Plus ça change
Monty Orangeball: "Ah good! My new diary for 2004 from our French friends at Dassalt'n'Pepper. I do hope it's business as usual."
Alphonse Aurevoir: "Of course! You'll find no room for shirking 'ere. As you can see, every working day we 'ave tint-blocked out from midday until 2pm to make sure you 'ave time to enjoy your lunch. You'll also notice the year has shrunk to 10 months as there was really no point in including August or December."
Concberra
Roger Allingham-Mills' recent suggestion about re-engining the Canberra with Olympus engines may not have been as bizarre as your Uncle first thought. Nephew Graham Bridges, a veteran of many high-altitude hours in PR9s, says: "In 1967-8, I found myself flying the 'prototype' Canberra PR9 WH793 on a series of RAE/NASA high-altitude atmospheric disturbance trials over the USA, Europe and the Far East alongside the U-2 and RB-57F. There was some 'crew room' talk of improving the RB-57F's ceiling up to, or above, the U-2 by re-engining it with the Olympus 300 series."
What goes around....
It seems Belgium's new federal transport minister Bert Anciaux, who is responsible for Brussels airport, at one time sued his predecessor over excessive nightly aircraft noise. After the May 2003 elections he became himself transport minister and is now facing legal action by......er.....himself.
Overheard at Dubai
(Where show officials organised a "departure window" to allow commercial services to operate between flying displays)
Self-loading cargo to information desk: "Can you tell us where the departure window is please? We'd like to watch the air show."
Rogernomics Lesson No.18
Raising revenue without using larger aircraft.
We have prioritised the use of available cabin floor space around the highest fare-paying first-class passengers, and encouraged more Club World travellers by providing ample space for flat beds and cradle seats. At the back end we've also sent a pretty clear message to our World Travellers that they'd better upgrade or go on the Atkins diet!
(From the December issue of Birdseed Airways High Life magazine).
Source: Flight International
