Word: takeoff
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...abuse of technology also sabotaged one of the last vestiges of heaven- bent idealism -- the American space program -- when the space shuttle Challenger turned into a fireball only 73 seconds after takeoff. While millions watched on television, the craft and its seven passengers, including Schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, disappeared in a sad trail of smoke. The tragedy only deepened when a presidential commission found that the accident had been caused by bureaucratic mismanagement and neglect...
Indeed, a few Carol Burnett Show writers, or just one of the Zucker brothers (whose movie Airplane! was a funnier and more freewheeling spoof), might have turned Fresno into the definitive takeoff it aspires to be. Fresno seems oddly overqualified: a parody that is better plotted, acted and directed (by Jeff Bleckner) than most of the shows it satirizes. Six hours without one ludicrous cliff-hanger or evil twin? This is a mini-series that could have used a bit less taste and a little more Fresno...
Four years after their "parody" of Newsweek made a nation cry and a publishing empire tremble, their takeoff of USA Today hits the newstands tomorrow...
...flight to New York. The slow-moving line took nearly 30 minutes to clear. He then spent an additional 20 anxious minutes passing through security, expecting to miss his plane. But as usual, the departure was delayed. Relieved, Charley buckled into his seat and waited for takeoff. And waited. The pilot finally explained that his windscreen wiper needed fixing. Charley and other passengers fumed while mechanics fiddled. It took more than an hour before he was airborne...
Then the trip really began going sour. Without explanation, all passengers were told to leave the plane during a Denver stopover. Another hour passed. After reboarding, they waited 40 minutes for takeoff. By the time they reached New York at 1 a.m., four hours overdue, La Guardia's runways were closed for the night, and the jumbo jet was diverted to Kennedy. At La Guardia, Charley's girlfriend Melanie waited for three hours before learning what had happened. Poor Charley had almost become the jet-age version of the 1959 Kingston Trio hit about the "man who never returned." Declared...