. . the steward from the front galley shot into the cockpit – shaking. “What’s happening?”

‘Should fly-by-wire products come with a Use Responsibly label?’

‘. . . we can see webbing strap items on the side rail hanging upwards. The Cessna is flying upside down.’

“You don’t have to do it, but it’s nice to be asked.”

When the stationary air above a stationary runway is approached by a landing Concorde it gets squashed - squeezed like Polyfilla under an expensive filling knife.

‘He described the rather sedate and indeterminate way this modified aircraft tumbled about, and started to ask the CFI what to do next – but the CFI had gone, so he ejected, similarly.’

‘He stayed true to his hobby and was shot dead as he entered his apartment in the evening of March 22nd 1990. A professional job, for sure. The world of Le Carré had caught up with him.’

‘For pilots just out of training school with little more than 150 hours on Tiger Moth and Oxford, it would not have been easy.’

A Sideways Look into the possible future . . .

‘This Prima Donna has to be treated as another airliner. We’re now a grimly competitive bus company, not a bunch of formula one fairies.’ Nobody actually said this, but perhaps you get the idea.

“Alright, you can have the Flying Scholarship, but you’ll have to grow two inches if you want to come back here.”