The totally off-topic thread

[drmikki]

Shhh, maybe the next step in QF budget-improving enhancements will be the 'one-man' aircraft, like the one-man trains in some parts of Japan where the driver is also security and ticket-seller, not to mention answering passenger questions.
Can't you just imagine being on a flight where the pilot turns the autopilot on and has to run down the aisle delivering food and drinks?
"The crew is here to help you, although keeping us airborne may take priority over your coffee refill at some times." :mrgreen:

 

[JohnK]

With all these delays anyone would think it was Friday and I was travelling!

 

[Katie]

On the subject of plurals etc I notice in the latest QF inflight safety briefing that features a Captain & F/A at the top of the stairs to an a/c the F/a says "the crew is here to help you..." but shouldn't it be the crew are here?

It depends on whether it's being considered as a count or mass noun (made up of individuals or a mass of more than one). Most grammar sticklers would argue that "the crew is" is correct - taking is as a mass noun. Using something like "the crew are" is becoming more prevalent (and I would use it myself), but for sticklers it is incorrect.
Fish is a bit different, because it's both singular and plural - it does not change form in any way to become plural. Crew (or team or group or choir or staff) is inherently plural, referring to more than one person, even if there are edge cases where there might be only person in a crew.

If you want to focus on the individuals who make up the group, I would use "are". If you don't want to emphasise the individuals above the group, then "is".
<grammar hat off>

 

[Bundy Bear]

With all these delays anyone would think it was Friday and I was travelling!

Oh cough not happy.


Sent from a cool Apple product using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[straitman]

Oh cough not happy.


Sent from a cool Apple product using Aust Freq Fly app

The forecast for tomorrow in/out of MEL is not all that flash either.

 

[Simo]

Yep, I did... thought it was related to a recent BA flight I took (EDI-LCY 20th Jan) but thought it was a little odd since I linked to my QF membership at the time of booking, and listed my Aussie address etc. An effort to steal away QF elites, perhaps? Their internet in the lounge was much faster than anything I have encountered in a QP before, although that said I've not been in a domestic QP for 7 months...

Domestic QP internet keeps getting slower and slower

 

[straitman]

Domestic QP internet keeps getting slower and slower

So Floptus is having issues just like Telstra did.

 

[anat0l]

Domestic QP internet keeps getting slower and slower

So Floptus is having issues just like Telstra did.

Hasn't been my experience - was in the BNE J Lounge the other day and internet was still like a bullet.

On the latest FLounge run, good bandwidth was also experienced.

In saying that, there's a dense filter on the internet, basically stopping people from surfing to questionable sites and doing questionable things. A nice move; that'll stop people trying to run their MMORPGs and possibly chewing up bandwidth (yes there are ways around it, but you need to be savvier than that...).

It does lock out some innocuous things. I was trying to look up the lyrics of a song and all the lyrics sites I tried to access were locked out. (Probably doesn't help that half of them have spammy banner advertising, but it's not advertising cough). Even if you try to access the Google cached version it is also locked.

Shhh, maybe the next step in QF budget-improving enhancements will be the 'one-man' aircraft, like the one-man trains in some parts of Japan where the driver is also security and ticket-seller, not to mention answering passenger questions.
Can't you just imagine being on a flight where the pilot turns the autopilot on and has to run down the aisle delivering food and drinks?
"The crew is here to help you, although keeping us airborne may take priority over your coffee refill at some times." :mrgreen:

Don't go there! People may not like Joyce but we know he's not Michael O'Leary.

MOL wanted to float the idea of pilotless aircraft. That's almost deserving of a lynching, really.

Joyce may have the popularity similar to Josef Stalin, but I don't think he's stupid enough to contemplate such a stupid idea...

 

[Simo]

About 2 weeks ago CBR J Lounge internet was slower than my Telstra Next G card.

It was around 5ish when I walked in.

It did get better when 2 flights departed in a short period of time.

 

[PineappleSkip]

I know generally the word crew means more than one person but it's one of those words that can be single and plural.

I'm a stickler. Crew being a collective noun, the singular is crew, thus 'the crew is here to help'. Whether one or twenty crew members, its one crew. Plural is crews and are would be correct here, as in 'there is a crew for each flight. The crews are meeting at the bar'. Similarly, government, a large and motley crew, as in 'the government is here to help you' or 'the governments of Australia and Vanuatu are meeting today.

Cheers skip

 

[The Rok]

I think O'Leary's plan was to keep the Pilot but remove the FO and have a trained FA instead in case of emergency.

"Good afternoon crew, this the captain speaking, could one of the FA's please put down the teapot and help me up here in the coughpit with an emergency landing? Thanks"

 

[anat0l]

I think O'Leary's plan was to keep the Pilot but remove the FO and have a trained FA instead in case of emergency.

