
Janet Airlines - IgorPartola
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_(airline)
======
et2o
Makes you think about the enormous cost of the United State's defense
operations if they have come to the conclusion that it is sensible to
routinely fly employees for a commute. Extravagant things like this are
obviously only a miniscule fraction of the cost, but still.

~~~
bunderbunder
It does speak to the enormous costs, but, given the kinds of operations that
they're serving with this thing, it makes some sense to me. The whole point
of, e.g., the facility at Groom Lake is that it's very remote. Accumulating a
large town nearby would defeat the purpose.

~~~
wolfgke
> It does speak to the enormous costs, but, given the kinds of operations that
> they're serving with this thing, it makes some sense to me.

Just a consideration: would it be cheaper to build and use an express railroad
line between the remote facility and "the other commute destination" instead?

~~~
mikeash
It’s a hundred pretty mountainous miles from Las Vegas to Area 51. The cost of
building a fast line along that route would probably pay for decades of these
flights.

~~~
labster
It would have been a lot cheaper if the military didn't order the Tonopah &
Tidewater Railway to be dismantled for its precious steel. That would be like
half the line.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah_and_Tidewater_Railro...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonopah_and_Tidewater_Railroad)

~~~
AnimalMuppet
It had already ceased operation before the start of the war (in the US), and
would have been taken up for scrap sooner or later anyway. Even without World
War II, there is exactly zero chance that the railroad would have survived
long enough to be useful again. Unused rail lines don't sit for 50 years
without being scrapped. (At least, they didn't in those days. Tennessee Pass
seems to be headed toward becoming the exception that proves the rule.)

------
jasode
Fyi... Wendover Productions made a 4-minute about it:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWNGAUvSyOc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWNGAUvSyOc)

------
platz
> During the turn the pilot suffered a sudden cardiac death. Half way through
> the turn the airplane began a gradual descent until it impacted the ground.
> The airplane broke up and burst into flames. Investigation revealed that the
> pilot had violated federal policy and directives, wilfully deceived flight
> medical examiners, suppressed significant medical information and ingested
> inappropriate medications for a deteriorating and dangerous health
> condition. The pilot had high blood pressure and failed to report it, and
> denied taking medications to his Federal Aviation Administration flight
> physical examiners.

[https://aviation-
safety.net/database/record.php?id=20040316-...](https://aviation-
safety.net/database/record.php?id=20040316-0)

------
golergka
Reminds me of the guy who calculated that it's cheaper to commute from
Barcelona to his London office than to rent a London apartment
[https://bestburgerinnorthwestlondon.wordpress.com/2013/10/24...](https://bestburgerinnorthwestlondon.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/cheaper-
to-rent-in-barcelona-and-commute-to-london/)

------
el_benhameen
Anyone else surprised to read that the fleet is all ex-Air China aircraft?
That seems like a security hole.

~~~
gambiting
Why? Does anyone think that those aircrafts would not have been stripped down
and inspected in every possible way before going into service? Not to mention
that they were purchased by a shell corporation to avoid any connection to the
US government at the time of purchase.

~~~
el_benhameen
Well sure. But Chinese intelligence is pretty ... intelligent. I wouldn't be
surprised if they were at least somewhat aware of the origin of the shell
corp. And the idea that one can strip a 737 down to a point that one can be
certain that it contains no bugs or modifications seems unlikely to me. Doing
so would certainly offset whatever discount you got by buying the 737 from a
foreign source.

------
cushychicken
I bet Charles Stross could come up with a clever occult explanation of this
for a _Laundry Files_ novel.

~~~
gpderetta
I'm sure the Black Chamber has uses for a secret airline.

~~~
cushychicken
Just finished _The Labyrinth Index_ on PTO this week. The Nazgul only get
nastier and nastier.

------
BonesJustice
So what happens if you’re running late one day? You don’t get to go into work?
Or do you hold up the plane?

~~~
JudgeWapner
at peak times they run a jet every 20 minutes. Evenings you could get delayed
for a couple hours, but even then they have flights going as late as 8-9pm.
you can watch the flights on
[https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KLAS](https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KLAS),
look for flights starting with WWW

------
a012
It'd be PITA when you have to go to the air port to get in the air plane to go
to the work, then get back, __every__ day.

~~~
keymone
LA to Area 51 is 25m flight and their boarding procedures are probably quite a
bit more efficient compared to normal passenger flights. doesn't look too bad
compared to other people's commute in LA, i imagine.

------
ggm
I still wonder at the Manhattan district and how they used trains to ship
radioactive elements and people...

~~~
srndh
radioactive material in trains? Have they not learnt anything from Broken
Arrow?

~~~
ggm
It was before that. The test plutonium microgramme samples being purified by
Glenn Seaborg went by train under armed guard but according to Richard Rhodes
would 'wander' in the foil packaging. They talk of plutonium migrating
upstream against an article even.

~~~
garmaine
Definite or indefinite?

~~~
ggm
with plutonium, at the time? I think indefinite.

~~~
garmaine
I was being a bit snarky. I have no idea what this sentence even means:

> They talk of plutonium migrating upstream against an article even.

Migrate? Upstream? What article?

~~~
ggm
ah. now I see. autocorrect. against an airflow.

------
CalChris
Why is Santa Barbara Municipal one of their destinations rather than
Vandenberg?

~~~
gedy
VAFB is fairly impractical for civilian contractors and if for daily commutes.
Many more contractor offices and people live near SBA.

~~~
dawnerd
Same reason Camarillo is on there even though it's right next to the naval/air
base.

------
robohoe
I saw one of those airliners during my last trip to LV. Sometimes when you
drive on Flamingo you can get a glimpse of them.

