Mmmm...probably better not to try to mix humor with subject matter that one feels strongly about, especially after a few jars. However I was at home in the UK while the plane spotter incident was running on the BEEB, the pictures that I recall were of the type of kit that you would not expect to arouse much interest.
Of course there is always one pain in the butt in any group, that will make things difficult for the others, but I feel reasonably confident that most of these folk were what they purported to be. It was the use of the proverbial sledgehammer that got my goat. As is so often the case, huge flexing of mussels is aimed at innocent if perhaps unwise people, while the real dangers are not tackled.
Anyway, what was I saying about thread slippage?