211–220 of 255 posts
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I thought terrorists had done the "check your bag and don't board" thing enough for it to be disallowed. But maybe this story took place a long time ago?
Terrorists these days are willing to die with the plane so it’s not such a big deal anymore I guess.
What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. Years ago, you could get discounted flights to Europe where you couldn't check in any luggage. Why? That allowance was taken up by documents for various clients. This was usually quicker than any courier services at the time. I've had friends who worked in the oil and g…
What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. Years ago, you could get discounted flights to Europe where you couldn't check in any luggage. Why? That allowance was taken up by documents for various clients. This was usually quicker than any courier services at the time. I've had friends who worked in the oil and g…
They were still a courier service. I once sat next to a guy (in first class!) who was accompanying checks to Hawaii. Yes, not so long ago they had to physically travel to the issuing bank. He was basically retired so he did this to travel, around and earn some money.
At the end of the flight they let him leave first. He told me they would let him off and he would go down to the tarmac to watch the cargo hold be unlocked and make sure the cargo wasn’t tampered with.
I’ve also had someone hand carry electronics to / from a customer. Sometimes it’s just easier.
What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. Years ago, you could get discounted flights to Europe where you couldn't check in any luggage. Why? That allowance was taken up by documents for various clients. This was usually quicker than any courier services at the time. I've had friends who worked in the oil and g…
Sending human remains! I recently discovered it's cheaper to go in person with someone's ashes in your hand luggage on an international flight than to have them sent by air (actually, you can't send human remains by postal service or courier), and much easier too. I wonder whether anyone offers it as a commercial service (maybe as a side income?). It's too bad you can't take cadavers with you on flights, the cost of…
Doesn’t that just create TWO cadavers?
Fortunately looks like the growth curve is less than linear.
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I don't think "physically" is redundant. It could be legally impossible, or practically impossible. I played around with the title and character limit for a minute, and managed to get: "A small flat-rate USPS box's weight limit is physically impossible to exceed". How's that?
That sounds awkward to me. The best way to shorten titles is to omit words - then you keep the prosody of the original. I've taken another crack at it. Now someone will complain about USPS being missing, but "flat rate" implies someone's rate, and it's not as if USPS is a misleading surprise. (Submitted title was "It is physically impossible to exceed the weight limit for a USPS flat rate box". First edit was "It is…
I usually cringe when people show me mainstream news titles (I attributed it to a good literature teacher who taught me to read someone's agenda and bias), but it might also be getting used to that calmed "bookish as PG said' tone here.
What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. Years ago, you could get discounted flights to Europe where you couldn't check in any luggage. Why? That allowance was taken up by documents for various clients. This was usually quicker than any courier services at the time. I've had friends who worked in the oil and g…
> What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. So someone out there must have made a courier-as-a-service website for this? Sign up some people to be on standby, with a passport and a list of countries they have visa for, list them with their current location. Person signs up to potentially make a few grand if the…
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I have a part off an aircraft (nobody seems to know what part or what aircraft). I imagine it's partially tungsten since it's not much bigger than a 4x4 cube and has to weigh close to 50lbs.
Err, that could be depleted uranium. https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0321/ML032180089.pdf
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Decades ago, my university's solar car team had a problem at the competition. Their super light magnesium wheels were cracking and failing. The team's biggest supporter and a true pioneer of CNC machining, Chuck, started calling around to local machine shops to see if anyone could turn some new wheels out of aluminum. He found one machinist who agreed to do the work, but laughed because he knew there wasn't any alumi…
If somebody pulls strings like that for you, you need to use the aluminum wheels.
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I mean for something like this, a dedicated corporate jet makes sense. Might cost you $10k/flight hour but that's peanuts if every minute counts.
My understanding is that unless you actually keep a jet on standby (which has its own costs), it is surprisingly difficult to beat commercial airliners on speed if the clock starts ticking now . You can always board the next flight, but with private jets it takes time to a) find a free jet and b) prepare for the flight. Of course, the more non-standard journey you have, the more edge the private jet gets.