On the Scene: Looking for an Angle

Rangoon

LANDING AT the airport of a Third World country is one of the few daredevil stunts that require no physical ability or athletic prowess. The only qualification, in fact, is size: if you can fit into an airline seat, you can land on a runway one hundred or so feet shorter than international aviation standards require for the airplane you’re on. And when the plane touches down, brakes smoking and squealing, engines at full reverse thrust . . . well, you feel pretty cool. The plane taxis to a stop, a gaggle of Keystone Cops swarm around it—some to manhandle your luggage, some to wheel a rickety, treacherous staircase to the door—and you step outside, with the wind in your hair, and make your way to the terminal (a World War II—era hangar), passing here and there a frowning, Uzi-cradling 17-year-old boy in uniform. Under such circumstances, it is impossible, absolutely impossible, not to hum the James Bond theme.

About the Author

Rob Long

Rob Long is a writer and producer and a co-founder of Ricochet.

Rangoon

LANDING AT the airport of a Third World country is one of the few daredevil stunts that require no physical ability or athletic prowess. The only qualification, in fact, is size: if you can fit into an airline seat, you can land on a runway one hundred or so feet shorter than international aviation standards require for the airplane you’re on. And when the plane touches down, brakes smoking and squealing, engines at full reverse thrust . . . well, you feel pretty cool. The plane taxis to a stop, a gaggle of Keystone Cops swarm around it—some to manhandle your luggage, some to wheel a rickety, treacherous staircase to the door—and you step outside, with the wind in your hair, and make your way to the terminal (a World War II—era hangar), passing here and there a frowning, Uzi-cradling 17-year-old boy in uniform. Under such circumstances, it is impossible, absolutely impossible, not to hum the James Bond theme.