《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第60期:飛越州(3)

Now, that's not quite true. Delaware has a number of airfields, including Dover Air Force Base (DOV) and New Castle Airport (ILG). New Castle Airport is the only one that might qualify as a commercial airport, but after Skybus Airlines shut down in 2008, the airport had no airlines serving it.

好吧，這不完全是真的。特拉華州有許多機場，包括多佛空軍基地和紐卡斯爾機場。紐卡斯爾機場是特拉華州唯一一個也許夠得上商業機場這一名號的機場，但隨着天空巴士航空公司於2008年關閉，這個機場再也沒有任何航空公司的航班降落。

Least flown-over state

被飛越最少的州

The least flown-over state is Hawaii, which makes sense. It consists of tiny islands in the middle of the world's biggest ocean; you have to try pretty hard to hit it.

被飛越次數最少的州是夏威夷。它由世界上最大的海洋中的一些小島組成，要想飛過它需要花一點力氣。

Of the 49 non-island states, the least flown-over state is California. This came as a surprise to me, since California is long and skinny, and it seems like a lot of flights over the Pacific would need to pass over it.

在美國本土的49個州中，被飛越次數最少的州是加利福尼亞州。這個結果同樣出乎我的意料，因爲加利福尼亞又瘦又長，看上去似乎許多跨越太平洋的航班都會從它上方經過。

However, since jet-fuel-laden planes were used as weapons on 9/11, the FAA has tried to limit the number of unnecessarily fuel-heavy flights crossing the US, so most international travelers who might otherwise travel over California instead take a connecting flight from one of the airports there.

但由於恐怖分子在“9•11”襲擊中使用了載有航空燃油的大型客機，因而美國聯邦航空局（FAA）已經嘗試限制攜帶不必要重量燃油飛越美國的客機數量，所以大多數本可以飛過加州的外國入境者只能轉而在加州轉機。

Fly-under states

被飛越州

Lastly, let's answer a slightly stranger question: What is the most flown-under state? That is, what state has the most flights on the opposite side of the Earth pass directly under its territory?

最後我們來看一個略顯奇怪的問題：哪個州是飛越飛機次數最多的州？換言之，哪個州的正“底下”——也就是地球的另一面正對的位置——飛過的飛機次數最多？

The answer turns out to be Hawaii.

答案是夏威夷。

The reason such a tiny state wins in this category is that most of the US is opposite the Indian Ocean, which has very few commercial flights over it. Hawaii, on the other hand, is opposite Botswana in Central Africa. Africa doesn't have a high volume of flights over it compared to most other continents, but it's enough to win Hawaii the top spot.

這麼小的一個州獲勝的原因之一是，地球另一邊正對着美國本土的是印度洋，而印度洋上空很少會有商業航班經過。同時中非的博茨瓦納也差不多在夏威夷的對面，雖然非洲相比於其他大洲來說航班數量也較少，但這已經足夠讓夏威夷榮獲桂冠了。