a bit of excitement on the journey home last night. the carriage in front of us caught fire so there was smoke billowing into where we were sitting. luckily we were near a rural station so the train screeched to a halt and we all had to pile out in double-quick time. after hanging around …
Category Archives: None
gripes
After every flight, pilots complete a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The form is a piece of paper that the pilot completes and then the mechanics read and correct the problem. They then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident. (P = the problem logged by the pilot. S = the solution and action taken by the engineers.) P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement. S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre. P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough. S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft. P: Something loose in cockpit. S: Something tightened in cockpit P: Dead bugs on windshield. S: Live bugs on back-order. P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent. S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground. P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear. S: Evidence removed. P: DME volume unbelievably loud. S: DME volume set to more believable level. P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick. S: That’s what they’re there for. P: IFF inoperative. S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode. P: Suspected crack in windshield. S: Suspect you’re right. P: Number 3 engine missing. S: Engine found on right wing after brief search. P: Aircraft handles funny. S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious. P: Target radar hums. S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics. P: Mouse in cockpit. S: Cat installed.
update
it’s been a few days since i posted. mainly because i was busy enjoying the bank holiday weekend which turned out to be rather good. i did manage to get to see the matrix reloaded but it has had so much coverage that i am not sure what else i can add to it. summer …
hardware
ned found a good article which looks at the hardware strategy used by google. i had assumed that they used several large server farms around the world, and they do to some extent but there is also extensive use of pc’s to do the grunt work instead of rack-mounted servers. reading the numbers this seems …
renewed
my contract has just been renewed again. it looks like things will wind up here in november but then i have been expecting things to slow down for the last 2 years! i started this contract in july 2000 with the hope of being around for 6-9 months but each time one project finishes up …
monkey
the new dandy warhols album, welcome to the monkey house is out today. i had pre-ordered it on amazon so it was waiting at the office for me this morning. a lot of the reviews have said it’s a grower rather than an immediate hit. i disagree but then i like all the dandy’s albums, …
limeys
after a day of almost total inactivity i feel vaguely normal again. it’s very sad but i really feel the effects of a hangover far worse than i used to. while browsing around i came across a good blog of an american who has moved to london. knowing so many ex-pats over here, the annoyances …
ohmigod
my head hurts. dom had the great idea of buying tequila. i am going to curl up into a ball and lie down now.
hoegies
meeting dom, dave and alan in the city tonight for a few pitchers of hoegaarden . it’s always a good night of catching up on news but the hangovers are pretty spectacular. these white wheat beers taste very nice but they are no good for your head! luckily tomorrow should be a lazy day. it’s …
referers
you may have noticed the new area at the bottom right of the screen called “recent referers”. this is a list of the last 20 urls via which people have got to this site. often the ones via google (or the other search engines) are quite interesting. why, for example, did someone search for “inspired inventors”, …