I’m sorry but I can only provide a Dutch source, but this story was too good to not post here.

http://www.spitsnieuws.nl/archives/provinciaal/2010/04/inbraak_in_gevangenis.html

Prison burglarized
Most burglars like to stay as far away from prison as possible. But not a group of burglars in the vicinity of Hoorn (NL). They went on a “shopping spree” at the local prison.

Not only did they pull of this feat once. They did this twice in the past few weeks. They must have known when prisoners would not be in their cells, and timed their heist accordingly. The burglars left with several televisions from the cells.

The prison in Hoorn has minimum security, as it is intended for prisoners that are due to be released shortly. The prisoners are often allowed on leave during the weekend to get used again to life outside the walls.

The police has not yet made any arrests.

THOUSANDS of British tourists stranded in Calais will begin their journey home today by climbing into the end of a giant cannon pointed roughly at Kent.

Aaah yes, I heard of them. Howitz’air and Air-Tillery right?

Ministers insist that some people won’t die.

The connecting Slingshot Flight with Elbonia Airways will finish them of.

Out of interest, how much do you think Kammair would charge for that?

It’s all on their site, but Dutch language only. The rate per person is 30min for 54eur, 45min for 81eur, 60 min for 105 euro. These rates do assume a full load of six passengers! If the flight is not full, you pay more! I don’t know if there are additional charges for any special permits. Due to the flighttime you would need at least 45 minutes.

http://kammair.i-reserve.nl/index.php?client=3&grp_id=1&sid=60574a4af67b7926ebeb088af1d313bb

Daily Mail recently reports FR is to close two toilets, charge £1 per use and increase pax seating by 6. I’d have thought if certification permited more seats then someone would have done it by now. Any knowledgable comments?

The number of toilets is not mandatory, so yeah they can remove them. The number of passengers allowed on the B738 and B739 (non ER) is at most 189. Ryanair already pack 189 people on board. Therefor adding seats would not be allowed.

I am very much looking forward to it. Should be a good and interesting series, unlike most of the drivel currently on TV.

Have not seen anything yet. The series starts this wednesday here in the Netherlands. I do have part two and three downloaded, but until I have seen part one I am not touching them!

I am not sure if the security regulators will even allow this! Note I specifically say security regulators, not safety regulators.

An airbag is basically an explosive that is triggered at certain G-loads. It is already well known that airbags can be stolen from cars. What’s to stop a would-be terrorist from grabbing the airbag and using the explosives in it. I´m not saying it´s likely, but it is a contingency that will have to be taken into account.

Add to that the problem that not every passenger is the same, but every passenger does sit in the same type of seat. In a car the seat is positioned to ideally suit the driver/passenger. This can not be done in a plane. You can move the seatback and armrest, but that’s where it ends in economy class. For a tall person the airbag might be too low, for a small person (child) the airbag too high. In a car the airbag can be disabled for childrens safety. In a plane this would be very hard to do, in particular on a 737/320 sized plane doing several trips a day.

And then there is of course also the added financial hurdle. Installation, maintenance and weight.

As some of you know I work for a large company in automotive shipping. I move parts and pieces for GM, Ford, JLR… you name it. This includes moving airbags. I can therefor tell with certainty that these goods are treated as haz-mat (explosives / class 9 UN3268). This also means that airbags are NOT allowed on passenger planes. A freight plane is acceptable I believe, but I am not 100% sure on that as we ship the airbags by ship.

Also, be honest here, would you feel comfortable knowing there are explosives tucked away in your headrest or seatback? Cause where else do you want to put them? It’s fair enough to have them in the dashboard where the explosives can be aimed away towards the engine. But in a plane, your airbag will leave a mark on the guy in the seat in front of you!

My my… where has the time gone! 😮

Time flies when you have no social life! 😉

Congrats on this milestone. Now go for the 20000!

I was there as well, but quickly left after I found that my sight-seeing flight was cancelled due to weather. Amazing thing is, back in Den Bosch the weather was rather favourable, even a tad sunny! Only now it is getting a tad grey.

Did Kammair manage to perform any flights today?