Budgie News Ed: "Hello, is that Brian?"
Brian: "Yes, Brian the tame test pilot here."
News Ed: "Great...can you go to Prague for us and do a story on CSA?"
Brian: "What, fly CSA where all the pilots are Czech pilots and all the aircraft are OK? Er...OK."
If it's Monday...
From special employment watchdog and bizarre headline correspondent A H Hawker comes this commentary on the plight of high-profile aircraft sales people, such as the recently departed Megaplanes sales boss Toby Bright. Never an easy job, the task of flogging expensive machines in a tight market demands - among other things - the ability to travel almost ceaselessly. Randy Baseler, Megaplanes marketing supremo, apparently made around 18 trips over the first 11 months of 2004 to all corners of the globe. According to Hawker: "Bright's predecessor, Seddik Belyamani [who retired after a very successful career in 2002] tells of sitting down at his dinner table in his home one evening and reaching down beside his chair. When his wife enquired what he was doing, he confessed he was automatically feeling for his safety belt."
World of difference
Imagine your Uncle's surprise when, a few moments after opening a very fancy "Old World Map" Christmas card from Megaplanes, he flicked through a few pages of Budgie News and beheld an uncannily similar reproduction of a late 15th or early 16th century world map (possibly based on Orbis Terranum Typus De Integro Multis In Locus Emendatis by Plancius? Dunno...maybe someone out there knows?) in a splendid new Hairbrush ad. Does this eerie coincidence represent a meeting of the minds of these irrepressible adversaries? A thawing of the cold war at this time of goodwill to all? Probably not. The one from Megaplanes was themed around why you and 10 of your closest friends should fly to your distant fantasy island in a BBJ. The one from Hairbrush was why you and 500 of your closest friends should travel on an A380 from Taiwan to LA, or with 350 pals from Singapore to New York, or with 250 mates from...well, you get the idea. So much for that epiphany!
Source: Flight International
