The official verdict is absolute Crap! I'm a Commercial pilot (Complex piston singles) and I have followed this story from the beginning. The official story is pathetic. This will go down in history as one best examples of aviation bravery. For this story to have the happy ending that it did, 3 things had to happen perfectly: First, Cpt. Smit who while on the floor (being attacked with an axe!!!) thought "these are my last moments, but I cant let these people die" and somehow opened the cockpit door. Without his bravery and determination, Everybody dies no question. Second the passengers Yaniv and Yitzhack rushed the cockpit the minute they heard screams. Dont minimize this. Most people in a situation like this would freeze in their seats. Not to mention getting the the front of the plane in a zero G nose over. I'm assuming IDF training (mandatory for all Israelis) but even then excellent reactions under pressure. By rushing to the front immediately, they were on the other side of the door the second that Cpt Smit opened it. The IDF training also probably had a hand in their ability to rapidly neutralize the co-pilot. Yaniv taking the stick and pulling out of the dive is critical simply because there was no time otherwise. At the rate of decent by that point there is maybe 30s to impact if they keep diving (and they were already past Vne) However, contrary to popular male ego, a non pilot successfully recovering the plane has odds near zero. Commercial aircraft are huge and have massive momentum. Even in a small plane, if you are too heavy on the controls nothing happens for ten seconds, then next thing you know you are upside down. The most likely outcome after a non-pilot pulling out of a dive would be overcontrolling and triggering a stall. Fortunately (according to Yaniv's interview) the relief pilot took over just as he leveled the plane. The relief pilots being on board was fortunate, the relief pilot managing to take over the controls before Yaniv could trigger a stall was perfect timing. The pilots were not just random pilots or random airline pilots, they were the relief crew which meant they had hundreds if not thousands of hours in that exact model. Why is this important? Because the co-pilot had smashed the instruments (once again from Yaniv's interview) and the rudder was damaged from exceeding Vne. The relief pilots could handle this as a routine emergency, for a pilot unfamiliar with that airplane and instruments smashed it would be a insurmountable challenge. Finally the Pilot who thought he was going to die was in luck because on board was a dentist. A dental surgeon no less. Not quite the same an ER doc, but enough to stop major arterial bleeding from multiple wounds. If somebody doesnt make a great movie out of this it would be a crime. This is aviation history being made.

Fuck this, I'm off to Eyam

First rule about CD Burning: don't talk about CD Burning.

Did you know that you can get a free trial subscription to the National Theatre's streaming channel ? I've just signed on and thinking of reviewing their "joyful and flamboyant reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s most celebrated comedy" ntathome.com/the-importance-…

The replies to this! 😮😯😕

RT @Care2much18: It's like misogyny central in these replies. Julie's conviction being overturned has nothing whatsoever to do with the fa…

Has nobody told these guys about what happened to Prometheus?

RT @Care2much18: This is a GoFundMe for Kathleen Carey (34, pictured) young mam who died following an alleged assault by a man in Main Stre…

“It will happen to all of us, that at some point you get tapped on the shoulder and told, not just that the party is over, but slightly worse: the party’s going on and you have to leave.” — Christopher Hitchens

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Religious fundamentalist men (a couple with wives in full burqa), mixing with far left fanatics chanting 'TWAW', 'sex work is work', 'surrogacy is a human right', all bonded by misogyny and antisemitism. That's the top line from today's Green Party conference. More anon:

RANT (long) I was supposed to have a hip replacement this year, at a private hospital that takes NHS patients. Saw their consultant at the end of June, booked to have the operation in mid-August. Turned up on the day, saw the anaesthstist(?) for the preop check. Got told my op could'nt proceed because he'd detected a heart murmur; I would have an echocardiogram in a week or so. Waited three weeks. Rang the hospital, oh sorry, so-and-so was on holiday... etc bloody etc. Echoscan arranged for last Monday; somehow it went ahead without a hitch. I asked when I'd be told the result, got a vague non-answer, (though managed to extract the information that I have an enlarged aorta) went home and waited. Rang the bloody hospital again this afternoon, oh sorry, mr so-and-so has a very busy schedule, you'll get an appointment to discuss things when he has a space.... So, I have to wait to see the anaesthetologist* to find out if this newly-discovered heart condition is going to kill me or not, and also get some idea of when my crumbling hip will be replaced. NOTE that this is a private hospital, not NHS. Going by its performance so far, I am not encourage to switch to private health care even if I could afford it! * Spellchecker won't tell me what the right spelling is.

And, today's winner of X is Lily. Attagirl!

If there's one thing both we and the Soviets learned during the Cold War, it was never to co-locate your illegal drug operations with your nuclear stockpiles. Otherwise, an an enemy can drop a bomb down your air chutes.