Remarkable Russian Planes That Fly Themselves - General

[url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/374157.html]Source -[/url] You need a Moscow Times subscription. Alternate story follows: Having lived in Russia for the past six years, catching an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to New York to see friends and family has become as familiar as hopping on a bus. But one flight last December, reports of which went around the world this week, will always stand out in my memory. It all started with the pilot's pre-flight announcement. His voice was strange - slurred words, incomplete sentences, pauses. "Is he drunk?" asked my wife. Before I could answer, we noticed a commotion in another aisle. A young woman was gesticulating at the intercom. "He's drunk," she said. "I'm not flying anywhere." Soon the number of worried passengers had grown to a good half-dozen. "If you don't want to fly, you can get off the plane," one flight attendant told us calmly. "But decide now, because you're holding us up." There was a brief conference. "We're not going anywhere," we said. "Bring out the pilot, let us have a look at him." "Impossible," said the flight attendant, now visibly nervous. "He can't come out because he's in the cockpit, with his foot on the brake." Before long, the number of refuseniks had grown to the point that flight attendants were threatening to call the police and have us all carted away. And then, a voice called out from business class: it was Ksenia Sobchak, the socialite, TV presenter and daughter of the St Petersburg politician who gave Vladimir Putin his big break. Sobchack informed us that she had been into the cockpit, and that the pilot "didn't look great". By now, the cabin was in uproar. A series of Aeroflot representatives began boarding the plane. Sobchak took out a mobile phone and said that unless the situation was resolved, she would start making calls. And so they brought out the pilot. After the incident, the airline said that he had been tested and found sober, and blamed his strange behaviour on nervousness and ill health. However we've all seen drunk people, and to most of us, the man fitted the description. His face was beet red, his eyes were bloodshot. "Do I look drunk to you?" he demanded. "Yes!" the passengers said. Finally, one last Aeroflot representative boarded the plane, smiling as if he had just acknowledged our victory in a game of chess. He told us that the crew would be replaced - after a three-hour wait. Back at the airport gate, he sought to reassure us that a drunk pilot is, in fact, not such a big deal. "Really, all he has to do is press a button and the plane flies itself," he said. "The worst that could happen is he'll trip over something in the cockpit." [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/05/aeroflot-drunk-pilot]линк[/url] You can always count on the Russians to out-drink the Brits. This is worse than that one time a building got drunk and fell over. [img]http://arbitraries.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/20090627_16-thumb.jpg[/img]

Russia what have you become

Is alcohol a problem or is it a catalyst of fun?

Now what do you think?

Yeah drunk pilots aren't a big deal :rolleyes:

I thought the article would be about new airplane technology or something.

[QUOTE=Kondor;18121147]Yeah drunk pilots aren't a big deal :rolleyes:[/QUOTE] They aren't when there is Captain Autopilot.

[QUOTE=Spork-Juct;18121159]They aren't when there is Captain Autopilot.[/QUOTE] It isn't as simple as pushing a button as said, you still need to tell the autopilot what it's meant to be doing

[QUOTE=McSanchez;18121148]I thought the article would be about new airplane technology or something.[/QUOTE] But what if the Russians have superior technology but we're too drunk to use them at full capacity.

Haha, oh wow.

[QUOTE=Spork-Juct;18121159]They aren't when there is Captain Autopilot.[/QUOTE] Autopilot still doesn't land planes.

[QUOTE=Spork-Juct;18121159]They aren't when there is Captain Autopilot.[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.myflightblog.com/images/autopilot.jpg[/img] [editline]04:24PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Wakka V2;18121206]Autopilot still doesn't land planes.[/QUOTE] advanced one's can

i thought this would be a badage boys thread xD

[img]http://opengl.jp/blogger/200508/Stealth%20poster.JPG.jpg[/img] [b]Edit:[/b] Just read the article. I still don't get if he was actually drunk or not.

crazy russians

[QUOTE=cmanatlan;18121255][img]http://opengl.jp/blogger/200508/Stealth%20poster.JPG.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Up in the corner "xxx"

[img]http://images.smh.com.au/2009/09/23/748337/boris-yeltsin-420x0.jpg[/img] Even the Premier is drunk. And us Russians are taught to drink Kvass at a young age. [img]http://media-files.gather.com/images/d971/d806/d744/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg[/img] That stuff is practically beer.

Are they really?

Even the police drink. [img]http://www.englishrussia.com/images/russian_police/28.jpg[/img] Or sleep on the job.

Planes pretty much fly themselves nowadays, pilots just take off and land. I know someone who is a pilot.

Maybe they couldn't afford laptops?

What if the pilot had a speech impediment and had dry eyes? I call that discrimination. Poor guy must have a tough life.

Wakka. You can fuck off with "Kvas being alcohol" bullshit. It has as much alcohol as in Kefir - and damn it, you gotta be either an idiot or trying, if you want to get drunk off that. Although the story is entertaining. Wait, why is there a pilot in the first place? and beside, 12 hour trip is enough for a man to become sober, again.

what a fucking idiot you're supposed to take off sober then get drunk and hopefully sober up in time to land

[QUOTE=rb_pk;18121282]Up in the corner "xxx"[/QUOTE] It's a spy/agent movie or some shit. I never watched it either. [editline]I didn't actually edit anything[/editline] [url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295701/[/url]

[QUOTE=Spork-Juct;18121159]They aren't when there is Captain Autopilot.[/QUOTE] Not really. Remember the plane that overshot it's destination and went on for over an hour? Also, Aeroflot's logo is awesome [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/hu/thumb/f/fa/Aeroflot_Logo.jpg/247px-Aeroflot_Logo.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=gufu;18123834]Wakka. You can fuck off with "Kvas being alcohol" bullshit. It has as much alcohol as in Kefir - and damn it, you gotta be either an idiot or trying, if you want to get drunk off that.[/QUOTE] You don't understand that kvas can ferment and it does so pretty quickly. I know many people who purposely ferment their kvas. And yes, they do sell it unfermented or with little alcohol.

[QUOTE=Wakka V2;18124412]You don't understand that kvas can ferment and it does so pretty quickly. I know many people who purposely ferment their kvas. And yes, they do sell it unfermented or with little alcohol.[/QUOTE] You can ferment fruit juice, to make alcoholic drink. So you'll have too leave it for too long (idiot) or do that to get beer (intended). So no, you are technically wrong.

In soviet Russia, plane flies you! :smug:

Funny, but i saw the name and was about to say that this reminded me alot of a movie and post a picture of that movie stealth.