Being a homeowner in Sydney's Inner West, right under THE FLIGHTPATH, this story in today's SMH is kinda, well, interesting. Ever see the appalling Michael Caine movie Blue Ice? Well, as that film amply demonstrates, things do occasionally fall from planes and often those things aren't soft and cuddly. In this case, though SMH is hedging its bets, the object appears to be an 11cm aviation-class metal bolt, which would have fallen pretty damn fast from a plane overflying Five Dock. I'm not sure how likely the papers will be to follow-up on this, but I'd be intrigued to see whether it is in fact a genuine aviation incident or whether it's a prank or liability insurance scam. Time will no doubt tell, but the SMH story notes that in the past ten years, three similar incidents have been reported, and none turned out to be aeroplane droppings.
Now assuming it is Boeing-shit, of course it could be worse. It could have been the plane itself, but hey, it makes you think. Not worry though. Anyone with a grasp of statistics knows this couldn't possibly happen twice. In sorta the same way that no-one would have been caught smuggling drugs into Bali after the Schapelle affair, would they? Oh yeah, right. Oops.
Side note on this category; This morning, my mental neighbour (who thinks the disabled park in our street is reserved solely for him and who attacks anyone else parking there even if they're also disabled badge holders), was seen weeding his front path with a tenon saw. And not just nudging stuff with it, literally hacking away at the ground and muttering like some geriatric would-be axe-murderer. I was quite baffled. More on local eccentricities may follow.
posted @ Wednesday, October 18, 2006 4:20 PM