Invisibility Cloaks for Pilots?

Harry Potter fans - as well as airline pilots, drinkers and ASBO teens – will be happy to hear that a breakthrough has been made with inventing invisibility cloaks.  Scientists have now come up with the mathematical equations needed to bend light around objects.  Engineers at Purdue University in Indiana are using the calculations to develop a device which could soon make objects as big as planes disappear!  Among it’s many potential uses, the military could use it for serious situations such as protecting soldiers from being spotted with night-vision goggles.  No doubt airlines will buy a few to hide the embarrassing behaviour of some of their pilots…

A flight from Las Vegas to Detroit was cancelled recently because boarding passengers heard the pilot cursing on his cell phone in the plane’s toilet.  He then swore at one of the passengers who dared to confront him about his unprofessional behaviour.  The potty-mouthed pilot was questioned by police but released after they decided a sobriety test was not necessary. Northwest Airline cancelled the flight anyway and provided inconvenienced passengers with hotel accommodation and meals and promised they would receive additional compensation.

Last week the captain of a New York-bound Virgin Atlantic flight was taken from the cockpit of his plane in handcuffs at Heathrow and arrested on suspicion of being drunk.  The flight was delayed while a replacement pilot was located.  Security staff had suspected the pilot of drinking after they smelt alcohol on his breath.  It was later reported that a breathalyser test showed the pilot to be over the limit, but then a blood test apparently was negative.  Less than a week later the pilot has been reinstated to his duties and charges dropped.  His diet is being blamed for causing the increased levels of acetone which caused his breath to smell like alcohol…

I don’t know about you, but I wonder what kind of diet that pilot is on…  It could provide a too-convenient defense for those stopped by the police for loud and disorderly conduct or suspected of drink driving.  Anyway, the prison overcrowding problem could  become a thing of the past and the police and court systems made obsolete once ‘invisibility cloaks’ go on the market.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 10:58 am and is filed under Travel News .

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