April 3, 2005

Departure Lounge

Air Tahiti

Well not even close... Every year before I head back to the northern hemisphere from our little corner of the south pacific, I start having these dreams about missing my flight. The usual scenario is it's 30 minutes, an hour, whatever to departure and I haven't packed and am nowhere near the airport...

In last night's instalment I end up at the Hawaiian Airlines terminal, but I'm not even going to Hawaii. Some how I'd mixed up Hawaiian with Air Tahiti, and what use would all this French I've been learning be there, they don't even speak French in Hawaii?! After finally arriving at the Air Tahiti terminal, I end up pleading with the attendant to be able to take the next flight, however it's a no go...

I wonder if any of this has anything to do with me watching "Air Crash Investigation" on tv before going to bed, hmmm... maybe. Normally when I fly wear my merino wool sweater and long pants. I think I'll invest in some wool pants too after watching last night's episode.

Shearing Wool from a Sheep

When planes crash they invariability catch fire, since the wings which contain the fuel tanks are almost always damaged. In this episode everyone survived the initial impact, but 80% of them got moderate to serve burns from the resulting fire.

Wool has a natural resistance to burning, a low burning rate and can self-extinguish. Wool has been used in fire fighter uniforms for years; the London Fire Brigade only replaced wool in their uniforms with more modern fabrics as recently as 1989, which gives you some indication of its effectiveness as a fire-retardant.

Surprisingly, the idea of a plane crash doesn't really scare me—since air travel is one of safest forms of transport. However, if I am involved in a crash, I want to be covered head to toe in wool, lol.

Posted by Matt at April 3, 2005 10:59 AM

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