A surreal moment of mine...

Belize on a Puma detatchmet, Sgt Golf and pilot sent on the sad duty to recover the body of an SAS candidate, accidentally shot on a jungle range. On climbing out of the clearing, I pressed to transmit on either HF or FM to let base know we were airborne again. POB was a normal part of the call. I just went blank when it came to giving the number- did the poor bugger count/ should I count him.

I counted him- had we gone in he deserved to be recovered.

CG

Nice post.

The POB given by one aircraft was " 150 +2 +1" ... lots of head scratching in the tower before we decoded that!

It is noticable in aviation that those with the least experience have the most to say-on the RT and forums!

I always give POB out of habit, it used to be in CAP 413 as a mandatory, now I'm not sure.

Working offshore years ago I had to pass number on board when we were carrying 5 souls and 6 deceased. That way if we went in SAR would know that we had 11 on board, and to keep looking if they found 5 dead bodies.

Raises the question; when does the soul leave the body? Does the soul exist? why am I asking so many stupid questions?

SND

LOLZZZZZ!!!

What have I started.....

Having not read CAP 413 for a while (actually about 25 years) I've just down loaded it and I can't find reference to SOB unless it is intended to be in 3.31 under additional information.

While in the same job I posted about above I once had a doctor certify a thoroughly dead body dead whilst in flight. That created chaos. I had to go to the fatal accident inquiry to account for how the stiff had become stiff while in my care. I really struggled to keep a straight face as I explained about knowing the deceased was deceased before we took off, the fact that the quack signed the death cert in flight effectively made the time of death on the aircraft about 130nm NE of Aberdeen, and there was also the point that he died of massive head injuries, I admit some of my landings aren't the smoothest but...................................

SND

There's a difference between SOB and POB.

Alternately, I used to have a friend who had been born mid-Atlantic on a 707, and I recall reading an article a year or two ago about a helimed who had a birth on board between one of the Hebridean islands and a destination mainland maternity unit...

G

The Zombie factor?

I believe it was changed from SOB to POB as a result of complaints from certain religions who do not recognise the word soul and saw it as a bit of an insult.

A veteran flyer who flew from the local airport years ago when asked "Souls on Board?" always replied "Just me and the dog...."

As one of the voices of Scottish Information I always ask an aircraft as it coasts out over the water to report their SOB. My thinking is that it is one thing less to ask when he calls Mayday 5 minutes later.........again my thinking is if an aircraft ditches and the rescue services arrive on scene and find a single body floating they will know if 2SOB reported to continue their search.

Funnily enough as above a few years ago whilst talking to a regular that flew from the Isle of Man to Castle Kennedy the response was just myself and 2 sheep! :cool:

Wot about just ordinary normal people who have no idea what a "soul" is supposed to be in the first place?