Pre-COVID I was doing a lot of international travel, one or more trips per month to India, South Africa, and other locations. I've noticed in India in particular, WhatsApp tends to be used in place of a more traditional cell phone call as the VoIP functions tend to be more reliable than cell phone signals, even in larger cities. Often, even inside the same office building people will use WhatsApp to call each other.

In 2019 I logged more than 125,000 miles flying commercial over 17 trips and 9 countries. 2020 has of course seen a drastic reduction, though I still managed 35,000 miles before I was grounded.

I work with teams spread around the world, from Chicago to Leeds, to Johannesburg, Mumbai, Chennai, and more. While video conferencing and phone calls can accomplish 75% of the necessary interactions, there is still a lot to be gained from face-to-face meetings. My job has been significantly more difficult this year trying to maintain the same level of engagement with far flung teams that I've had previously, of particular note are newly formed teams, or teams I've taken over during this travel hiatus.

Airliners are certainly more efficient now than they were even a few years ago. Engine technology has progressed tremendously, and one side effect of Covid and the travel slow down has been the accelerated retirement of older, less efficient airframes. The 747 was already on the way out, with most US based airlines retiring their fleets several years ago. Now they are being pulled from various international routes as well. We've also seen accelerated retirements of 757 and 767 jets around the US, and it seems the operators of the A380 are scaling back flights as well.

Jet's are big ticket items and generally durable goods, so while modern versions with modern engines are far more efficient than their older cousins, the emissions benefits will be realized slowly, as the older segments of the fleet are retired.

I will miss flying on the 747. It remains one of my favorite airliners.

Title 14 of US Regulations (A.K.A. Federal Aviation Regulations, or FARs) covers the required design and performance characteristics for transport category aircraft in Part 25 (https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?node=14:1.0.1.3.11). This section covers things like take-off and landing performance, stall characteristics, single-engine operation, and much more. It goes on to cover structures, design, construction, equipment and much more.

Unfortunately the regulations are very slow to adapt and change with the times, so they don't necessarily cover things like modern flight control systems to nearly the same level of detail that they cover more established practices.

It is said that the FARs are written in blood, in other words, accidents and tragedies drive the regulations much more than foresight and planning. I would expect to see some level of new regulation to come out of this, though it does seem like those should be established prior to recertifying the aircraft.

I had to cancel a few trips to India, our office is closed to anyone who doesn't absolutely have to be there. I work from full time anyway, when not travelling, so the biggest impact to me thus far, is having a bunch of 4am call with my team in India, instead of flying out there to meet in person.

We are in a semi-rural part of NW Indiana, the local grocery store was busy the other day, and while the shelves weren't as full as normal, they weren't out of anything. We are remote enough that anything like Costco or Sam's Club is 45 minutes each way, so we do big excursions there every 2-3 months and stock up on basics. We always have a month or two worth the TP and other paper products on hand, as well as food. Not because we specifically set out to prepare for these things (though that may change and become a bit more intentional going forward), but because shopping is an all day affair, and I would prefer to not waste every Saturday doing it.

One example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.... There is about a 230,000 pound difference in takeoff weight and landing weight. Aircraft of this sort would have some means of dumping fuel if necessary, there are FAA regs covering this case. Of course, in the case of a true emergency, you do what you need to do to get the plane on the ground.

As a (student) pilot, I'm immensely interested in alternative power plants for aircraft. AvGas is not cheap. Solar may not get you 100% of the way there, especially for instrument conditions, but it could offer a boost to a battery operated system. Obviously, like with electric cars, energy density and recharge time continue to provide significant hurdles. There are a few examples of small, limited range, general aviation type aircraft cropping up already, and I expect that progress will continue to be made on this front.