Of the 2,227 passengers and crew that sailed from Southampton, England on board the Titanic, 705 people survived its sinking and were rescued by the Cunard Liner, Carpathia. (Some sources add one more person to each “category”.)
http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmah/titanic.htm
Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no requirement that one out of every five miles of U.S. Interstate must be straight so airplanes can land on it.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/faq.htm#question30
Currently (1/07) the U.S. Interstate Highway System is 46,876 miles long.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/faq.htm#question3
The white lane dividing stripe in the middle of our highways was created by… by… OK, no one really knows for sure although Dr. June McCarroll gets the credit for beginning the practice in California in 1917. The California Highway Commission adopted the procedure in 1924.
http://home1.gte.net/res07i6x/id40.html
Predating the 1917 date however, is a center-line “painter” developed for use in Wayne County, Michigan in 1911. Some sources credit Edward Hines – one of the Road Commissioners - for coming up with the concept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane
http://www.co.wayne.mi.us/dps_roads/history/road_building.htm
The world’s first mile of concrete highway was on Woodward Avenue between Six Mile Road and Seven Mile Road in Greenfield Township (now NW Detroit), Michigan. It was built in 1909 at a cost of $13,429.83.
http://www.co.wayne.mi.us/dps_roads/history/woodward_fact.htm
The Titanic’s older sister ship, the RMS Olympic, completed her maiden voyage on June 14, 1911 and had a successful career of nearly a quarter of a century. She is the only merchant vessel to sink an enemy ship during World War I by ramming the German submarine, the U103. (She also rescued the crew of that sub…)
http://www.shipmagnificent.com/index.html
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by removing the olive from the first-class passenger salads.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_19/b3983069.htm
The Hansom Cab –a small two-wheel, single-horse carriage with the driver’s seat behind and slightly above the cab - was designed by Joseph Aloysius Hansom, an architect, in 1834. His original design of the Patent Safety Cab had the driver sitting on top of the cab. John Chapman and F. Forder improved the design to the version that became widely popular.
http://www.morvenpark.org/hansom.htm
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/horse/forder.htm
Do ya suppose we should mention that the carriages that are for hire for rides through New York’s Central Park really aren’t Hansom Cabs at all even though most folks refer to them by that name? Nah… I’ll just forget it…
Contrary to what many people have imagined, the Autobahn – Germany’s superhighway system – does have speed limits over about half of its length. These can range from 80 – 120 km/h (50 – 75 mph) depending on the situation and even lower in construction areas. Even on stretches without a limit, there is still an advisory limit of 130 km/h (81 mph) – which of course, you are certainly free to disregard if you wish. Most people so wish…
http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/autobahn.htm
It is illegal to run out of fuel on the Autobahn – sort of… It is illegal to stop unnecessarily on the Autobahn and running out of fuel is considered to be unnecessary since it is a preventable situation.
http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/autobahn.htm
The Queen Elizabeth 2 is 963 feet long (over three times the length of a U.S. football field), 105 feet wide and carries a crew of 921. Dang, that’s pretty big!
http://cunard.com/OnBoard/default.asp?OB=QE2&sub=sp
In one year, the passengers and crew of the QE2 consume 16.5 tons of coffee, 122 tons of flour and 42,340 pounds of lobster. I’d bet the passengers get most of the lobster, huh?
http://cunard.com/onboard/default.asp?OB=QE2&Sub=sp&SubSubSection=FunFacts
On the Queen Elizabeth 2, enough fruit juice is used in one year to fill up her swimming pools 8 times.
http://cunard.com/onboard/default.asp?OB=QE2&Sub=sp&SubSubSection=FunFacts
Yeah, I know. The Queen Mary 2 is bigger – 1,132 feet long (more than twice as long as the Washington Monument is tall), 135 feet wide and with over twice the gross tonnage. I just felt like talking about the QE2. Did you know you can hear QM2’s whistle up to 10 miles away?
http://www.cunard.com/OurShips/default.asp?Ship=QM2&main=int&sub=fac
By the way, the Freedom of the Seas, the first of Royal Caribbean Cruise lines “Freedom” family of ships is 1,112 feet long and up to 184 feet wide. One more thing – because of her higher gross tonnage, the Freedom of the Seas is considered to be the largest passenger ship in operation (11/06).
And yes, even bigger ships – “Genesis” class – are on order…
The largest airplane in the world is currently (11/06) the… the… H-4, Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose? Well, it certainly has the longest wingspan (320 ft.) and its tail is as tall as any other… so, maybe in some ways it is.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0188.shtml
However, the airplane with the largest maximum take-off weight (1.3 million pounds) is the Antonov AN-225, a cargo plane built in the Ukraine to carry the Soviet Buran space shuttle.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0188.shtml
And yes, once the Airbus A-380 is fully certified and enters commercial service, it will be the largest passenger airliner in the world capable of carrying up to 555 passengers in three classes plus cargo. The planned stretched models could well make it the world’s largest aircraft.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/a380/
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0188.shtml
The A-380 uses over 300 miles of wiring. I can see where that just might be a source of frustrations…
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/a380/
One of the world’s smallest manned airplanes – a monoplane – is the Stits Baby Bird, measuring only 11 feet long with a 6 foot, 3 inch wingspan.
The other “smallest airplane” – a biplane – is (well, sort of “was”) the Starr Bumble Bee II, measuring 8’ 10” long with a 5’ 6” wingspan. It was flying just fine and then the engine conked out…
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0214.shtml
[Stated “fact”: The airport in La Paz, Bolivia is the world's highest airport.] Reality. Qamdo Bangda Airport in Tibet is the world's highest airport. It is situated at a height of 4,334 metres (14,219 ft) above sea level.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/03quiz.htm
The world’s first airport was built in 1928 at Croydon near London. It was in operation until 1959.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/03quiz.htm
The first American pilot’s license was issued to William P. MacCracken, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics on April 6, 1927.
“The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line ran the world's first regularly scheduled airline service using heavier-than-air craft during January through March 1914.”
In 2005, airlines in the U.S. carried over 660 million passengers. That’s an average of over 1.8 million a day.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/bts1306.htm
The average distance flown per trip by airline passengers in the U.S. in 2005 was 867 miles.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/bts1306.htm
The busiest airport in the U.S. in 2005 was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, boarding 39 million passengers.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/bts1306.htm
In 2005, Southwest Airlines carried 88 million passengers – more than any other airline.
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/bts1306.htm
[Stated “fact”: The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.] Well… not really. First of all, they are listed as a National Historic Landmark – not a National Monument – and second, I think you’d have to consider listed water craft and roller coasters as being “mobile”… maybe…?
[Stated “fact”: There are only thirteen blimps in the world.] More than that. As of 2000, an unofficial count came up with about 40.
http://www.myairship.com/directory/helium.html
http://www.aerosml.com/latimes.htm
Blimps may have gotten their name from the sound that is made by tapping on the side of the pressurized envelope that holds the helium.
http://www.airship-association.org/net.html
[Stated “fact”: The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.] Probably not. The word “jeep” was commonly used in WWI to refer to new recruits or unproven vehicles. It was likely logically applied then, to this new military mode of transportation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep
“Humvee” is an acronym for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Mobility_Multipurpose_Wheeled_Vehicle
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