“Sir, do you know to fly this aircraft? Here are the instructions!”
“No need for instructions, I know everything about flying!”
A few years ago, a spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger aero-plane ever built, sat just outside its hangar in Toulouse, France without a single hour of airtime. All because a flight crew decided to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to an airway in Abu Dhabi .
The crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to take-off power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is. The take-off warning horn started blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft’s computers thought they were trying to take off, but it had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc.)
So one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm; this fools the aircraft into thinking it is in the air.
The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward.
The crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can land with the brakes on.
Not one member of the seven-man crew was smart enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, completely smashing it.
The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown due to the news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Because….coverage of the story was deemed insulting to the country buying the aircraft.
Finally, the news started leaking out. The costs involved were: One French Airbus: $200 million dollars
Untrained Flight Crew: $300,000 Yearly Salary..
….and an unread operating manual: $300.
If only they had read the instructions in the operating manual!
Many of us don’t! Not just the instructions that come with our phones or washing machines but the instructions that come with our SUBSCRIBING to God’s power!
We think it’s a magic portion, and have no idea of trusting and obeying, of grace, of forgiveness!
How often I hear about men and women telling others about visions and dreams that they’ve had. But, do they run it by God’s Instruction Book?
Every year I take the Holy Scriptures and read it from one end to the other, just so I will not be fooled by any number of convincing men and women who try to fly their airplanes without reading the instructions.
Read the Instructions manual, again, and again, and you’ll save yourself a plane crash before take off..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Thanks for the reminder! Correct interpretation of the manuals is also equally important lest we end up being intolerant of other faiths or killing people of other faiths in the name of holy war…
Very well worded n so apt for the world we hv created for ourselves.
Not only reading but applying the instructions in action and also sharing the learning to others so that they don’t end up into the unknown.
Amazed by the relevant story (as always,) yes reading and studying Scripture is always equally important as eating does. The only thing to survive in times of confusion and frustrations. Thank you Bob once again for reminding… and insights, God bless you.
The Bible contains “Basic instructions before leaving earth”, relevant for all ages.
Thank GOD first because there were no passages Never be over smart Obsave The instructions do it on right way
This is a great news to all mankind just do it on right way
The illustrations that you send are so helpful and meaningful in applying it to our daily routines. It is indeed so important to know your manual thorough before you take off. I am a trained pilot too and I can connect completely with what is written in the above illustration…. Thank you for these lovely lessons.
Good one! No comments!
If one hurtles along recklessly and imperiously in life assuming one knows and understands everything
one is bound to crash headlong into disaster.
Just like the plane meets the barrier and the barrier wins !