Virtual Identity Dialogue

As many of you know - a British Airways flight had a recent hard landing (I know some will say "crash" but I go by the axiom if you can walk away it's a landing :)) at Heathrow. I don't have any identity spin on this - but since I fly quite a bit - thought I'd write something on it.

I'm sure it was scary as hell.

But what sticks in my mind (in particular after watching "We Are Marshall" this morning - FYI this goes on the list with "Brian's Song" & "Big Fish" as movies "OK for men to cry while watching") - is that this is like the 3rd major incident in like 5 years and nobody has died.

I'm very, very amazed by modern air travel. Yes - it does suck on many levels (I'll be reminded again Monday morning as I'm crammed into an AA MD-80 on route from DFW to SFO just how much). But to have a behemoth like a 777 come down and effectively crash & everyone lives.

Well that is pretty amazing.

That's what good engineering, good procedures and lots of practice to prepare will do for you.

Though a happier thought - the new biz-class seats on AA 757/767 are awesome. Near full recline without crunching the person behind you. A large table area so you can put your laptop up comfortably. Every seat has power. I've joked with my boss that I can think of biz-trips where I've have less work-space.

I 've scored these seats twice in route back home from SFO. I now try to sched my return trips so that I'm catching the first leg of an international flight early in the morning.

I also think that this really should be mandatory seating for biz related Intl trips. Yes, I know the immediate cash cost will be higher but I think can be offset by productivity boost from these seats. Not just because possible could actually do some work on the flight but ability to get rest on the flight to battle jet lag. Perhaps wishful thinking...