Making space Our resident Old Git, Ian Frow, on how business class is perfect for social distancing; and beware of the bonxie S ome of the most profitable seats in the airlines are in the long-haul business class cabin. Business travellers, with fares paid for by their companies, provide a healthy profit for many airlines. The Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380 have roomy, high and wide cabins, ideal for conversion to social distancing in individual pods. Listen to the typical business traveller and these are the two aircraft types most favoured by the captains of industry. Properly configured, the loss of passenger capacity and the relatively high operating costs would be offset by those high fares (and freight capacity on the 747). Ah, but everyone is on Zoom these days you say? Maybe, but many C of I bemoan the loss of social interaction, the muttered asides, the little jokes that lighten up and improve an otherwise dreary face-to-face meeting. Digital conferencing has its place, but it leaves out much that is useful. Maybe, before those marvellous creations are melted down to make millions of saucepans, it is time for the airlines clever accountants to reconsider their decision and keep a few super widebodies? Lament for the smelly Log Like the previous two Logs, this edition is going out digitally, and only a very limited print run is being produced. The Associations financial constraints make this inevitable. But is it only the Old Gits of this world who find it is more pleasurable to read a paper magazine rather than the accursed blue screen? Some Log editions back, we changed to a different sort of paper and there were complaints that the magazine had a smell reminiscent of lightly marinated old socks. When the current madness is over, it would be wonderful to have a choice a paper Log (with or without smelly socks), or a screen. Many C of I bemoan the loss of social interaction, the muttered asides, the little jokes that lighten up and improve an otherwise dreary face-to-face meeting You couldnt make it up The October edition of the AAIB accident reports contains one that tells of a drone being attacked by a gull. The gull successfully stopped one of the drones propellers, and the whole caboodle dropped onto somebodys roof, justifying a full report complete with a picture of the guilty party a herring gull. Gulls can spoil a happy walk in Shetland. Summer visitors are large, brown gulls, which the locals call bonxies very aggressive and liable to attack walkers heads. The locals recommend carrying a walking stick high above the head, which makes walkers appear to be land-based snorkelling. In the autumn, some bonxies (real name great skua) migrate down the North Sea. The Mother of Git used to sea swim there, well into old age. She always wore a white swimming cap, which a bonxie once mistook for a buoy or maybe an egg. It landed on her head, causing mixed hilarity and alarm on the beach. Mother of Git was blissfully unaware of its presence until it gave her hat a peck and took off for warmer climes. Birds are not only a massive (and expensive) aviation hazard, they can also give problems to little old ladies!