The Duck Is Back On Deck
Greetings again.
I havent posted since God knows when and the excuses that follow are not only original but true. If they dont suffice feel free to whack me with a Zima bottle next time we meet.
Training. I started training on a new aircraft type in late August last year and finished in early July this year. Thats ten months to go from opening the first book to passing the final check flight, and it required all of my attention, as did my drinking. I could describe in detail what happens when you learn to operate a new aircraft type but wont unless someone requests it. Suffice to say its a royal pain, like counting grains of rice with a pair of tweezers at two am.
My job description involves working with flight attendants and Ive been watching the recent story on the JetBlue flight attendant with interest. My take is he scores nines all round for artistic merit, difficulty of execution and originality, and would have scored tens if he had actually drank the beer while heading down the chute. Yeah, Ive seen the comments that the slide deploys at '3000 psi' and he could have killed someone. Well, no. Ask a flight attendant about their training and constant reinforcment of operational drills and it would have been near impossible for him not to have visually cleared the deployment area. Also, slides deploy gradually, not with a bang. Im giving him two thumbs up and %$%$ the passenger.
We have an election here in Australia this coming weekend and apart from the usual suspects one of my friends is running for senator. No kidding... I believe that all he needs is 9% of the vote and he gets to sit in the senate. The best bit is the party hes running for, namely the Australian Sex Party (www.sexparty.org.au). No, its not an X rated site and no Im not directing you to virusville. The ASP is a real Australian political party active in the senate with real policies. An official description would be progressive libertarian, but to be more acurate its linked to a trade organisation that represents the sex industry in Australia (Eros). Interestingly one of the senate candidates is a champion pole dancer, the first to hold that distinction I believe since Orin Hatch.
Me, I vote for the Fishing and Lifestyle Party in the senate. I own an SUV and like to kill sea kittens for pleasure and this party works for me. Australia has more than its fair share of parties and you can find a list of them at www.aec.gov.au, this being the site of the Australian Electoral Commission. Even the Communist Party has a spot on the ballot.
K