Captain Scarlet for the win; also, physical therapy continues

[solarbird]

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and Captain Scarlet for the win:

GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing."

(from The Economist)

(For all those people somewhat less hopelessly geeky than me: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's original Captain Scarlet TV series had vehicles called SPVs that were high-speed/high-armour pursuit vehicles which had rear-facing seats. The driver had video screens around the seat showing a normal, front-facing view. This was specifically because they expected SPVs to crash a lot (in show) and wanted the driver and any passengers as protected as possible (in character). This is the kind of crazy wonderful obsessive detail Gerry and Sylvia put into their worlds. Hence: Captain Scarlet for the win.)

Today's (Friday's) miles: 1.1 (not counting exercise bike time at therapist)
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1316.2
Miles out of Rivendell: 851.2
Miles out of Lothlórien: 396.2
Miles to Rauros Falls: 12.8

More physical therapy for me next week. The therapist wants to do some upper-body work she hasn't been able to do because of my annoying shoulder. So we'll see how that goes. She's happy with my endurance recovery and leg strength and balance, but since nothing has been done with my arms, well... and yeah, I do actually need some help there. So there you are. Foo.

Comments

[wrog]

what we really need from CS is the Bu-bummm-bummm-bu-bu-bu-bummm Rapid Transit System

... a few strokes on the timpani and you can go absolutely anywhere in about five seconds.

BUAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

[solarbird]

D00D

i'm for it. ^_^

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I've actually sat rear-facing on a plane before; Southwest used to have (might still for all I know) rear-facing seats at the forward bulkhead, so there were two sets of six that faced each other as in this lovely ascii rendition:
[ ] ] ] ] ]
[ ] ] ] ] ]
[ ] ] ] ] ]
-- aisle --
[ ] ] ] ] ]
[ ] ] ] ] ]
[ ] ] ] ] ]

It was pretty good for leg room, if a bit odd-seeming to be facing other passengers.

[solarbird]

The trains in Scotland are paired, one set back, one set front, with a table between. It's really nice.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

It's particularly good if you're travelling with a larger group.

[epawtows.livejournal.com]

I was always curious if faceing backwards would make a Spectrum pilot more likely to get into an accident. Even if you assume that you can train someone to drive well while looking at a viewscreen in reverse, would they get into an accident by turning the wrong way while picking up a gallon of milk (unless you want to assume that *all* cars had rear-facing seats in that universe).

The article is a bit off: there is *one* case of an airliner ditching successfully in the ocean. It was back in the propeller-driven days, though. A four-engined job was going between Hawaii and CA, headwinds picked up, and ended up with insufficent fuel to make it, but the crew didn't notice until they were too far along to return. They set it down nice and level right next to a beacon ship- there used to be a line of them to the islands; aircraft navigation was primitive in those days. I don't think there were any deaths. Some passengers didn't even get wet.

There have been a handful of successful ditching of narrow-bodied jets. Mostly 727's and DC-9/MD-80 variants. Most of those were on rivers, lakes, or so close to shore the passengers could swim there without needing rafts.

[solarbird]

They actually kinda referenced this in the first episode. The guy checking the SPV out to Captain Blue is the New Guy and says something to the effect that it's got to be really hard to drive those things backwards, and Captain Blue just shrugs and says, "You get used to it." And then it's never referenced again, which is, of course, exactly correct.

We also know from outside sources that there is a significant training period involved in getting certified in an SPV. It's not like driving a car. ^_^