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(AeroCar 600: a 1959 BMW 600 turned airplane, by Dave Major)

I had way too much fun this week learning about the wild and wacky world of art cars while putting together a slide-show on the topic for msnbc.com: Folk art on four wheels: art car celebrations around the country.

One of my favorites was this the AeroCar 600 (above) created by cartist, yes – that’s what they call car artists – Dave Major.  Part airplane, part car, the Aerocar 600 “has a handmade propeller turned by a 12 volt electric motor, a tail from a real airplane and tires from a Beech Jet 400A“  The dash has a working altimeter, airspeed indicator and aircraft compass as well.

There art car celebrations around the country and many of the most outrageous cars cruise the circuit, so you may see Rex Rosenberg’s Chewbaru (below) at the Houston Car Parade on May 8th, at Art Tougeau in Lawrence, Kansas on May 22nd, or at any of the festivals listed on the Art Car Calendar.

(The Chewbaru: a 1995 Subaru covered with partials, dentures, toothbrushes and hundreds of other dentistry-related items. Courtesy Rex Rosenberg)

Here are a few more of my favorites, including a few images that didn’t make it into my msnbc.com slide show about art cars, starting with this one from Houston: Our Lady of Transportation.

(Photo by Magda Gomez)

(courtesy Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts)

See more folk art on four wheels in my art car slide-show on msnbc.com.

Categories: Airplanes, Art
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(Denver Airport – courtesy Gregory Thow)

A new set of DOT rules go into effect today promising a wide variety of protections for airline travelers.  As I outlined in an msnbc.com column, Something for everyone in the DOT rules, these regulations offer quite a bit more than just the assurance that passengers will be let off a plane if a delay stretches into the three-hour range.

Here’s just a bit of what you need to know:

Stuck on an airplane?

With a few security-related exemptions, an airline must now let you off  a plane by the three-hour point of a tarmac delay.  After two hours, though, the DOT now requires airlines to offer you some water and a little something – maybe pretzels or a granola bar – to eat.  Even if you’re on one of those small, regional carriers.

Each airline must also now have contingency plans in place and those plans need to be posted on an airline’s website. Airlines have more leeway with these plans for international flights – so comparing plans before you buy tickets could be useful.

Got a beef?

To make sure you can file a complaint, airlines must now post e-mail, Web and snail-mail addresses on their Web sites, e-ticket confirmations, and at ticket counters and boarding gates. And no more sending those complaints to the ‘circular file.’ The DOT now requires airlines to answer your complaint within 60 days.

There’s more.  So I urge you read the full column – Something for everyone in the DOT rules – so you know what to expect.

Don’t worry, be happy

And, for those of you worried that the three-hour rule means you’ll be marooned at an airport once you’re let off a delayed plane, airport officials say: “Don’t worry.”

Airport directors I spoke with for a USATODAY.com column – Are airports ready for the three hour rule? - say most every airport, even small ones currently excluded from the new DOT rules, has plans and equipment in place to help airlines comply with the new rules and to accommodate passengers let back into the terminal after a 3-hour delay.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.

Categories: Airline policies, Complaints, Delays, Legislation, Rules
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A National Geographic website about Grimms’ Fairy Tales offers these words of advice:

“Looking for a sweet, soothing tale to waft you toward dreamland?  Look somewhere else.”

That’s because the stories Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected in the early 1800’s don’t always have happy endings. There are witches. There are wolves. And there are creatures and plot turns kids (and some adults) shouldn’t read about before bedtime.

But if you’re wide awake and passing through the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin, you’ll definitely want to spend time perusing the books, prints, engravings, and historical documents in the airport’s new exhibition:  Once upon a time … – The Brothers Grimm – Life and Work, on view through June 25, 2010.

And when you’re in the terminal, don’t forget to look up: a full-size Corben Super Ace airplane – like the ones built in Madison in the 1930′s – is suspended from the ceiling. Volunteers from the Madison chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association built this plane using original 1930s plans.

Categories: Air Travel, Airplanes, Art, Aviation history, Exhibits
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Here’s a heads up on a couple of new art exhibits at two airports:

At the John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Santa Ana, Ca., work by Anna Friesen will be on display through June 10, 2010 in the pre-security departure (upper) level near the security screening areas and on the arrival (lower) level near baggage carousels 1 and 4.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) “a cornucopia of art” by artists from the Pump Project Art Complex are on display through June 24, 2010 in the East Airside Gallery, post-security by the Austin Article bookstore.

The work includes Matt Wester’s Mercy and Jai Cochran’s Double Arch.

Jai Cochran Double Arch

And here’s an interesting event for baseball fans: the Grand Prairie AirHogs have teamed up with FlyerRights.org (Kate Hanni’s air passengers’ rights organization) for a “Hogs Fly Free” night on Wednesday, June 2nd at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

In a press release that had me checking to see if it was April 1st, the Air Hogs announced that on June 2nd they’d be taking a cue from Spirt Airlines and Ryanair and charging “carry-in” fees for purses, backpacks, blankets, jackets and anything larger than the size of a baseball and also charging fans for each visit to the restroom.

They’re joking of course.  A long list of “Hogs Fly Free” Fee Exemptions says all fees are voluntary and any money collected will be donated to FlyersRights.org. Cute!

Categories: Advertising, Art, Sports
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Having paid a small fortune recently to park in an airport garage for a few days, I was wondering about the bills some of those volcano-delayed folks would be facing when they finally got home and went to retrieve their cars.

So I was pleased to read Roger Yu’s USATODAY Airport Check-in column last night and learn that some U.S. airports are offering to refund the additional parking charges for passengers whose flights home got waylaid by the volcano.

So far, says Yu, JFK, Newark Liberty, and airports in Las Vegas and Denver have offered to refund the extra parking fees.  I bet other airports will do the same.  Good for those that do.

Let’s hope some British airports offer a parking refund as well. According to an article in The Independent, “[a]s many as 50,000 British travellers remain stranded abroad this weekend because of the volcanic ash crisis, some being told they face delays of up to a month before they can return home.”

Yikes!

Categories: Parking
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