Comments | shawnmullin: Harper Fires Pilot

shawnmullin

Harper Fires Pilot

Aug 10, 2006 19:54

Interesting tidbit from a Globe article...

"By way of illustration, on a recent trip, the Prime Minister was asked by a flight attendant to turn off his cellphone and BlackBerry. Mr. Harper declined. The pilot then made a request, saying it was for safety purposes. The PM relented. But, at the end of the journey, one of his staffers gave the pilot ( Read more... )

Comments 7

ryanmc August 11 2006, 03:25:10 UTC

Maddock will have more knowlegde of this, but as far as I know the evidence of cell phones messing with aircraft is kinda 50/50 right now. Some studies show their effect to be next to nothing, others show that they will CRASH THE PLANE.

All I've got to say is that Steven Harper is now flying around with his(and I assume the rest of his staff's) Blackberry on. So the chance that he will die in a plane crash for being an arrogant prick has increased. My week's looking up :)

scottincalgary August 11 2006, 05:08:09 UTC

I've read the same thing about cell-phones and aircraft. No one knows for sure. I also read that the general ban is in place because there are just so many different electronic devices out there that it is almost inevitable that some of them will mess with a plane's electronic or communications equipment but no one really knows which ones will.

As for the rest of the article, it's just another example of reporters who just plum forgot that there was a time before the Chretien era when different PMs did things differently than Chretien did. Shuffling senior public servants has been standard practice for decades in Canada. The whole "timeless Canadian neutrality" BS that has been talked about (and completely shot down by several historians) since the beginning of the current Israeli-Lebanon conflict is another example of the media's short memories.

rob_in_china August 11 2006, 15:21:05 UTC

sigh please don't use my last name. I know we all do, but it is getting harder and harder to remain 'ungoogleable' these days. I just check Google Blog search and "Rob Maddock" I come up #3 ( ... )

ryanmc August 11 2006, 16:07:07 UTC

thank you sir, and I heartily appologize

stothegeemo August 11 2006, 14:48:19 UTC

I'd just like to say that it completely irks me when people refer to 'the media' as if it is one body that makes one decision as a whole. The media is an institution made up of thousands of journalists. Some are crap, some are ego-maniacs, and some are hard working reporters who do a damn good job. I think it's always a mistake to paint everyone with the same brush. Just saying.

rob_in_china August 11 2006, 15:35:52 UTC

My sister is flying from the UK to the US tomorrow, and flying from Ottawa to New York on Sept. 11th.

She expects some serious (4-5 hour) delays.

Harper the diva speevak August 11 2006, 17:26:26 UTC

Has someone taken a page out of the marriah Carrey handbook? :)