My old boss was a helicopter pilot and instructor and eventually talked me into going on a flight with him. He talked fairly openly about the costs of the checking and maintenance required to ensure that his helicopter was in safe and sound working order.
I also had a long time to go around it and look at the degree of build quality and overall engineering (which coming from automotive OEM was a bit of a culture shock).
Suffice to say I have never felt any urge to fly in one ever again.
I’ve often toyed with the idea of getting into microlights - there is a place nearby that does the training and you can store them there etc. You can buy shares in a plane and it’s not that expensive in the scheme of things.
Then I stop and think. And don’t do it.
Not been a whole lot of talk about that rather unsatisfactorily resolved rape allegation since chop-chop went bang-bang tho’…
And who the hell in the UK gives a flying-fuck about basketball?
Good points well made.
Dyathunk we could crowdfund one for Nigel Farage?
Fixed-wing didn’t quite do it…
He’s probably hanging from a fan-powered pillowcase as we speak.
I’m in. 
Do you think he felt anything?
Unlikely, its cold out
Wise decision. It’s a fucking kite with a lawnmower engine attached.
Anyone stupid enough to think that’s a good idea deserves to die screaming as they enter the ground like a dart (which has happened - possibly because of kite/lawnmower reasons).
A mate of mine got into paragliding a few years back. Think kite without lawnmower engine.
At my age I feel I ought to take up hot-air ballooning.
VB
I was given a hot-air ballooning trip over the Yarra Bend in Melbourne. The Domestic Antipodean, who gave me the trip, said there was no chance she would ever get into a balloon, especially when we now had kids. I don’t remember what happened to the ticket but I certainly wasn’t getting into a balloon piloted by a Strayan.
I was given a flight as a 50th birthday present. Compared with the tandem free-fall parachuting jump for my 40th and the single-seater experience at Silverstone the ballooning was serene and felt pretty safe. Biggest risks seemed to be accidents with propane before take-off and carelessness on landing (power lines, trees, basket being dragged badly once down, farmers with shotguns).
VB
I really think someone should have paid this guy
to make a huge grim reaper. I’m talking properly huge - 50 metres high or so, not the disappointing toy that the ‘Trump baby’ turned out to be. Then stick a small motor on it to give it some manoeuvrability and fly the bloody thing over Farage’s victory party on Friday night. If it turned up at about 22:45 the media would all be there and would be desperate for some sort of distraction. Get 8 or 10 volunteers in the neighbouring streets to light it up with these, wired up to a couple of truck batteries
and the authorities wouldn’t be able to shut the show down before 23:00. As a final touch hang a great big PA system from the basket playing Donald Tusk saying “Special place in hell” over and over again and it would make my evening.
Grumpy ? Moi ?
VB
We had a balloon flight in t’Yorkshire in the 80s. It was one of the biggest balloons in the UK at the time and the basket held 10 of us, including an infant…
Due to the wind speed, it was touch and go whether we would fly. We did fly, and when it came to land on the moor we were being carried along by a 25 knot wind… As the basket was dragged up the side of a hill crashing into rocks, I could see the fear on peoples faces. I was grinning.
That does have the serious benefit of a fuckton of fire. All the good hobbies have fire included.
Standing in a wicker basket 1000+ feet up in the air… Fuck that.
I feel uncomfortable thinking about.
We did a balloon flight over a game reserve in South Africa, I was surprised at how little wind I could feel (ie none) even though we were moving along at a reasonable pace. Then I thought about it…
The only bit I didn’t like was the burner going off just behind my head.
No thought for the lions looking up and thinking their lottery tickets had all come in at once?
Not sure if the cockpunch for this
should go to Abbott for screwing up the supply (they have a monopoly) or to the NHS for failing to manage people’s reliance on it (among other things it’s useful for more challenging cases of type 1 diabetes where reverting to the the basic finger-prick approach can be tougher). From a business point of view I guess Abbott didn’t want to diversify their production, or fund excess capacity so they could cope if anything went wrong.
VB
