Does anyone know how airports charge for landing? I heard somewhere that the fee goes up according to how far the flight has come from its origin airport. If this is so, airports on the Pacific coast would want to make landing space available for flights that have come from Asia, in preference to flights that have come from the other end of California. Thus they would welcome the rail system.

As far as Gorman goes, I get the feeling that the opponents, e.g., the city of Palmdale, were screaming so loudly that everyone just said, "Oh, all right, let's forget it," and the routing never got a clear test.