Honk! Honk! Idiot klaxon.

[Dan O'Hagan]

Journalism, 2017:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4893526/Moment-two-planes-nearly-collide-come-Heathrow.html

[Georgeconna]

POTW contender there.

[Pen Pusher]

Best of the comments.

The DM is often mistaken for a newspaper.

Brian

[T_J]

Easy money if he got paid for this story! You can go onto Planefinder flight tracking software and replay this non-event from August 15th at 3pm over Byfleet, Surrey.

The lower airliner is Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 Flight VS42 at 9,150 feet

The upper airliner is British Airways Boeing 777 Flight BA272 at 10,850 feet

The photographer got the identity of this airliner wrong when he described it as a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It is clearly a Boeing 777.

[st24]

Easy money if he got paid for this story! You can go onto Planefinder flight tracking software and replay this non-event from August 15th at 3pm over Byfleet, Surrey.

The lower airliner is Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 Flight VS42 at 9,150 feet

The upper airliner is British Airways Boeing 777 Flight BA272 at 10,850 feet

The photographer got the identity of this airliner wrong when he described it as a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It is clearly a Boeing 777.

I dunno Tom, you come on here with the cool, calm voice of reason when you should really just be calling us all idiots....

[AlexC]

To be fair to the Mail they did say 'appear' to come perilously close, although they could have said that it was because the shot was taken with a telephoto lens which has the effect of compressing distance, but then that would have made it the non-story that it is.

[DerekF]

Indeed. Not everyone knows about safe separation and telephoto compression. Had I seen it, I would attempted a picture myself. If the DM paid cash for it, good for him.

[wezgulf3]

What do you expect from the Daily Fail, more pathetic tabloid nonsense!! And Worzel Gummidge should know better to send it in to them!

[Brevet Cable]

Nothing unusual.

Don't think it's been posted on this forum, but another recent story in the media concerned the Saudi Typhoon which was shot down/crashed in Yemen.
The various media outlets all ran the same article unchanged......which happened to have the main photograph showing an F-15 !!

[CJS]

Did this make it into the print edition? If not it's indicative of how the (occasionally excellent and certainly extraordinary) online reporting of the news is clearly on a dumbing downward spiral.

As for misidentifying the 777, let's be very honest here - how many of us would make similar mistakes if we didn't spend a lot of time gazing skyward?

And I would venture that 90% or more of Joe Public wouldn't have identified the 340 either - a 4 engined airliner is probably still a Jumbo Jet to most people!

[Finningley Boy]

RIGHT! That's enough of the DM bashing, I read the Daily Mail and find it a very stimulating and informative read. You Bleedin' 'eart, lefty, liberal, pinko, oooh I've got a hole in me' tights, Corbynite, McDonnellite, Abbotite, labour voting, green voting, remoaners..... should give it a try some time! Who knows, yeh might learm summik!

FB

PS Give the Daily Express a bash an' all!

[parsley]

Did this make it into the print edition? If not it's indicative of how the (occasionally excellent and certainly extraordinary) online reporting of the news is clearly on a dumbing downward spiral.

As for misidentifying the 777, let's be very honest here - how many of us would make similar mistakes if we didn't spend a lot of time gazing skyward?

And I would venture that 90% or more of Joe Public wouldn't have identified the 340 either - a 4 engined airliner is probably still a Jumbo Jet to most people!

Was indeed in the print edition,albeit in less detail than the online version..copy was at work

[parsley]

RIGHT! That's enough of the DM bashing, I read the Daily Mail and find it a very stimulating and informative read. You Bleedin' 'eart, lefty, liberal, pinko, oooh I've got a hole in me' tights, Corbynite, McDonnellite, Abbotite, labour voting, green voting, remoaners..... should give it a try some time! Who knows, yeh might learm summik!

FB

PS Give the Daily Express a bash an' all!

The Mail is also very absorbent if required

[AlexC]

The Mail is also very absorbent if required

I suppose this (the Mail article) is a minor example of what Trumpy would call fake news?

