Curious Crime

Most people in aviation are aware of the hobby “plane spotting”. Here’s a curious case from India.

Detained for 'spotting' planes, Britons booked

”NEW DELHI: A week after two British nationals were detained for allegedly recording the conversation between pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC), the south Delhi police on Sunday booked the two "plane spotters" under the Telegraph Act.“

I can’t imagine what is going on in India but since plane spotters helped the media figure out what was going on with “extraordinary renditions”, I’m guessing governments are a little more nervous about the hobby.

It’s been said that only 10% of the world’s cargo goes by air. But that 10% represents 90% of the value of world’s cargo. I suspect the same could be said of people in non-airline airplanes. The high-priority, rich, powerful and/or connected fly in private or military airplanes.

Don Brown
February 22, 2010