Did you know that it is possible for a plane to simultaneously be cramped and roomy?
I didn’t, either, until I recently took a flight aboard one of the most unique passenger planes flying in the U.S. right now, the Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner. This plane was popular with regional airlines in the 1980s and 1990s, but now just a single airline operates it — and on a single route.
I recently flew this plane on that route, from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Alliance Municipal Airport (AIA) in Nebraska and back — service subsidized by the federal government’s Essential Air Service…