environs, including Farmers Market, Hollywood, and a few supposed movie stars' homes.
The return to Australia then went off without a hitch.
Later in the eighties, Pan Am sold its routes and aircraft to United Airlines, including its long distance 747SP aircraft (the little stubby 747s with the extra tall tails) which could do the long trans-Pacific flights before the longer range standard 747s were in service.
Since that time I have continued to fly United Ailrines, in the belief that its Frequent Flyer scheme, as part of the Star Alliance network, offers more value for frequent trips to the US than does the QANTAS/American Airlines combination. Flying into LAX or San Francisco (SFO) from Australia then moving on to other US cities is a more seamless experience with UA than QANTAS since it has its own customs area, so no buses to catch around the airport from the international to domestic terminals.
One of the things I like to do on UA flights is listen to Channel 9 on the in-flight audio entertainment system. This allows you to listen into communications (comms.) between the flight traffic and air traffic control (ATC). Having listened to such communications for many years over a scanner - a one-way receiver which allows you to monitor various frequencies which aircraft use - I have learnt much of the aviation terminology which sounds like double-dutch to most naive listeners. Additionally, in very busy areas such as the New York region, ATC speak very quickly and you need to have your wits about you even if you are proficient in airline speak.
I've always wondered what fearful flyers would make of listening to these broadcasts. Would it seem so foreign and strange that it would increase anxiety, or would the level of emotion - essentially zero - and very crisp efficient comms allay such fears?
Well over on The Economist's online site, is a story about Microsoft evangeliser Robert Scoble and how his weblog is changing the nature of public relations. You can listen to a recent talk of Robert's here, if you want to know more about weblogging in the business sector.
In the Economist article, we learn how he was poached from NEC's Silicon Valley operations where he was evangelising Tablet PCs, and invited to come to work for Microsoft in Washington. His boss was Lenn Pryor, who was then Microsoft's "Director of Platform Evangelism."
Let me allow the Economist's article take up the story so you can see the connection to a Fear of Flying weblog:
"Mr Scoble started blogging four years ago. At the time, he worked for NEC, a Japanese technology company, and was based in Silicon Valley, a place rife with loathing for Microsoft. Mr Scoble's area of expertise was tablet PCs—laptop computers that allow users to handwrite their notes, and that have been mostly a dud, both then and now. But Mr Scoble used his blog to converse with NEC's customers, giving tech support and listening to feedback, with such disarming honesty that his blog became a must-read for gadget lovers.
This caught the attention of Lenn Pryor, who is—really—Microsoft's “director of platform evangelism”. Until then, says Mr Pryor, Microsoft had been evangelising mostly one-on-one, “which doesn't scale well”. But Mr Pryor had a radical idea. Afraid of flying, he had met a pilot at United Airlines who told him to tune into channel nine from his plane seat, where he could listen in on the communications of the pilots. Mr Pryor did, and soon “the irrational nature of my fear started to fade”. It had something to do with hearing real people talking honestly. He realised that Microsoft, the target of similarly irrational fears, should have its own version of channel nine, and that public blogging by insiders should be an important part of it.
Mr Pryor figured that the straight-talking Mr Scoble would make a reassuring pilot or “a great evangelist”. So he hired him. Mr Scoble, for his part, simply kept doing what he was good at. His blog—which he has kept outside of Microsoft's computers, and to which he usually posts in the wee hours after midnight—reads like a stream of consciousness. A reader might discover, for instance, that Mr Scoble's new wife just became an American citizen, or how to win a cheese contest. “A good blog lets you see the mess; lets you see behind the scenes,” he writes in one entry."
So there you have it! An interesting story and link I think. If you want to visit Microsoft's Channel 9, here is the link.
Posted: Friday - February 11, 2005 at 12:02 PM |