A meizanologist's diary (107)

23/24 December: for the first time inbound to Japan, the sun doesn’t rise a few hours before landing. That’s because, on this benighted craft, the cabin crew can forcibly dim the windows, blocking the view.

OK, the point is a bit moot on this particular buff, since my window is one of several that have frozen completely over. I draw the cabin staff’s attention to the matter. Pas de problème, I’m assured, happens all the time, we’re used to it.

On approach to KIX, all the windows abruptly defrost, letting non-trivial rivulets of water trickle into the hull’s innards. Is it just by chance that the dimming circuits on several nearby windows seem to be on the fritz?

As the wheels thump onto the runway, I find myself wondering what the great long-distance aviator Sir Alan Cobham would have thought. But perhaps he’s already told us. “In my line of business,” he once said, “one stays alive by attention to detail.”