If memory serves it is a drogue chute system which collects airspeed data. The data is used to calibrate the airspeed indicators.

In countries like the UK and Germany, or in Hong Kong, the attitude towards selling alcoholic beverages is much more "lax" than in most of the US. While these places have a legal drinking age* and they do check, there's not the same obsession with it that I found in the US. In my experience the number of teens…

If they're feathered, each screw acts as a speed brake, a maneuver known as a "crash-back.

Wow. Hadn't thought of that game in years. Loved it.

For what it's worth, that makes sense to me. He's always sounded somewhat Norwegian to my ears.

Sounds good indeed. However I'd wager most small aircraft crashes are due to the pilot not checking something pre-flight or flying into conditions he/she and the plane are not fit to handle.

That I cannot answer. While I grew up there, I haven't lived in Sweden for more than a decade.

While it is one of the Nordic Countries, you gotta remember Iceland is rather far from Sweden. ;)

As a pilot, I'd classify "running out of fuel" as "pilot error". In a small aircraft, you always, always, always, check the levels in the tanks before a flight and you always leave yourself plenty of margin. Running out of fuel is pretty much inexcusable.

Like most Swedes, I've never understood how foreigners think we sound like the Swedish Chef. It's weird.

The song is "Vintersaga" from 1984, written and originally sung by Ted Ström. The more well known version is a cover by Monica Törnell. The title means "Winter Tale". Very Swedish.

She's not Swedish, nor even Scandinavian. ;)

Some of the talented pilots handle the challenge surprisingly well, while others decide landing on the nose gear is an acceptable method. Others abandon the landing altogether and go-around to try

+1. Water is enough unless your workout is over an hour or if you're working out in a very hot environment (e.g. Florida) where you sweat a lot. And even in those cases you should not go full Gatorade. 1 part Gatorade in 5 parts water is more than enough. Actually adding a pinch of sea salt and a bit of honey to your…

Fair dinkum. The problem with discussing stuff with strangers in writing is that irony and such don't travel well. :)

Why not just call them Airplane Paid Eye-Candy

Those you mentioned are "Euro-Fords", though. ;)

Clarkson takes the piss but for the record he loved the Ford GT so much he bought one. (And then he had massive reliability issues with it, but that's another story.)

My use of "she" wasn't a gender statement so much as something I had to do in order to get around a grammatical constraint. I had to choose he or she in my sentence*. Since flight attendants are more often than "she" than "he" (and definitely on Singapore Airlines), I chose "she".