Stupid Pastors and Stupid Pilots

UPDATE from Yesterday’s Post
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The boost happened because of you and my Friends on Facebook. WOW!
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Today’s Blog Posting…."Stupid Pastors and Stupid Pilots"

I have been caught by computer games at times and simply lost time. I mean it evaporated into thin air. A few times I have turned on the computer later in the evening – say 10 PM – and started a game… then looked up a ‘little later’ to see that it is 2 AM. Where did the Time go?

Two things have prompted this post today…
1.) Yesterday in Ontario the Law was changed to disallow the use of cell phones being held up to your ear while driving. It is still okay to have a hands free unit where you can talk with your hands on the wheel… no gadgets being held or key boards being played with.
2.) Wednesday, Oct 21st, 2009, two pilots flying a large aircraft and over shot their airport and destination by 150 miles. Apparently they were using their laptop computers and were engrossed in what they were doing.

There is a great comparison here… and a great story to dig into.

With Ontario’s new law coming into place yesterday just a few days after two pilots were doing completely ‘hands free’ while flying their aircraft at about 600 miles per hour – there is a link.

In Ontario there is an atmosphere of UYCPATT (Use Your Cell Phone All The Time) that pervades the atmosphere. That is also followed by the UYBATT (Use your Blackberry all the time).

I have seen it and I have done it. I am one of the many people that will have to change their habits – quickly.

Examples…Personal
While I was serving as the pastor of the church I tried to escape for a few days to get rid of some of the pressure that was there all the time. So with that in mind we booked a room in a small motel in Ottawa and headed up Number 7 Highway the 300 kilometres… about a 3 hour drive. It was to be a three day get-a-way.

We were about two towns away from Peterborough, a mere 20 kms, the cell phone rang. It was my secretary apologizing for the call but she had to do it. Sister So and So had passed away and the family was desperate to get in contact with me. The Funeral Home that was going to do the service three days from now was also wanting to talk with me because of the unusual things they had encountered as well.

So for the next two hours I talked on the Cell Phone on the way to Ottawa… actually it was closer to 3 hours of talking and driving. All the children wanted to speak with me about their mom. The Funeral Home needed some more information and asked if I was willing to do a special thing for them. They also had one more funeral scheduled for 5 days from that time and couldn’t get a pastor to lead that service… would I do this one as well?

In the old days with no Cell Phone I would have had the three day get-a-way and arrived home without even knowing there had been a funeral.

Cell Phones are vital to the work of some people.

Another Illustration…The Two Idiot Pastors…!
My wife and I were in the back seat of a quickly moving vehicle through the streets of downtown Toronto. In the two front seats were two ministers that were not saying too much to us… once in a while they would look down into their laps, laugh to each other and then look at the road ahead… then look down and laugh again. When we stopped at the red light both looked down. It was quiet and then one laughed… followed by a comment from the other one, “No way! You’re kidding!”

The light turned green and the car didn’t move… my minister friend was still looking down… I waited then finally said from the back seat driver’s position, “Green Light – lets go!” to which the dude quickly looked up and made the car jump forward… thank goodness there was no one in front of us doing the same thing!

What were they looking at? Both had new Blackberry Cell Phone communicators and were talking/texting back and forth to each other in the front seat! No kidding they were not talking but rather doing this all with two thumbs. Add to that they both had included another person somewhere else in Canada that was also stuck in his own traffic jam with his new Blackberry!

We had been driven in that vehicle all the way downtown from the edge of Toronto and on the busiest freeways in Canada with ONE IDIOT using both hands and all of his attention on his Blackberry! Both pastors do this often… work on these Blackberrys in between places of ministry!!!!

Talk about STUPID.

My wife suggested out loud what I was thinking inwardly, “I will never ride with that idiot again – ever!” And we didn’t. She raved on later, “I wonder if his wife knows he does that all the time? I wonder if he has ever done that with his kids in the car with him? I feel like calling the police about the idiot!”

The Pilots Idiots
October 20, 2009 high over Denver the Airbus A320 last made contact with a ground tower. It was ‘Northwest Flight 188 had departed San Diego en route to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants.”

The statements made were – Quote
“The pilots said there was "a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls" from air traffic control, though both said they heard conversation on the radio, the report said.

Neither pilot said he noticed messages sent by company dispatchers, it added. It said the men were talking about the new monthly crew flight scheduling system put into place in the wake of Northwest's merger with Delta Air Lines.

"Each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure," the report said.

"The first officer, who was more familiar with the procedure, was providing instruction to the captain. "Neither pilot said he was aware of where the plane was until a flight attendant called the cockpit about five minutes before the plane was to have landed and asked their estimated time of arrival, the report said.

"The captain said, at that point, he looked at his primary flight display for an ETA and realized that they had passed" the airport, it added. After 78 minutes of radio silence, the pilots re-established radio contact with air traffic controllers, it said.” – End quote.

To over shoot a target airport by 150 miles isn’t much when you fly at 600 miles per hour… a mere 15 minutes. But they were not paying attention for over 78 minutes – and hour and 18 minutes to be exact when one of the flight attendants finally was able to get their attention.

NOW PICTURE THIS… two pilots running their plane on AUTO PILOT… with both their hand and all of their minds on their laptops… two laptops… and supposedly engrossed in a conversation – actually a teaching session with the young guy explaining the new schedule to the old guy! And that took 78 minutes to do that! Either the old guy is really dumb or the young guy is a really bad teacher – if that really happened???!

My guess is that their machines were linked and they were playing a game… which may have been “World of Warcraft” or some other all engrossing game that sucks the brains out its players. Yes you can get on the internet way up high!

The big question is… how many other idiots flying their planes on these long hauls are playing games, or discussing their flight schedules?

If a pastor can drive through the heavy traffic with no hands – a pilot can fly a plane without paying attention at all! They are both idiots – first class stupid idiots that could have killed a lot of people.

I am all for the new law in Ontario. A whole lot of pastors will be changing their methods of talking and driving.

Yesterday our Granddaughter was listening to the TV report with me about the new law. She looked up and said, “Oh, Oh, Mom’s going to be in trouble…!” I replied, “Not if she gets a hands free model – or lets you do the talking for her.” Emma grinned.

Our world is about to change radically.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
www.murraylincoln.com

Source:
Report: Stray jet's pilots were on laptops
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/26/airliner.flyby/index.html