Almighty airways
Budgie News: "If you are seriously expecting orders for another 200 engines before the end of the year, where will they come from?"
SuperJets: "...er...God?"
Warning notice (at Wonderfans test site)
"If you see anything that looks like an engine or part of an engine get out of the way immediately."
Lively O'Leary...
...on the fact that Ryanair has just overtaken Birdseed Airways on numbers of self-loading cargo carried (in Europe):
"How about that? The Paddies are now Britain's favourite airline. There's a compelling logic to it because we built most of your roads and railways, so why shouldn't we fly you too?"
...on Birdseed's recent check-in crisis at Thiefrow:
"Heathrow…the airport where everybody loves to spend the weekend." (And no, he doesn't mean those dearly beloved brethren practising to win the annual Reginald S Potter award).
...on Birdseed's response:
"So, Rod turns up and offers free flight vouchers to who? Not the long-suffering passengers, but the check-in staff who have been so stressed because half their colleagues have thrown a sickie over the bank holiday weekend."
And now it can be told (well, sort of..)
Our Pentagon watcher tells me the US defence department just spent $70,000 to produce a Humphrey Bogart-themed video called "The People's Right To Know" to teach employees to respond to citizens' requests for information. But when it came to showing the tape to the public, the Pentagon censored some of the footage. Officials said they blacked out parts of the video with the message "copyrighted material removed for public viewing" because they were worried the government didn't have the legal rights to some historical material that was included. ("Uuumm…that wouldn't be anything to do with crashed weather balloons and recovered critters from a site somewhere near Roswell, New Mexico in the late 1940s by any chance would it?" asks Monty Orangeball.)
Target Taggart
Donald McDrone, our jolly faithful Scots watcher, reports this airport security oddity involving Alex Norton, an actor who stars in a UK television detective drama called Taggart. Checking in at Glasgow, Norton's backpack was searched and his son's bicycle lock confiscated. When asked why, he was told by the security head he could have used it to "shackle the aircrew". "Thank goodness I didn't attempt to get my bike pump past them," says Norton. "God knows what nefarious use they might have thought I could put it to." Attempting to blow up the aircraft maybe?
Source: Flight International
