[Kharon]

Dessert and Destruction.

There I sat, on my best behaviour at a social dinner engagement; nothing too flash – just ten folk – civilised and ‘yummy’ tucker; relaxed, urbane and sanguine as hell. I was looking at my watch, wondering when I could decently evacuate without inciting DT -( I’m sure you all know the type of thing) –

Anyway – a fellah sat opposite (stranger) asked me about the 737 Max kerfuffle; (curses trapped again I thought. “Not much” says I – “don’t know enough about it; never flown it, the technology is way above my rudimentary knowledge; and, the final report is still in the wind, so, like the rest of us, I’ll have to wait and see (smile – shut up). Well, seems this bloke had been seriously studying the media reports and proceeded to elaborate on the media coverage. It was – in his opinion – the most dangerous thing imaginable and; didn’t I agree. Long story short, I stuck to my ‘not enough information guns and wriggled off the hook. Home soon afterwards – dogs last walk and the question of what was IMO the most dangerous aviation thing in today’s world, reared it's ugly head.

There is a list of potential killers which, thanks to engineering, training and modern manufacturing can be ‘safely’ managed from the flight deck – from the tyres to the tail section; even a combination of horrors can be dealt with; this is a demonstrable fact of aviation life. I decided that it was things beyond my immediate control which created the most hazardous scenario. Of these I decided that buildings made number one on my ten point list.

Had I been in the mood or had enough patience to explain this to that fellah; this twiddle would never have been writ. Having made my selection; the next thought was how could I best explain it to a layman? Which was immediately followed by the notion that the vast majority would not understand the 'technical'– hence the following ramble; in lay terms – with apologies to the purists.

Imagine you are travelling at speed on a flat highway, with nothing either side except flat, wide open space. BANG – the front tyre blows out and the brakes quit. Your heart rate may increase but, with a cool head and some skill, you will pull up eventually, ruffled but very much alive.

Now, build a shopping complex (a big one) in your mind map, alongside your road 180 meters off to one side. At 100 KpH you now have less than three seconds to avoid hitting the thing. Do the math – you and many others are now about to get hurt at best. Then imagine this happening to a loaded petrol tanker; what do you imagine you outcome will be? Carnage springs to mind.  



Yet at places like Essendon, this situation exists – swap the petrol tanker for an aircraft fuel load; swap the brakes and tyres for an engine failure and then put a caption on P2 ‘s picture. Perhaps the blind, who lead the blind around by the foreskin may have a brain wave and decide that this is not, despite the potential profits, a smart place to put a large building. QED.

Tempus fugit – MTF

Toot - toot.