It appears Michael Husar (not to be confused with the NYS Broome Count Court Clerk of the same name) forgot to pack his Prozac in his carry-on and instead opted to self-medicate himself with booze on Flight 849 from Minnesota To Anchorage. Though I realize he’s neither the first nor the last sot to disrupt a flight and force an emergency landing, I believe this is the first instance where politics was the catalyst.
Can provide much of a link, the only ‘news’ outlet carrying the story is the NY Post
Here, in my opinion, are a few rules to follow when flying (and for that matter, for life in general):[ul][]Leave your politics at home when in the company of strangers. Just because people from the Midwest tend to be more polite than New Yorkers doesn’t give you the right to start spewing your ideology. Read the fucking Anarchist’s Cookbook for all I care, just try and refrain from acting like a douche bag when you discover not everyone is in agreement with you.[]Politics is nothing to get infuriated over. Don’t buy into that ‘be passionate’ bullshit. In Husar’s case, an airliner full of travelers were needlessly inconvenienced because he drunkenly insisted on proselytizing.[]You wanna get worked up, try channeling some of that zeal you have towards the truly meaningful things in life. If you can’t find anything meaningful; either stay home, or start expedition in search of a politician who really gives a shit about you – that’ll keep you busy.[]Most people don’t like flying on passenger jets. It can be an uncomfortable & harrowing experience. Keep that in mind next time you decide to strike up a conversation with the person next to you.[]Maybe I’m old fashioned, but gentlemen don’t scream and curse at women. The only exceptions to that rule are ex-wives and mothers-in-law.[]If you suffer from depression and anxiety, keep the cap tightly sealed on the Jack Daniels. If you’re a male nurse, never, under any circumstances, say the words ‘I have no use for Bush’. It just helps perpetuate the stereotype.[/ul]
I feel bad the guy on the one hand, because you know they totally overreacted, but on the other he should have kept his yap shut. I’ve told my fair share of people to fuck off, or shut the hell up, or whatever, but in this day and age you really have to hold your tongue, you get sued or arrested.
Couldn’t NWA have let the fuel down easy? Maybe taken it out to dinner, gotten it relaxed with a little wine, told it that it wasn’t the fuel, it was them? Then apologized on behalf of all airlines, and told the fuel that there was an airlines out there for it, and to just keep looking and not to be bitter?
Nope, too heavy. It could damage the landing gear or pop some tires on touchdown. Most large aircraft have a maximum takeoff weight and a maximum landing weight (which is considerably lower).
Airplanes have a maximum landing weight which is usually much less that their maximum take off weight. There are a few reasons.
The stress on the airframe when the wings are full (commercial aircraft also have center or fuselage tanks) is much greater than when they are only partially full. The safety concerns are minimal as the air frame is engineered to withstand the added weight, but manufacturers dictate that the airframe be inspected after overweight landings. Not a small expense.
The airplane has to fly at a faster speed on approach due to the increased weight. Touchdown is faster causing greater breaking force causing overheated brakes and possible fire, greater wear on the tires and the possibility of running off the far end of the runway.
If the pilots are experiencing a problem which may lead to an accident on landing, removing fuel from the equation means a smaller fire.
So the cost of inspecting the plane is less than cleaning up all the shit that could potentially happen from dumping all that fuel? I’m assuming that there is some sort of moratorium on lawsuits in the case of potential hijackers or whatever causes an emergency landing.
You think that they’d be able to simply beat the offender into unconscousness or hogtie him or get him with the taser or something and not inconvienence all those people…
