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A very good morning to the Spanish Civil Patrol, who have made my #FailureFriday mission easier this week by smacking into [checks notes] the runway lighting system at Gibraltar's airport.
What they thought they were doing on short finals remains a mystery, but the diplomatic protests will no doubt be nothing compared to the undiplomatic ones of their boss.
(in truth, we do know what they were doing partly because newspapers report they were chasing smugglers into British waters, but also because - excitingly - there's video)
@DreadShips it's not like there were flashing lights, right? Right?
In their defence they were flashing.
"Can you see any lights?"
"Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No..."
Five lights? No lights? Five lights? No li...
@DreadShips @jt_rebelo Hey, if object permanence were made a condition to operate a vehicle, there would be a lot fewer drivers on a lot of roads...
@DreadShips "A spokesperson said all agents appear to be well and the vessel remains seaworthy…"
Seaworthiness standards appear to be a lot more flexible than I expected.
@DreadShips Is it me or can you hear swearing just before they hit?
Also, they don't seem to be chasing another boat?
@DreadShips
@Em for your enjoyment and schadenfreude
@DreadShips To be fair to the boat operators, it is VERY easy to lose spatial orientation when boating at night. Without visual clues to help orient yourself, it's hard to tell how far or close you are to other objects, even flashing lights. Add in motion, other lights in the background, and focusing on trying to find/follow another boat and this is what may happen. Below is a picture from several years ago at Kent Island, Maryland. Speed played a factor here too (at night).
@DelRider worth noting that the loss of spatial awareness started well before the lights became a threat - it's really hard to crash into Gibraltan infrastructure when you stay in Spanish waters like you're supposed to...
(Without really going into the whole Gibraltar/Spain pissing contest, everyone knows where they're currently supposed to be even if the strict letter of the law gets overlooked or sometimes embarrassingly misplaced)
@DreadShips that’s not going to buff out…
@DreadShips It's quite a runway to land on I admit. Only the old Hong Kong one comes close in my experience.
@ariaflame @DreadShips Vagar in the Faroe Islands is fun. Down the fjord, onto the only bit of flat land in the country, hope they stop before falling into the next fjord.
@ajlanes @DreadShips
I will bet the lights are repaired before that boat is refloated. What a mess. At least all the visible damage appears above the waterline.
@ajlanes @DreadShips It'd be horribly ironic if the lack of proper landing lights caused an accident. An air accident caused by a marine collision (or allision)
@DreadShips I can’t get over how they’ve steered into the lights.
“Hola, this is the patrol, pull over or be rammed”
“This is a runway, mate, your call”
@DreadShips Fortunately it seems nobody was hurt but looking at the damage they were lucky the boat didn't sink on the spot.
It takes a certain sort of pilot to steer directly into two big flashing red lights. I suspect they will be asked some searching questions about their eyesight.
Certainly a good candidate for #FailureFriday
@X31Andy @DreadShips Should've gone to Specsavers
@DreadShips @cjwatson Did someone say Barnard Castle? Those pillars have powerful motors.
@DreadShips @cjwatson @X31Andy Just for the benefit of non UK readers, Specsavers has a long running series of adverts where something dumb happens because of poor sight, followed by the strap line "should have gone to Specsavers". My favourite is the shepherd accidentally shearing his sheepdog.
This picture would have fitted in perfectly.
@DreadShips @Peternimmo @cjwatson @X31Andy That’s brilliant.