Pilots Blog

Do public officials have an imagination?

Quite some time back I remember talking to an administrator in my local borough about an issue concerning council tax. When I asked if their information was correct the lady in question said "It's on the computer!", to which I responded, well maybe the computer is wrong, her response was utter astonishment, "the computer can't be wrong!", I asked why not. She stuttered as if her whole world was in total disarray, "It just can't be!"

This came to mind recently when I was talking to a regional official in India about introducing floatplanes for a particular application to link an area of lakes to a coastal airport - a journey by car or coach of roughly 4/5 hours that would be around 30-40 minutes by floatplane. The official in question said it can't be done, I asked why not and he replied it had never been done previously, there was no provision for it. I suggested it could be done and provision could be made for it - there was much floundering around and then he eventually said it would be illegal. I asked why it would be illegal and could he give me a reference so I could look up the appropriate law. He replied, "listen it's illegal, alright, it can't be done". That was it, no further explanantion, perfectly polite but could I stop bothering him.

I have this dream that one day I will call up a public official and they will say, "My, that's a mighty fine idea - let's see if we can change things around a bit and work together to make it happen". I suspect it will remain a dream!