There was a good deal of interest when a brand new air line started to operate from a disused wartime RAF station on the coast in Kent. The fares were amazingly cheap compared with the major airlines and inevitably those people who had to watch the pennies started to give it a try. Admittedly the airfield was some was from London, but the airline ran coaches from Victoria, and because the airfield was in the middle of nowhere there was rarely much other traffic on the road, there was enormous car parking space (a whole airfield of it), free for however long you wanted it, and because no other airline used the airfield there were no delays whatever in checking in, and only the lightest of Customs presence. The planes were always waiting ready fuelled and ready to go as soon as the passengers boarded, and the Stewardess was always ready with the barley sugars for take-off. All in all, those who used the airline for the first time were pretty satisfied, and always recommended it to their friends.
The only black mark was the fact that the runway was close to the sea - so close, in fact, that if one kept going too far along it one would go straight over the cliffs and into the drink. Inevitably, on every flight, there were those nervouse passengers who thought that the plane was going to do just that, and screamed in terror just before the plane rose up into the air.
One day, however, there was a slight hiccup somewhere in the organisation. The passengers in the lounge saw the plane out on the runway, the bowsers arrived and filled up the fuel tanks, the luggage van drove out and all the luggage was loaded in the hold, the passengers were issued through the gate and ferried out to the aircraft and took their seats, belted up, started on the barley sugars and .........Nothing happened.
After a few minutes there was a buzz of speculation. Then the `phone rang in the galley and the Stewardess hurried away the answer it. She was back a few minutes later and, picking up the microphone, she announced "Ladies and Gentlemen. We are sorry for the slight delay which is due to the fact that the Pilots` taxi had a puncture on the way here, but the Pilots have now arrived and are on their way to the aircraft. Those passengers nearest the windows looked out, and, sure enough, two figures could be seen in the distance walking out from the control tower. However, as they got nearer it could be seen that both of them were wearing dark glasses, one was carrying a white stick, and the other had a `seeing eye` dog with him. There were considerable signs of alarm and a good deal of loud enquiry at first, but the Stewardess (who knew her job) told them all that there was nothing to worry about and that it was just an elaborate joke on the part of the Pilots.
Everyone`s fears were quickly allayed when the engines started, and the plain began to roll swiftly and smoothly down the runway. As usual there were the inevitable screams of alarm from the more nervous passengers as the plane neared the end of the runway, but then the plane soared up into the air, and everyone relaxed and unfastened their seatbelts.
In the cockpit, the Pilot turned to the Co-Pilot and said;-
"You know, Bill. One of these days they`re not going to scream in time and then we`re all going to die"
