Oct 26, 2009

Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said.--Mark Twain. Anyone interested in getting on a commercial airliner with a couple of pilots who forget they are flying a plane? Not me. The latest version of "the truth" from the two wayward aviators who took an airliner full of passengers on an unscheduled aerial tour of Wisconsin, while trying to find Minneapolis, is that they we engrossed in playing with a scheduling program on their laptops. Not to worry though, they we above 10,000 feet, so the use of portable electronic devices is okay. Oh wait, it is never okay to use a laptop if you are flying the plane, according to the FAA anyway. As a side note, I don't think that there is any real science behind the prohibition of portable electronic devices below 10,000 ft., but that is for another day. Anyway, I'm reminded of a story that Tom Peters once told in a seminar. We have the technology to takeoff, fly and land jet airliners by computer. There is no need for a human pilot. However, people won't fly on a plane without a pilot, so the airline cockpit crew of the future will include a pilot and a vicious dog. The pilot will be there to reassure the passengers and the dog will be there to bite the pilot, should he touch the controls. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

8 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

I think planes do need pilots. I'm thinking about the pilot who safely landed his plane in the Hudson river a few months ago.

Can't imagine how boring it must be to just sit up there and read blogs during the flight, or scheduling programs, or whatever. Yikes.

I'm glad I'm rarely on an airplane!

Barbara said...

I learned an awful lot about what actually goes on in the cockpit when I read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. He analyzed several major plane crashes and how they might have been avoided. It's scary stuff.

Any picture of M of PP&M makes me a little sad. They were right up there with the Beatles in my musical book.

Wanderer said...

I believe they were playing Risk or Battleship or naked Monopoly during the flight. Easy to lose track of time...

The Bug said...

I'll bet these same guys text while driving. Heh.

Steve Reed said...

"naked Monopoly"...ha!

Bella Rum said...

I heard they were reading Sneed. Time flies when you read Sneed.

Oh, god. I'm cracking myself up.

They had a need for Sneed.

Kurt said...

I don't understand why airlines, who are trying to cut costs, think we can't get through a 3 hour flight without a beverage.

Coffee Messiah said...

Life's amazing, isn't it?

Ya just can't make these things up anymore........

cheers to ya'll!