Plane Crazy

‘THOSE of us who decided to follow the Prime Minister’s example and go somewhere cooler for our holidays have not had things all our own way.

After ten years with the airline Captain Biggs had yet to take off

Not only did the train to the airport take about three days to get there, but the chances are that your plane got lost as it tried to take off.

That at least is what’s happening at Heathrow at the moment, says the Guardian, because of ”a controversial reorganisation of the airfield’s labyrinthine layout”.

”Cockpit crew have reported a spate of incidents in which aircraft have gone the wrong way on Heathrow’s taxiways or taken the wrong turn-off for gates,” it says.

”This often means they block other flights and need to be rescued by a tug, which they say has added to problems during the already overstretched peak periods.”

All of which goes some way to explaining the unrest in Basra, where the Times reports a former Gurkha was killed on the second day of riots in the British-controlled city.

The residents of Iraq’s second city are apparently angry at the slow pace of reconstruction in the country.

What they don’t realise is what they call the slow pace of reconstruction is in fact the norm in a country suffering from lager shortages, lost airplanes and trains that go so slowly that they are frequently overtaken by the trackside trees.

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Posted: 11th, August 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink