Flight path roulette

Yesterday while attending a jolly little barbie directly under the flight path in Mirdiff, the Weasel got to thinking about aviation safety and the just released EU fly well list.

A little oblique perhaps, but in a previous existence the Weasel was a licensed aircraft engineer and when the planes seem they are about to land in your garden, it's understandable.

For those that spend a little less time than the Weasel in the air, the Fly Well list (read it here) has been compiled by the EU from a series of individual lists held by member countries, in a word it's about safety, that's passenger safety and safety for people on the ground.

The EU has decided that the airlines on the list, the majority of which come from Africa, are unsafe to fly over the EU due to poor or dangerous maintenance, poor training standards or unsafe operations.

This is not a lightly taken decision, there are appeal procedures and it all is a pretty commendable attempt to protect EU citizens.

Dubai on the other hand has an open skies policy, great for trade perhaps but unfortunately some airlines that star on the fly well list are very frequent visitors to Dubai.

Ariana Afghan Airways fly in every day (enter Kabul and yesterdays date), or pic here, and it isn't just passenger flights, here is a pic of another EU banned cargo outfit on the tarmac at Dubai, the gloriously named Silverback Cargo freighters.

Feeling fine because you live in Emirates Hills, and frankly who cares if a dodgy 727, flown on a wing and a prayer by a tribesman from the North West frontier, lands in some poor sods garden in Mirdiff?

Well coming soon to a smug suburb near you, Ladies and Gentlemen, we present.....................

Jebel Ali international airport, six runways worth of flight path roulette.

Enjoy.