[CJS]

Nah, he only calls things fake news if they're actually true.

You don't get a lot of that in the Daily Wail.

[Brevet Cable]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/passengers-scream-terror-pilot-performs-11362861

Passengers scream in terror as pilot performs incredibly low stunt when Air Berlin flight lands for the last time

Yeah, OK, it's the Mirror, but even so......

[Brevet Cable]

And it's the turn of the Daily Mail again.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5028853/Incredible-pictures-iconic-British-fighter-jet.html

Whilst the article is their usual wibble, the big problem is the video of (sic)"Havilland Vampire jet flying above clouds in the sky"
Now presumably a 6 year old with English as their second language came up with that title, but the real problem is the aircraft depicted in the video

[capercaillie]

And it's the turn of the Daily Mail again.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5028853/Incredible-pictures-iconic-British-fighter-jet.html

Whilst the article is their usual wibble, the big problem is the video of (sic)"Havilland Vampire jet flying above clouds in the sky"
Now presumably a 6 year old with English as their second language came up with that title, but the real problem is the aircraft depicted in the video

If you squint after poking yourself in the eye, its close...........

[Brevet Cable]

Well it's a twin-boom tail.....
Usual journalistic skills, really -- if it's green it's a tank, if it's a firearm it's an AK-47.

[CJS]

2 things are particularly stand out for me in that link:

1. the genius headline claiming it to be "Britain's most iconic WW2 fighter jet..." eh

2. the end of the cracking video

WE PAY CASH FOR VIDEOS...


(...especially ones which don't show the right thing).

Nice one DM. Other comedy publications are available, but to be honest they're just not as funny.

[Berf]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5051269/Just-eight-pilots-remain-Battle-Britain-Few.html

Love the 'The Battle of Britain was crucial in preventing a Nazi invasion. Pictured: RAF De Havilland Chipmunk's' picture.

[Spiny Norman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5051269/Just-eight-pilots-remain-Battle-Britain-Few.html

Love the 'The Battle of Britain was crucial in preventing a Nazi invasion. Pictured: RAF De Havilland Chipmunk's' picture.

Hilariously inept.

Did I see Meteors as well?

[Brevet Cable]

Is it just me,or do the aircraft in the picture on the right ( 4th row down ) look remarkably like Meteors ?
You can also throw in that the image above the Chipmunk one is of a later ( post BofB ) Spitfire, as evidenced by the 5-bladed propeller.


And as an aside and a personal moan.....it's a shame that the media still concentrate on the BofB pilots in particular and the RAF in general, yet ignore anyone who saw service in any other branch of the military during WW2.

[speedbird2639]

.....it's a shame that the media still concentrate on the BofB pilots in particular and the RAF in general, yet ignore anyone who saw service in any other branch of the military during WW2.

Conversely a lot of the other arms of the services active in WW2 received campaign medals and memorials for those lost; something which is only now starting to be addressed for people like those who served in Bomber Command as an example.

I guess its all about what they think will capture the publics imagination - flying a Spitfire in the Summer months over the Garden of England to defend the country sounds a bit more 'sexy' than tramping over hundreds of miles of desert in North Africa or hacking your way through a jungle in SE Asia.

[Tommy]

"Chipmunk's"

In addition to the inclusion of the Chipmunks, I also see that the "Greengrocer's Apostrophe" has made it into the media mainstream. This from the same paper that laments the young because schools aren't what they used to be and exams are too easy...

Gents - make sure you're better than the Daily Fail. You seldom ever need to use an apostrophe to pluralise nouns. Just add an "s" (or "es" as the case may be).

But, I realise it's one thing to rant about grammar, and another thing to just set out the correct way for others. It's the following:

Chipmunks, not Chimpunk's
F-16s, not F-16's
Idiots, not idiot's
Nazis, not Nazi's
Bigots, not bigot's
Apostrophes, not apostrophe's

... & so on and so forth.


*awaits someone to pull me up on some other grammatical issue... Did I forget the vocative? How about the gerund?