Bloomberg

Why does every plane have two pilots?

It sounds like the start of a joke. But these are the thoughts of Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of low-cost airline Ryanair.

O’Leary would like to fly short hop routes with only one pilot.

Let the bloody computer fly it,

he tells Bloomberg Businessweek. If the pilot was to have a heart attack then the flight attendant should land the plane, he says.

O’Leary tells the Financial Times that trains only have one driver.

In 25 years with over about 10 million flights, we’ve had one pilot who suffered a heart attack in flight and he landed the plane.  

Targeting Hamas, eyeing Iran, embarrassing Dubai

The following excerpts from a January Bloomberg report about 'Dubai helping Iran evade sanctions' is an indispensable read.

It provides an interesting background for US silence about the escalatory alleged Israeli assassination of a Hamas leader in a fancy hotel in the middle of Dubai, bordering on complicity. (The assassins wore tennis outfits, some say, a reminder to Dubai who rejected an entry visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer this time last year.)

Dubai is seen as a major obstacle in light of Washington's serious efforts at imposing a new round of biting sanctions against Iran as a way of forcing it to freeze its nuclear programme.

Unless it shuts down its trade and other economic transactions with Iran, including investments, tourism etc, as explained below, no sanctions could work effectively.