An airline pilot was scheduled to take a
flight from New York to Los
Angeles. The weather was too bad in New York
to allow his usual on time
departure. The weather in New York
finally cleared and the pilot asked
for
his departure clearance. He
was very dismayed to hear that he had
another delay due to the
increased traffic now leaving New York.
Sometime later he finally
received his clearance and decided he would
try to make up the time
lost by asking for a direct route to Los
Angeles. Halfway across the
country he was told to turn due South. Knowing
that this turn would
now throw him further behind schedule he inquired,
quite
agitated, to the controller for the reason of the turn off course. The
controller replied that the turn was for noise abatement.
The pilot
was infuriated and said to the controller, “Look buddy, I am
already way behind schedule with all the delays you guys have given me
today. I really don’t see how I could be causing a noise problem
for
pedestrians when I am over 6 miles above the earth!”
The
controller answered in a calm voice, “Apparently, Captain, you
have
never heard two 747’s collide!”