Re: Very OT: things that fly by

chris <ithinkiam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> That does still happen on some flights. I can't remember which flight it
> was, but the cabin crew came around with sweets before landing. This was
> certainly in the last 2-3 years.

I think it's an attempt to distract the passengers without going through
the hell of IFE.

As for balancing a coin on edge,  that was more a question of the
Viscount having s superb autopilot, with rate sensing so everything
happened smoothly. Around the same time as I made a late flight in a
Viscount, to Jersey, jumpy weather, but smooth as silk, I then had the
misfortune to have to travel to East Berlin by Ilyu****n 18. Polish
airline so lovely stewardesses and good food. All wasted. The weather
was the same. The plane had an autopilot that we were told was descended
directly from that in the B-29s that had been interned in the Sov Union
and copied as the TU-4. Maybe that was even true. Anyway, it apparently
had a height hold that involved climbing till it intercepted the set
height, then knocking the elevator to 'down' and diving till it had gone
through the height overlap in the instruments and reached the minimum
height, and then pulling up sharpish. Vomit comet; it was the most
ghastly flight I have been on. All the way by roller coaster. People
were being sick all along the cabin.

The return trip was from Tempelhof, by BEA, BAC-111. Like flying on
glass. We had Henry Moore sitting in the seat across the way, hand
carrying what must have been some small sculptures. A lovely flight. 
-- 
Peter