Death by Air Drop

I just read in The Press that an Afghan girl was killed when an RAF Hercules dropped a full box of leaflets on her head. Apparently the box was supposed to open in mid-air but it stayed closed and dropped like a rock.

What a fail. I wonder what makes them use airplanes over helicopters. At first I thought that the downdraft from the chopper blades would make a right mess of the leaflets but then I found this image so maybe not. An aircraft would have a lot less accuracy wouldn’t it? It would be so much higher up.

Maybe they should design laser guided leaflet boxes for pin-point accuracy and so prevent any collateral damage.

Either way, it’s a tragic way to go.

There was an impressive leaflet campaign in New Zealand not too long ago. It was to raise awareness about cluster bombs. Often the bomblets don’t detonate and they’re picked up by inquisitive children. So leaflets were dropped over Wellington in the shape of cluster bombs with messages along the lines of “Imagine if you just picked this up and it blew your arm off”.

I’m off to Auckland tonight. I’ve heard it’s a bit of a warzone up there so I’ll be watching the skies for any rogue CourierPost boxes.