First in this post, to Switzerland.
Land of the cuckoo clock (even though it was a German invention), numbered account and the world’s most secretive banking laws.
And green – in an environmental rather than rural way.
Anyone who has heard the TV journalist Jeremy Clarkson’s views on Switzerland will realise the country is an extremely green place.
And an extreme place.
The latest piece of green Swiss extremism is a proposal to ban the Swiss Air Force from low flying in Alpine areas.
The Swiss Air Force is only a defensive force – Switzerland isn’t even a member of NATO – and it solely exists to protect the bankers and cuckoo clock makers.
But the Swiss greens are saying that the noise of the Swiss F18s and F5s is harming the local economy and environment.
Switzerland has many Alpine areas and it’s not a massive leap of logic that one would want the national Air Force pilots trained in that kind of landscape.
The Swiss greens seem to think it’s not necessary.
It’s probably not another massive leap of logic to surmise that the Swiss greens probably want to do away with the Swiss Air Force.
I trained on exercise with the Swiss Air Force; it’s a service comprised of part-time, amateur servicemen and women.
But their capability and professionalism is worthy of – and in the case of some nations, exceeds – the same standards of most professional aviators.
Even though I have a very large video clip of a cockpit-filmed dog-fight that unfortunately shows 14 Sqn Royal Air Force comprehensively kicking Swiss backside all over their own airspace.
It would be sad if the greens became elevated to a place where they set national defence capabilities.
And now, to Guam where…
The world’s most expensive air crash has just happened.
A United States B-2 ‘stealth’ bomber crashed just after take-off from Anderson Air Force Base, Guam.
Thankfully both pilots ejected (I’ll tell you a true story about Royal Air Force ejection procedures in a minute) safely, but the aircraft is spread over a large area and will keep the wreckage-pickers busy for some time.
But at a cost of (count the zeros!) $ 1,200,000,000.00 each, this relatively unreported event masks the world’s most expensive air crash.
And now that anecdote…
The first time I flew on a low-level sortie as I was strapped in to my ejection seat the pilot said over the intercom:
And if I say ‘Eject, eject, eject’ I want you to reach down and pull that tag immediately, and if you say “What?” you’ll be talking to yourself’.
It crystalised my thoughts!
B.
“And if I say ‘Eject, eject, eject’ I want you to reach down and pull that tag immediately, and if you say “What?’ you’ll be talking to yourself’.”
For some reason it made me think I wish cars had those devices, especially when you have this annoying person on the passenger seat lol
froggywoogie: in this instance, if it had happened and I’d said ‘What?’ I’d have been talking to myself because the pilot would already have left the aircraft!
I know, hence my comment! LOL