Travel Tracks by Dave Heron

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*Responsible Reporting* 


*Plane Plummets To Earth ~ Survivors Reported*
Catchy headline - probably sold a few extra copies. Fact is, non-tabloid rags wouldn't run the story at all given that the event being described was none other than a *landing*.
Big league dailies are between a rock and a hard place these days.
Ever since that Rupert Murdoch incident a few weeks ago, tabloids are now a tad reluctant to base stories on tidbits of information captured from hacking into personal e-mail accounts or personal voice mails, and after all let's face it - there's a paper to print.
And full page ads to sell.
So the headlines play it up a bit.
And after you've bought the issue that screamed out *DRUNKEN PILOT ARRESTED AT MAJOR AIRPORT* only to find out 8 sentences into the story that the incident involved an ultra-light driver taking off from Buada Lagoon in Nauru with a 6 pack strapped to his seat, well, it's a bit late to get your money back isn't it?
On the evening of Wednesday July 27th here in Canada, which is of course sometime in the not too distant future in Sydney Australia, SKY NEWS out of Australia sent the following headline over the wires: *Plane Catches Fire Over Sydney*
The next couple of lines went on to indicate an Air Canada flight bound for Vancouver was on fire and attempting an emergency landing in Sydney.
Now even if you're a major shareholder in say, Westjet, this is not the kind of news you want to hear about a competitor.
Red ink's okay - a catastrophe in the making isn't okay.
In the hours that followed, the story began to emerge, the contents of which revealed about as much excitement as the blurb in the financial section regarding a quarter of a cent drop in the Canadian Dollar vs the Albania Lek.
*Uncontained Fire On Board* was eventually whittled down to a flight attendant seeing smoke coming out of a microwave shortly after take-off and reporting this to the captain who as a precautionary measure returned to Sydney. This kind of issue is quite common, not only around our house when my lovely bride decides to prepare dinner, but let's face it, after re-heating Subway Foot Longs over and over and over again in the wrapper as your main meal for economy class - that $99 Panasonic's eventually going to groan in protest.
*Captain Declares an Emergency* was the follow up and other than perhaps him thinking it was HIS sub getting the flambe treatment, no emergency was declared - it was a routine landing.
*Fuel Dumped Prior to Landing* - well - they got this one right. While a Boeing 777 is designed to take off carrying close to 46,000 gallons of fuel, (171,000 liters for you non-metric challenged) landing with that much weight's a lot like jumping off a 10 ft ledge with 200 lbs of lead weights strapped to your chest. Something's gonna go snap.
*Airport Firefighters Standing Ready* - uh - that's their job - it's what they do at airports. They stand ready - 24/7.
When the smoke cleared and the various non pulitzer types finally had the facts handed to them on a silver platter, it became such a non-issue that these glorious tabloids moved on to other meaningful stories such as a woman being kicked out of a WalMart in Eugene Oregon for shopping in a string bikini.
Which I suspect was far more dramatic from a viewing perspective than the Air Canada incident.
It just didn't sell as many copies.
Next issue I think I'll shift over to the tabloid style.
A story about how after 16 years we're moving from our old location into a brand new facility needs a little spicing up.
*Pace Setter Travel Closing Their Office* is an attention grabber.
*Firefighters Standing By* has possibilities as well – then again – neighbours are used to that every time my lovely bride volunteers to operate the kitchen.

Adios until next time
Dave Heron

Dave Heron is the owner and operator of: Pace Setter Travel & Tours (1995) Inc; P.O. Box 612, 49 Elizabeth Street, Okotoks.
Tel: 403.938.5454
Toll Free: 1.800.206.7223.
Fax: 403.938.5568
Email:
pacesetter@nucleus.com
pacesettertravel.ca