Today in 1910, air-to-ground radio transmission is born; 1913, the first loop-the-loop maneuver is performed; in 1939, the jet age begins with the first flight of the Heinkel 178; 2006, Comair 5191 crashes in Lexington, Kentucky.
With an unusual promotion, Delta had — during the age of a generally negative zeitgeist toward airlines — pulled off the unthinkable: Rank-and-file passengers were rooting for an airline the way they do their favorite hocke...