I think the Airport show on MIA must have been a repeat. They do tend to go off on a tangent sometimes. If I want to watch the DEA in action, I’ll watch another programme.

Still, nice to see someone showing an aviation programme that isn’t about either aerobatics or the USAF for once, a la Discovery bloody Wings!

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think the US is any worse than the rest of us in the geographical ignorance stakes. I vividly remember an A-level Geography class where nearly half my class couldn’t place the Firth of Forth on a map of the country (and an Economics class where about 5 people couldn’t work out percentages)

The Isle of Man is often missed off maps of the British Isles in the media. The local paper has a “Miss Isle of Man” section to draw shame and scorn on the errant broadcasters. The BBC often scores badly with the usual London-centric attitude (no offence Ren!)

Other times, someone asks where I’m from and I tell them. 5 minutes later “you’re from the Isle of Wight aren’t you?”. I could happily brain such people!!

When the volcanic events on Montserrat forced mass evacuations a few years ago, one of the papers suggested that the majority of people didn’t know where it was (despite it being one of the last colonies we have). The sheer geographical ignorance of a lot of people is infuriating.

It is no doubt one of the things airlines need to do – educate the culturally impoverished (I was going to add “masses” but thought better of it). Things like map displays on the cabin TVs are a good step in this direction and I would like to thank some of the UK charter airlines – they started doing that before the major airlines did, I remember seeing a detailed map on the screens on Monarch in the late 80’s.

True, but that’s a very unfortunate decision to call it “China Airlines” bearing in mind China’s bad safety reputation.

To most people “China” = “dodgy”.

Look, I always said they were flying skips. You can even see the hole in the roof.

The 146 also had/has problems with icing I think. At least is’s an improvement on the ATP!

I would think a syringe is difficult to spot, especially as modern ones have really tiny needles and they probably don’t set off the metal detectors.

In this instance, I can’t blame security as I am at a loss to how a recurrence would be prevented, within the bounds of decency and dignity.

Would that be the old Essendon airport in Melbourne? I think it is a 146 graveyard now.

Not directly relevant, but on Radio 4 they had a brief interview with Raymond Baxter. He talked about a flight he had in the early 50’s from London to Christchurch. It took 44 hours on a Vickers Viscount (!!). I only ever flew on a Viscount a few times in their last days, but they were horrible – so very loud, they gave me a headache. Actually whenever I’ve flown an a golden oldie, I’ve hated it – tatty, dirty and usually ridiculously loud. I found the same with the Boeing 707.