For those who wonder why so many politicians still ride in small planes.

[IronLionZion]

For the next governor of Virginia, a ride through the skies is fast but not luxurious

Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli II must crouch to get inside the four-seater flying machines winging them across the commonwealth in search of votes. There is no room to stand in the cabin — and nothing to get up for, anyway. No bathroom. No place to fix a snack. Some of the planes have tattered upholstery and carpeting.

In a state as congested and wide as Virginia — sprawling from the Atlantic to west of Detroit — an airplane can be a candidate’s ticket to the governor’s mansion. But it is by no means a first-class ticket. This is travel that makes flying coach in the era of baggage and pillow fees feel like Concorde-style coddling.

“My pilot was kidding me today, ‘A lot of the pilots wouldn’t even fly that thing,’ ” said C. Richard Cranwell, a former Democratic state delegate who has let McAuliffe use his Piper Aztec at least four times since spring.

With no commercial air service to some corners of the commonwealth, candidates must rely on private planes, particularly as they barnstorm the state in the final few days before Election Day on Tuesday. That presents an opportunity for donors — and a potential risk for candidates.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/for-the-next-governor-of-virginia-a-ride-through-the-skies-is-fast-but-not-luxurious/2013/10/31/7e4bc820-4181-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html

Small planes are the ONLY way to get to many remote rural areas quickly.

And from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Carnahan#2000_Senate_election_and_death

Carnahan is not the only candidate to have died during a US Senate race. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota was killed in a plane crash in 2002, 11 days before a Senate election. Representative Jerry Litton, also of Missouri, died in a plane crash in 1976 on the day he was nominated by his party. Richard "Dick" Obenshain of Virginia died in a plane crash in 1978 shortly after receiving the Republican nomination. In the California State Senate race of 2010, voters in the Long Beach district re-elected Jenny Oropeza, who had died of illness the month previously.[4]

[TlalocW]

1. Well, to be fair...

Virginia only did get the horseless carriage less than a decade ago.

I kid the Virginians.

TlalocW

[Major Nikon]

2. Texas alone has more than 2,000 airports