Creepy crawly More tales of uninvited visitors to the flight deck continue to come out of the woodwork. After last week's mouse-in-the-plane tale Vasco O'Higgins adds two more nuggets. The most frequently found animals on airliners parked for any length of time at airports in the Amazon region tend to be snakes - including boa constrictors. Then there is apparently the unforgettable moment for one Brazilian air force pilot when - in a Northrop F-5E on a low level anti-ship practise 160km off the coast - a tarantula spider "hip-hopped" merrily along the top of the instrument glare shield!
Rush job? Dee Havilland: "According to Av Leak, ANA has ordered DHC-9-400 aircraft." Bert Bombarider: "Wow! I guess we'd better get on with launching, designing, building and certifying them then."
AirBiz blues From the September edition: "The airline currently operates seven A340-600s, for which it was a launch customer, nice A340-300s and 13 Boeing 747-400s." (So they like A340s...what's wrong with that?)
Uncle Roger's even later summer bookshelf Mike Lima Papa Say Heading This is the sixth in the "Say..." series of irreverent aviation books by Dutch duo Martin Leeuwis and cartoonist Ton van Andel who have been collecting aviation jokes since the 1950s. Although some of the more subtle laughs may have been lost in translation to native English speakers, the vast majority of this latest book remains internationally funny. Peppered with well-drawn cartoons, anecdotes and jokes, this 160 page work would make a worthy addition to the collection of any aviation officienado or pilot, student or professional. For example: Pilot: "Aircraft XXX is over (fix) and we almost have the field in sight." ATC: "Roger XXX, you are almost cleared for visual approach to runway 19." Tower: (To airliner after landing) "Just to let you know, but on approach you were a little left of the centreline." Captain: "That is correct, sir...and my first officer was slightly to the right of it." Published by Martin Leeuwis Publications at www.aviation-humor.com ISBN 90 800375 6 7 and priced at €15.00/£15 ($18/$26) incl p&p in Europe. Additional €1 for rest of world postage. Flight International readers can claim a reduced price for up to eight weeks after this publication date. Loops: good material for amusing your friends. Flat spins: but they may have heard some of these before! TAB rating: () Top shelf () Middle shelf () Bottom shelf (X) Lav reading
roger.bacon@flightinternational.com
Source: Flight International
