If a bank needs to repossess a car, a repo agent will tow it away. But what does the owner of a leased jetliner do if the renter is behind in payments, won't return the plane, and is based in a country that refuses to enforce the repossession? It calls Sage-Popovich, a company that specializes in extracting large airplanes from defaulting renters. The Smithsonian magazine has article about how the job is done:
Link via Instapundit | Photo: NASA
His team ran through the checklists and lit engines. Immediately, a jeep-load of gendarmes appeared and Popovich was hauled before a magistrate. “In my infinite wisdom, I admitted that there was something posted on the aircraft’s door,” he recalls. “But I informed the judge that if it was really so important, it should have been in English, since that’s the official language of aviation.” The next day he was escorted, in handcuffs, to the first U.S.-bound flight and sent home.
Popovich and team flew to Madrid and reentered France via rail. At de Gaulle they found the MD-80 still grounded, with tanks drained and more French fine print attached. An Air Afrique Airbus next to it was being refueled. Popovich talked to the captain and got him to sell enough fuel to get as far as Iceland. “Everyone was going to be looking for us,” he says, “so I wanted to get out from under Eurocontrol ASAP.” He had already exercised power of attorney to de-register the aircraft from its Luxembourg flag and had obtained a U.S. registration number. The de Gaulle tower cleared the now-American plane for taxi and takeoff. Popovich landed in Iceland with less than 30 minutes’ worth of fuel remaining.
Link via Instapundit | Photo: NASA
Comments (3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7nvKLwc2w4&feature=
B.S.M.W.E.Y.
See what water can do to horseless carriages here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY
So if that bus went over, the first thing that would happen would be the roof might crumple, but not too much because there is some support. then the windows would probably bust out if it was to roll over and it was hit by rocks, branches, people..etc... Closing the window is pointless.
You can drive a school bus through water. A "safe" limit would be if the water is not moving faster that 8 ft a second, and the water level is no higher than 2feet. I put safe in quotes, because you really cannot gauge the speed of the water. IMO trying to traverse a flooded roadway, when you cannot see what is under the water, is just dangerous.
The two guys on top are spotters. The driver did not go across completely "blind". You can see the two individuals in the second video, on the roof of the bus that was waiting to cross the opposite direction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZAs0BL_5Qs&feature
Wiki "chicken bus" to learn more.