How To Get Off Of A Grounded Plane: Pick Up Your Camera and Start Filming
#1
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How To Get Off Of A Grounded Plane: Pick Up Your Camera and Start Filming
An upside to security madness:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/bu...erland&emc=rss
For nearly four hours last Thursday night, Flight 5637, a 50-seat regional jet, was stuck on the ground by bad weather at Kennedy International Airport. The air-conditioning wasn’t working, and no one seemed to have a clue about when the plane would take off.
I wish I could say I was writing about this because the situation was unusual. Or that it was as bad as air travel can get. But I can’t.
What was unusual was that one passenger on the flight, David Ollila, runs a company that makes video cameras the size of a roll of quarters for mountain bikers, skiers and other amateur athletes to attach to their helmets and capture their thrills. And Mr. Ollila had one of those little cameras with him.
He marched up to the plane’s front, stood a few feet from the open cockpit door and interviewed the captain, demanding to know why something wasn’t being done to get the passengers off the plane.
He got a few replies on camera. Then the police arrived. The passengers all filed off. The flight was canceled. Mr. Ollila said he was questioned inside the airport by the Port Authority police and a Transportation Security Administration officer. After a background check, “they determined I was not a threat,” he said.
He was released without charge.
I wish I could say I was writing about this because the situation was unusual. Or that it was as bad as air travel can get. But I can’t.
What was unusual was that one passenger on the flight, David Ollila, runs a company that makes video cameras the size of a roll of quarters for mountain bikers, skiers and other amateur athletes to attach to their helmets and capture their thrills. And Mr. Ollila had one of those little cameras with him.
He marched up to the plane’s front, stood a few feet from the open cockpit door and interviewed the captain, demanding to know why something wasn’t being done to get the passengers off the plane.
He got a few replies on camera. Then the police arrived. The passengers all filed off. The flight was canceled. Mr. Ollila said he was questioned inside the airport by the Port Authority police and a Transportation Security Administration officer. After a background check, “they determined I was not a threat,” he said.
He was released without charge.
#4
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I like this part:
That guy was wonderful: He kept his cool and knew how to make things this is advantage.
The police and the T.S.A. official who questioned him were “terrific," he said. Afterward, “they all wanted me to give them a demonstration of the camera," said Mr. Ollila, who knows a marketing opportunity when he sees one. (To see it, go to www.vio-pov.com. The company’s main Web site is www.viosport.com)
#6
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Hey, check out the bottom of the story:
Grrrr .....
Airline chaos is the travel story of this year. I’ve written in the past about the efforts of a real estate agent from the San Francisco area, Kate Hanni, who got so motivated after being stranded for eight hours on a plane with overflowing toilets that she now works full-time lobbying for federal legislation to address passengers’ rights.
Her group has a Web site, www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com. She has also set up a toll-free hotline — (877) 359-3776 — for passengers to phone in their complaints.
The complaints are pouring in. But she says she was most amused by a message from a woman who described herself as a flight attendant and who “seemed to take the airlines’ attitude that everything is somehow the fault of the passengers.”
Here is the message:
“I’m a flight attendant, and I just wanted to suggest that passengers not eat and drink while they’re sitting on the tarmac because then this lavatory issue comes up. Nobody’s going to be hurt by not eating or drinking for a few hours. They should take the sips of water the flight attendants offer and do their part. It’s the passengers’ duty to be practical. Why eat and drink and worry about having to go to the bathroom?”
Her group has a Web site, www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com. She has also set up a toll-free hotline — (877) 359-3776 — for passengers to phone in their complaints.
The complaints are pouring in. But she says she was most amused by a message from a woman who described herself as a flight attendant and who “seemed to take the airlines’ attitude that everything is somehow the fault of the passengers.”
Here is the message:
“I’m a flight attendant, and I just wanted to suggest that passengers not eat and drink while they’re sitting on the tarmac because then this lavatory issue comes up. Nobody’s going to be hurt by not eating or drinking for a few hours. They should take the sips of water the flight attendants offer and do their part. It’s the passengers’ duty to be practical. Why eat and drink and worry about having to go to the bathroom?”
#9
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#10
Join Date: Apr 2003
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That said, I've yet to be on a delayed plane where they do more than offer me some tepid water and wry smiles when I ask if they know when we're going to be airborne so not eating and only drinking a few sips of water isn't going to be hard. Glad to see that the "sips of water the flight attendants offer" are not them being cheap or lazy, but it's actually in my interest
#11
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#13
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Hey, check out the bottom of the story:
“I’m a flight attendant, and I just wanted to suggest that passengers not eat and drink while they’re sitting on the tarmac because then this lavatory issue comes up. Nobody’s going to be hurt by not eating or drinking for a few hours. They should take the sips of water the flight attendants offer and do their part. It’s the passengers’ duty to be practical. Why eat and drink and worry about having to go to the bathroom?”
Grrrr .....
“I’m a flight attendant, and I just wanted to suggest that passengers not eat and drink while they’re sitting on the tarmac because then this lavatory issue comes up. Nobody’s going to be hurt by not eating or drinking for a few hours. They should take the sips of water the flight attendants offer and do their part. It’s the passengers’ duty to be practical. Why eat and drink and worry about having to go to the bathroom?”
Grrrr .....
What a moron!
#14
Join Date: Sep 2003
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Agreed +1