Our cargo fleet has the Speed Force *woosh*, The Movement Spirit Power in everyday usage? Options

[Fuchs]

The whole "there are not many mages around" argument does not work. If somehting is as valuable as spirit movement, people will pay enough for it so those mages summon spirits fot them - instead of risking their life in the shadows, for example.

Given how expensive fuel is, planes could afford to get spirits bound to them. And for a price that allows the mage to spend a lot of time on research.

Finally, it's not "recent" anymore. There are 2 to 3 generations now that grew up with magic in 2070. That's more time spent with magic than with PCs today.

[Particle_Beam]

I guess that a lot of people won't like the idea of relying on magic to propel their vehicles. You can assure them that the spirit can also protect it from crashing and that even if it does crash it won't be that bad, they can even witness it with their own eyes and still they'll be reluctant to let those weird mages and even weirder spirits take care of their vehicles.
I'm not saying that nobody will accept, but it won't be as wide spread as if it was a technological mean.

There are also lobbies and marketing issues. Why buy S-K or Ares latest plane (10% faster and more efficient) if you can do the same with a 5 years old plane and a spirit? A corporation will only sell a new service if they can get more this way than the way they did before.

They'll probably use the Movement power in some situations (especially military/urgent situations) but I doubt it'll be common use.

Besides, there aren't that many mages around and with something as recent as magic with as much to discover, R&D might seem more valuable. Sure your mage can cast a fireball today... but maybe he'll be able to mind-control the whole population in 10 years if you have him study magic instead of just casting fireballs.

If anything at all, they're trying to research time travel and teleportation (which we know that in SR, this will never suceed, but the people in the setting don't know it). And meanwhile, they'll research a way to make the Movement Power into a Spell, or even enhance Spirits to make the Movement Power even more effective.
Humans will use this awesome power to full extent, make no mistake. Having an old air-plane that is 5-6 times as fast as the newest state-of-the-art-superfighter just shows that that Power isn't really balanced for the game world itself, but that would be the consequence.

The official Shadowrun World is full with vehicles powered up by the Speed Force.

[nathanross]

If anything at all, they're trying to research time travel and teleportation (which we know that in SR, this will never suceed, but the people in the setting don't know it).

Of course it's possible. Harlequin did it. Though I think it was called nether walking or something. Sure to require a very high level of magic, but hey, it is possible.

[Herald of Verjig...]

A Force 4 spirit gets an average of 3.3 successes, which means that per round the plane is accelerating 4.3 times its normal acceleration.

I will at this time point out that in SR3 driving tests could be made to increase the accel rate of a vehicle with successes on a handling test as a multiple to the acceleration rate of the vehicle. A skilled (4) rigger with a VCR 2 (-4TN*) would do at least as well as the spirit for any vehicle with a handling rating of 6 or less. This can also be done remotly if the vehicle is on a rigger's network, so an entire airport could be controlled during the most precarious portions of the flight by one rigger for each runway in use.

Both together might save another 3.8 seconds of accel time, or might justify a harder TN for the rigger. Either way, the tech side is easier and more convenient for most applications. The spirit version still has the advantage of being more versatile in what it can apply to (such as no-tech bicycles), but rigging is more potent for commercial and industrial use by SR3 rules.

*Was this changed in errata? I'm just checking my SR3 book and it says -2*rating but that doesn't sound quite right.

[Jaid]

If anything at all, they're trying to research time travel and teleportation (which we know that in SR, this will never suceed, but the people in the setting don't know it).

strictly speaking, the reference you're remembering is most likely referring to the limitations on sorcery, not on magic. that being said, not having time travel and teleportation really makes for a lot less headaches, so i suspect that shadowrun will likely want to keep them out of player's hands, at any rate.