Fuel conservation

Every kind of travel has it’s own adventures, though if you live here long enough you more or less get accustomed to it. Like air travel. After a series of recent plane disasters, it was noted that it was rather difficult to always determine who was even on the planes because despite a law requiring everyone to show an ID so that the name on the ticket and the list are the same as the name on the ID, it still wasn’t being practiced and so the passenger manifest lists are usually inaccurate. A hue and cry was raised and this practice was reinstated. How long did it last? Yesterday only passengers travelling on the national airline were advised to show an ID and it was checked at check-in, and again before boarding. But I wasn't riding the national airline and my ID wasn’t checked anywhere. (And no, it’s NOT because I’m famous!)

It is said that pilots are offered incentives to decrease fuel consumption. This is one of the factors thought to have contributed to a recent crash. One way to conserve fuel is to land at high speed and stand on the brakes rather than taking the time to circle around a little and slow down. This particular crash occured when the plane landed at very high speed and overshot the end of the runway, plowing up a nearby rice paddy.

Another way to conserve fuel is to avoid turning on the ventilation and air conditioning systems for as long as possible. Every flight I was on this trip was waiting far too long for my comfort before they turned on the air. These are tropical countries and the planes are always packed. People here are accustomed to heat. But one flight was particularly bad, over half the people in the plane were madly fanning themselves with the handy emergency instruction cards from the seat pockets. Several were starting to stand up and move into the aisles. Two people even got up and headed for the door as though to exit the plane – or maybe they went to shout at the pilot. It was at that point that the pilot FINALLY turned on the air. Nothing like the smell of fellow travellers’ fungus infections and heated up stale sweat-scented clothing...