If you, for some reason, decide you want to attack Switzerland, here's a tip. Do it before 8 a.m., or during the noon - 1:30 lunch hour, or anytime after 5 p.m. or, better yet, any time at all, day or night, on Saturday or Sunday.
You see, Sweden's F-18 fighter jets keep office hours. 8 to 5, 90-minutes off for lunch, Monday to Friday. So, if you do decide to do something, like hijacking an Ethiopian airliner to Geneva, outside of office hours, you can just sail right on in.
No Swiss fighter jets were scrambled Monday when an Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked his own plane and forced it to land in Geneva, because it happened outside business hours, the Swiss airforce said.
When the co-pilot on flight ET-702 from Addis Ababa to Rome locked himself in the cockpit while the pilot went to the bathroom and announced a hijacking, Italian and French fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane through their respective airspaces.
But although the co-pilot-turned-hijacker quickly announced he wanted to land the plane in Switzerland, where he later said he aimed to seek asylum, Switzerland's fleet of F-18s and F-5 Tigers remained on the ground, Swiss airforce spokesman Laurent Savary told AFP.
This, he explained, was because the Swiss airforce is only available during office hours. These are reported to be from 8am until noon, then 1:30 to 5pm.
"Switzerland cannot intervene because its airbases are closed at night and on the weekend," he said, adding: "It's a question of budget and staffing."
I'm not so sure this isn't a pretty good idea. My recollection is that both the Swiss and the Swedes managed to stay out of World War II. Maybe all military forces should get lunch time and the weekend off :D
ReplyDeleteWhat were they going to do if they were scrambled, shoot down the airliner? Better to have a nice long lunch and chillax!
ReplyDeleteAll in all, while it's silly, it's also kind of a refutation of the whole "We need a police state because TERRORISTS" mentality. I mean, Switzerland is managing to do OK despite a clearly ludicrous military preparedness policy. Then how necessary can it be, for instance, to spy on everything anyone says ever like the NSA?
ReplyDeleteOK, it's settled then. We rally at the French-Swiss border at 7 am Saturday morning (Mound, lots of Tim's coffee, don't forget!), Purple will load everyone in the Volvo's. Invade at 8, lunch in Gstaad by noonish, nationalize the banks by 2, the Democratic Socialist flag goes up over Bern at 3, then it's drinks at 5! Sound like a plan?
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Damn, Neil, that does indeed sound like a plan!
ReplyDeletebankers hours for the military. sounds like a plan to me. Might reduced PTSD. Absolutely loved the whole thing.
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