Either way, he was making a big case of relying on autopilot and other automation systems; to quote, "[MOL was] ...suggesting flying a plane was little more difficult than playing a computer game... he said: 'Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it.'"

A truly ridiculous idea, and that is being awfully nice. Of course, it may not have been anything more than a typical MOL publicity stunt. Why is it that our society gives so much positive attention to people who put their foot in their mouth all the time.......

 

[The Rok]

Either way, he was making a big case of relying on autopilot and other automation systems; to quote, "[MOL was] ...suggesting flying a plane was little more difficult than playing a computer game... he said: 'Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it.'"

A truly ridiculous idea, and that is being awfully nice. Of course, it may not have been anything more than a typical MOL publicity stunt. Why is it that our society gives so much positive attention to people who put their foot in their mouth all the time.......

I suspect thats all it was, a publicity stunt. And you have to hand it to the guy, he is pretty good at marketing!

Oh, and superb at running an airline.

 

[JohnK]

And the fun continues!

- My flight left on time
- My flight arrived 5-10 minutes early at ~22:27 and called home to get picked up and all my luck was now used up
- Luggage does not come out until 22:51 (~25 minutes after arrival) and my bag is 17th out and appears to be the first priority bag
- Home calls and dad is now home as both entrances to M5 tunnel were closed
- Bus has just gone and next one is not for another 25 minutes so ask dad to come and get me
- Dad arrives at ~23:35
- Home just on midnight

Haven't stopped laughing since. I hope this post brings a chuckle or at least a smile to some people!

 

[samh004]

I think O'Leary's plan was to keep the Pilot but remove the FO and have a trained FA instead in case of emergency.

That could work, but it’d be more likely to be a trained FO in the art of being an FA, than the other way around like he would want. Does reduce costs a little, but only in the lower paying job.

 

[QF WP]

And the fun continues!

- My flight left on time
- My flight arrived 5-10 minutes early at ~22:27 and called home to get picked up and all my luck was now used up
- Luggage does not come out until 22:51 (~25 minutes after arrival) and my bag is 17th out and appears to be the first priority bag
- Home calls and dad is now home as both entrances to M5 tunnel were closed
- Bus has just gone and next one is not for another 25 minutes so ask dad to come and get me
- Dad arrives at ~23:35
- Home just on midnight

Haven't stopped laughing since. I hope this post brings a chuckle or at least a smile to some people!

just for you JohnK. It could only happen to you

 

[Nigelinoz]

Sometimes I get the feeling that media (ie online newspapers)make up stories to fill empty spaces,I'm really getting that
feeling today ,News.com.au is running a story about hairdressers who are so stressed from listening to their clients tales of woe
that they are selling up.
Has to be one of the weirdest stories I have ever read,yet it must be true because it contains information about a survey done
by Cardinia Shire.

YOU'VE heard of Desperate Housewives. Now spare a thought for desperate hairdressers. Many hairdressers are so burdened by their customers' stories of domestic struggles they are giving up and getting out of the game.
Tragic and depressing stories told over a cut and colour are making hairdressers sick and unable to carry on.
A study across Cardinia Shire in Victoria found that all is not well in the salons of Wisteria Lane.

​

Desperate hairdressers - staff look to cut and run | News.com.au

Must be a slow news day.
Cheers
N'oz

 

[markis10]

According to News.com, Cessna make helicopters!

BAD day for a pilot who was busted with 10kg of marijuan_ after his helicopter strayed into Air Force One's airspace.

Hot tip: Don't fly in Obama's airspace with 10kg of marijuan_

• From correspondents in Los Angeles
• NewsCore
• February 17, 2012 2:07PM

• Helicopter strays into Air Force One's airspace
• Obama's security officials rush to protect President
• Pilot busted transporting 10kg of marijuan_

A SINGLE-ENGINE plane crammed full of illegal drugs was intercepted by federal fighter jets today after it strayed into the airspace of Marine One -- while President Barack Obama was on board -- near Los Angeles International Airport.

The incident ended when the pair of F-16 fighter jets successfully escorted the plane to the ground. Local law enforcement boarded the plane and found it be part of a marijuan_ smuggling operation.

Sources said that authorities found more than 20 pounds (10 kilograms) of marijuan_ aboard the aircraft.

The President was never in danger, sources told NBC.

"Two F-16 fighters scrambled out of March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, to respond to a temporary flight restriction violation by a Cessna 182 aircraft over Los Angeles," the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement Thursday.

Read more: Hot tip: Don't fly in Obama's airspace with 10kg of marijuan_ | News.com.au ​

http://www.news.com.au/world/plane-...nd/story-e6frfkz0-1226273840012#ixzz1mbh3Ra9B
​

 

[Nigelinoz]

The incident ended when the pair of F-16 fighter jets successfully escorted the plane to the ground.

I'm surprised they didn't shoot it down!
Cheers
N'oz

 

[2impulsiv]

If they had it would not have made the news! Or the story would have been much more sinister..