Air New Zealand, let me tell you, has not had a major accident. No, sirree. I will admit that there was a slight technical hitch with the first attempt to land a DC-10 wheels up at cruising speed on a glacier at 10,000 feet on Mt Erebus in Antarctica. But it wasn't an accident. Nope.

Flying urban myths ... my favourite was one about South West Airlines. According to the story, at one point they had a policy which involved the pilot or the co-pilot in having to go and glad-hand the passengers at the entry as they disembarked on arrival. After one particularly ropey arrival which involved a hard touchdown and a couple of subsequent hops before the plane consented to admit it had landed, the pilot was less than enthusiastic about performing this duty. However, everyone smiled and said "thank you" as they got off. Except for one little old lady, last off the plane. As she stepped out in the jetway, she looked back and asked, "Sonny, did we land or were we shot down?"

Any others?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...