A few words can make all the difference

[unixronin]

By now, you've probably heard about the Air France A340 that skidded off a runway in Toronto about two hours ago while attempting to land in a severe thunderstorm, slid into a ravine, and was reported engulfed in flames with 300 passengers on board.  The photos have been pretty alarming, with sheets of flame and great black clouds of oil smike.  Sometimes, though, a few words can make all the difference ... like these few, fresh in from CNN:

"All passengers and crew survived but some have been taken to hospital with injuries, officials said."

Yup ... all 297 passengers and 12 crew got out.  14 people suffered minor injuries.  On those days when everything goes wrong, it's awful nice when everything goes right.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I can say from personal experience, that at least for small planes, they most definitely do not. My father has been flying for forty-one years and has never been hit, logging... oh, he's probably got 40,000 hours now. And I was also a road warrior for over two years, riding two birds a week most weeks... nope. One bird a year, period, I would believe. But I've got enough time myself both as a long-term student pilot and as a passenger that if the once-a-year-per-bird bit were true, I would've been hit, or at least know someone who has, by now. I do not, have not.

As I explained earlier, the physics are just too dicey for it to happen that often.