1 If you look at WWII pictures of returning B17's, you'll see planes landing safely with 90% of the rudder shot off, major structural pieces of the wing missing, several of the engines not running, etc. and so forth. Modern aircraft are intentionally over-designed such that they can continue to fly safely even with some amount of damamge (after all, they can't just pull over and call AAA). The corollary would be you driving down the freeway, unaware that the reverse gears were stripped until you actually stopped and tried to back up. It's not so much the pilots I'm worried about as the maintenance crews that are supposed to check the plane between flights.

2 Reverse thrusters are only used after touch down and all tyres have made contact with the runway, or during an emergancy and you have to abort the takeoff. It is not uncommon for a trailing edge to get ripped off and the pilot not even know it because of the force at which an actuator (along with force of air flow) will sever off a part from the plane. Parts fall off of aircraft, its a fact of life ... most of the flying population doesnt even know because 99.99% of those items were not mission critical or would even cause any situation to develop into a catastrauphic in-flight situation. you dont even want to tell the flying public about the number of incidents that occur national evey year from the following sitations that could just as easily bring a plane out of the sky: Bird Impacts, Storms (to include lightning, and hail), wind sheers, turbulance. Any one of these items could pull plane parts off in a heartbeat. The worst thing that the average passanger will most probably ever get during their whole life will be bad food, fat passengers, and cramped knees.

3 Yeah, being an ex-employee of the Boeing Commercial Aircraft company I'll have to say this is pretty much SoP.

4 Salamander, Don't forget the flu or cold passed on by other passangers. I really hated to do it, but when I went to pick up my fiancee from Warsaw, I had a very bad flu. But had I not shown up at the U.S. Embassy, there would of been a good chance my then fiancee (now wife) would of not received her visa. So I had to travel to Warsaw and back to Dallas, blessing everyone in coach with my flu. When we took off, I was the only one coughing and suffering from the flu. When we landed, about 1/5th of the people in the plane was. Funny thing is my wife who sat beside me the whole way never got sick.

5 This is the begining, or end, of a divergent timeline. Did any of the debris hit Donnie Darko?

6 Question for Butch: Why on earth did you want to go to Poland? There's nothing to see or do there, unless you're into cheap box-like cars, WW2-museums, churches or Russian mafia and prostitution.

7 Oh, sorry, didn't read the text properly. So why was your wife in Poland? (surely you didn't buy her there?)

8 Finn, No I mailed order her out of Ukraine, but they said they could only deliver as far as Warsaw. (The US embassy in Ukraine is to small, so fiancee visas go thru Warsaw.)

9 ...Man, I never knew you could mailorder women from other places than southeast Asia.

10 FROM.MISS.ESTHER BAMBA 01 BP COCODY 01 BP ABIDJAN COTE IVOIRE. WEST AFRICA. E-MAIL/ estherbamba77@yahoo.fr HELLO, PERMIT ME TO INFORM YOU ABOUT MY DESIRE TO GO INTO BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU. I HAD THE REVELATION THAT YOU WILL SUCCESSFULLY ASSIST ME. I AM MISS.ESTHER BAMBA, AN IVORIAN (IVORY COAST) NATIONALITY.ME AND MY BROTHER MR.BOB BAMBA OF MR AND MRS. JOHN BAMBA OUR FATHER WAS A VERY RICH COCOA MERCHANT, BASED IN ABIDJAN; THE ECONOMIC CAPITAL OF IVORY COAST BEFORE HE WAS POISONED TO DEATH BY HIS BUSINESS ASSOCIATES ON ONE OF THEIR OUTINGS TO DISCUSS ON A BUSINESS DEAL . WHEN OUR MOTHER DIED ON OCTOBER 24, 2002, OUR FATHER TOOK US SO SPECIAL SINCE WE ARE MOTHERLESS . BEFORE THE DEATH OF OUR FATHER ON MARCH 26,2003 IN A PRIVATE HOSPITAL WHERE HE WAS ADMITTED, HE CALLED US SECRETLY TO HIS BED SIDE AND TOLD US THAT HE KEPT A SUM OF $16 500 000 (SIXTEEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) IN A BANK IN ABIDJAN COTE D'IVOIRE HE ADVICED US TO RUN OUT OF THE COUNTRY IMMEDIATELY. MEAN WHILE THAT HE USED MY NAME AS THE NEXT OF KING IN DEPOSIT OF THE FUND . HE ALSO EXPLAINED TO ME THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF THIS MONEY HE WAS POISONED BY HIS BUSINESS PARTNER AND THAT I SHOULD SEEK FOR A FOREIGN PARTNER IN A COUNTRY OF MY CHOICE WHERE I WOULD TRANSFER THIS MONEY AND USE IT FOR AN INVESTMENT PURPOSE, SUCH AS : REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT OR STOCK MARKET INVESTMENT . SIR, I AM HONOURABLY SOLICITING YOUR KIND ASSISTANCE AS FOLLOWS. : 1) TO PROVIDE A BANK ACCOUNT WHERE THIS MONEY WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO. 2) TO SERVE AS THE GUARDIAN OF THESE FUND, SINCE I AM A GIRL OF 23 YEARS OLD AND MY BROTHER 19 YEARS. 3) TO MAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR US IN YOUR COUNTRY TO CONTINUE OUR EDUCATIONAL CAREER AND TO PROCURE ME A RESIDENTIAL PERMIT IN YOUR COUNTRY. I AM INCLINED TO OFFER YOU 20% OF THE TOTAL SUM AS A MODE OF COMPENSATION FOR YOUR EFFORTS AFTER THE TRANSFERRING OF THESE FUND TO YOUR NOMINATED ACCOUNT OVERSEAS. PLEASE, SIR I WILL BE VERY HAPPY IF THIS TRANSACTION WILL BE CONCLUDED WITH IN SEVEN (7) WORKING DAYS FROM NOW. I AM EXPECTING HEARING FROM YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE .N.B: SIR, I WILL LIKE YOU TO GIVE ME YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER IN YOUR REPLY OF THIS PROPOSAL MAY ALMIGHTY GOD BLESS YOU AS YOU DO CARE FOR US AMEN. THANKS FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING. BEST REGARD MISS.ESTHER BAMBA