Fat Chance

We constantly hear about how Britain is becoming a nation of fatties but could this be behind what happened at the City of Derry airport last night? Apparently the aircraft which had arrived from Salou, landed and was then asked to wait for 30 minutes on a remote stretch of tarmac. After waiting it was found to have sunk - although it eventually managed to power its way out after the captain asked the passengers to disembark.

According to a spokesperson for the airport. "While the aircraft was stationary it settled into the tarmac for a time."

In the 1970s I flew quite regularly from Lusaka to London non-stop onboard a Boeing 707. It was at the limit of the aircraft’s range because the airport was hot and high which meant all of the runway was used on take off. In order to calculate accurately how much the aircraft weighed it was not only the bags that were weighed but also the passengers. We would have to stand on the scales while the check in lady would read out in a loud voice how much we weighed. I'm glad I was slimmer back then.