Is that why the RAF are termed `crabs' by the army? I have been in and out of Birmingham airport a couple of times but with no dramas. Try Punta Gorda airport in Belize, where all you can see is trees to the sides and sea ahead, with a very steep descent, courtesy of Maya Airways (White Knuckle Airways, 1988). I kid you not, I thought we were running out of land to crash on. Their pilots must have had nerves of steel. I remember one take off from Belize City Airport and we could see a similar plane to ours upside down in the sea at the end of the runway. Not for the faint hearted. Or as a passenger in a Partenavia (very small) aircraft in Germany, with a full fuel load and a full complement of skydivers + pilot - forest to the sides and ahead, all the tops above the aircraft. S H One T, that was gripping! We can't have cleared the tree tops by more than about ten feet. The climb to altitude was always fun because of the relatively slow time that it took and the views on the way up; much slower than an Islander BN2T. This week I became aware of the death of former Red Devil and Falklands War veteran Chris Carroll, whose inquest determined accidental death after a parachuting accident in November 2013 in The Gambia. Basically he turned too close to the ground and paid the price, poor sod. Gravity is very unforgiving. RIP Chris and commiserations to your family, gone before your time.
