Very recently there has been a spike of small planes (flying planes, not planes of glass), making emergency landings nearly injuring people, and one case, killing someone. If you want a numerical figure to quantify, then I’ve read about 2 cases within a month. Now you might be saying that’s not that many, but then that’s two accidents which could have been (better) avoided with the help of my new compulsory by-law for all small planes.

Horns for all small planes.

The first case happened when a plane lost all power and glided onto a beach, killing a jogger who was listening to an iPod. You might say, “ah-ha, the unfortunate jogger must’ve been listening to some pretty loud music/podcast”, however the plane was gliding, so essentially it was a ninja-like attack.

The second case happened just today, where some amateur crash landed on a motorway in Hobart. (Just as a sidenote, who would’ve thunk Hobart had a motorway – I always thought it was just a small island with a small township on it.) No one was killed.

All cars have horns. Not only is it used to convey a friendly “hi there” or a “see you later”, but it’s also used to annoy, to provoke, but most importantly warn others of potential danger.

Let’s re-analyse the first case with a horn pre-installed:

Pilot realises something isn’t wrong with the plane as the propeller has stopped spinning. After a few swears are thrown around, emergency procedures learned in pilot school comes into practice. Realising there is no where to land but a popular beach, the pilot attempts a glide to land on the beach while honking the horn to clear a path. Beach-goers hear a horn and exclaim “wth” (or similar), and run off to a safe place to get out the camcorder to tape all this before going home and uploading it to youtube as “Plane crash on Miami Beach!”. A path is cleared and the plane lands safely. No one dies or gets hurt.

And now the second case:

Pilot realises something isn’t wrong with the plane as the propeller has stopped spinning. After a few swears are thrown around, emergency procedures learned in pilot school comes into practice. Realising there is no where to land but a dense motorway, the pilot attempts a glide to land on the motorway while honking the horn to clear a path. Cars hear a horn and claim “wth” (or similar), and make way for the plane. Plane merges like a zip and the pulls over to the hard-shoulder before turning on his hazards and calling the AA. No one dies or gets hurt.

Both incidents are most certainly avoidable with a massive horn on the plane, as portrayed in the recreation of these events. So the next time you buy a plane, insist on having a horn pre-installed to not only future-proof it, but also to increase it’s market value.