Flight International - 04

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@JonnyLutton
Anti-social
media
Has British Airways’ ban on employees posting on
social media platforms while engaged in professional
activities backfired?
Several pilots have built huge personal Twitter,
TikTok and Instagram followings with their
spectacular photos and videos from the cockpit
depicting the likes of the aurora borealis and iconic
aerial cityscapes.
As ambassadors for the flag carrier, they provide
the sort of positive publicity and goodwill BA would
need to spend millions on advertising and charm
offensives to achieve, helping to make flying and the
brand exciting and glamorous again after what has
been a rough few years.
Some, however, appear to have found a way around
the po-faced prohibition.
@JonnyLutton says he has employed a courtroom
artist for future tweets.
“The budget is very tight,” he remarks. “I can
confirm this was commissioned while at my home
and not at LHR or on a jet.”
Travelling
fur-st class
When you are the only airline serving remote
communities – indeed their only practical transport link
to the rest of the world – you mess with the service
your customers are used to at your peril, particularly
when domesticated animals are involved.
So it was when Loganair hiked the charge for
carrying pets from £20 to £100 for a return journey,
a decision chief executive Jonathan Hinkles revealed
recently was one of the most controversial in his time
running the small Scottish-based airline.
Loganair’s move, in 2018, sparked an “internet storm”
and accusations of profiteering from its clientele,
Hinkles admitted to Aviation Club luncheon guests. He
says the carrier had no choice: too many passengers
were taking their pets on their trips simply because
it was cheaper than paying for kennels. Loganair was
turning away those who needed to take their pets
because there was no room in the hold.
Hinkles won back many fans during the pandemic.
Loganair was one of the few airlines in Europe that
continued flying throughout, carrying everyone from
essential workers heading to North Sea oil rigs to
patients to hospital appointments on the mainland.
Lunch failure
Evidence surely that media hospitality budgets are
not what they were.
An invitation arrives from an electric vertical takeoff
and landing (eVTOL) developer to mark diaries
for a midday media event at which it was due to
make a major programme announcement.
“Since it will be at lunch time,” advises the sender,
“please feel free to bring your lunch.”
US Navy
From the archive
100
1923 Airships as carriers
The experiments which have been made in the
United States during the last couple of years, and
the decision resulting from these experiments of
building airships to act as aircraft carriers, should
give us something to think about. We in this country
were the first to suspend aeroplanes from the keel
of a rigid airship and drop them while in the air. The
airship may give military aeroplanes the necessary
range by carrying them the greater part of the way to
the objective, then dropping them to do their work.
The fact that America has a monopoly on helium
makes her position even stronger, and although a
war between Great Britain and the United States is
unthinkable, by using airships as carriers America has
brought Europe within flying distance of New York.
75
1948 Running on the wing
The R.A.F. were this year unable to repeat their
1947 victory over the Army at Twickenham on April
3rd. This last Inter-Service match of the season was
less exciting than the earlier two, but there were
nevertheless some bright moments. Douglas, the very
big wing, looked the most dangerous of the R.A.F.
outsides, running fast and very hard indeed if ever the
ball came his way. But just before a rainstorm, which
altered the game considerably, Cameron dropped a
slick straight-from-the-book goal which put the Army
in an almost unassailable position with a score of 11
points to 3. Too late the R.A.F. took the initiative as
the rain ceased. Since 1920, and omitting the war
years of 1940 to 1945, the Army has won 15 matches,
the Royal Air Force 7, and one match was drawn.
78 Flight International April 2023