The pilot and other passengers on a plane heading into Sydney fell asleep listening to country music. Photo/Thinkstock
The pilot and other passengers on a plane heading into Sydney fell asleep listening to country music. Photo/Thinkstock
Some people can relax more than others, just like many of us can hit the pillow at night and be asleep before the cat jumps on the bed whereas unfortunate insomniacs lie there whistling a less-than-happy tune until the early hours.
But a story out of Australia this week tookrelaxing to a whole new level. A businessman, pilot and sole occupant of a Cessna fell asleep while approaching Sydney, having switched to auto pilot and turning on some country music. He finally woke up and landed safely, no doubt after frantic calls from the control tower and aviation authorities are investigating the circumstances.
My first reaction on reading the news snippet was one of horror as the mental picture of a sleeping pilot is not one keen travellers like to conjure up, but what followed was a burning desire to know just what country music this guy was playing.
If it had the ability to put a lone pilot to sleep at the wheel - so to speak - it must either be boring to the extreme or a previously overlooked, and potentially lucrative antidote for insomnia. Now, without any inside information as to just what musical tracks induced the businessman into a state of unconsciousness, I am going to offer my thoughts on what was wafting through his headphones.
A likely candidate for an aerial snooze would be the only Roger Miller song I loathe - You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.
I would defy any pilot to fall asleep while winging through the heavens on a gloriously sunny day listening to Hank Williams' ageless rendition of Your Cheating Heart or the best of that wonderful duo Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood.Wairarapa Times-Age
