2757: Towed Message
| Towed Message |
 Title text: "Hi, what you do is fly over a designated zone and detach the--" "WE'RE SORRY, THE MOBILE CUSTOMER YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH IS OUT OF SERVICE" |
Explanation
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This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by an UNLANDABLE PLANE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
In this comic, an aircraft is towing a banner. The banner's message is self referential, signaling distress that the pilot of the aircraft does not have the knowledge of how to land an aircraft with a banner in tow. Notably, these aircraft do not take off or land with the banner in tow, but instead have a hook and release mechanism to add and drop the banner in flight. This is generally safe for an experienced pilot, though not entirely without risk. The aircraft in the illustration is similar to a Piper J-3 Cub, which is popular for such tasks for its low operating cost and performance at low airspeeds.
The phone number beginning with "555" is commonly seen in movies.
Such banners are created prior to takeoff.[citation needed] This may mean that the pilot anticipated that they would have difficulty landing and dedicated the banner to crowdsourcing a solution in flight, rather than learning how to land with a banner beforehand or even simply forgoing the banner. However, the banner could have somehow been created in flight when the pilot realized that they didn't know how to land the plane.
The title text features a caller who tries to explain the correct method (detaching the banner over a designated empty location, then landing the plane regularly), but the cellphone service provider's system informs the caller that the call has been disconnected, probably due to the aircraft moving out of range of the cell site the phone was connected to and failing to automatically connect to an adjacent cell, or possibly the cell network detecting the call on multiple sites due to its altitude and disconnecting it from the network.
Transcript
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This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks. |
- [An airplane tows a banner. In the background, there are four small clouds and five birds]
- [Text on the banner:] Do you know how to land a plane that's towing a banner? Call 555-0127 now!
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I hear there were plane(s) pulling banners (Draftkings) around the Boston area yesterday (MLB opening day), perhaps that influenced Randall. JohnHawkinson (talk) 23:31, 31 March 2023 (UTC)
I think that he edited the sign midflight somehow. --Purah126 (talk) 00:06, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
Also, how do they answer the telephone call mid-flight? --Purah126 (talk) 01:59, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
- Well, they didn't, but that means they flew out of range of any suitable cell towers before any call came in. Which is their oversight/error given that it should be easier to maintain line-of-sight than if you're stuck on the ground in a canyon or something.
- Otherwise, I'm sure they could waggle the stick with one hand whilst holding the handset to their ear with the other. I'm sure the FAA has rules against it (given that many jurisdictions don't like drivers driving whilst on a phone) but probably the least of the problems for a pilot who has to deal with a banner that they don't know how to handle... 172.71.242.87 03:06, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
- Or, y'know, voice control... remote headset...172.70.86.127 08:53, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
- I also don't think that there are any exchanges left in the USA which will accept a seven-digit number, the area code must be included. I reckon Randall understood this, and drew accordingly, to further protect against an 867-5309 incident. As for the call that went through, convenient for the joke. Or maybe White Hat made it.172.70.207.183 20:52, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
Is it some kind of self-reference? 2659: Unreliable Connection 02:03, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
Actual answer: Fly over an open field and pull the lever that releases the cable, letting the sign fall to the ground. Then land normally.
Is this supposed to be the April Fools comic, but a day early, or is that comic late?20:21, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
I noticed that image quality on the comics seems to have dropped, I wonder if this is some kind of quiet joke.
There is a similar theme in 1927: Tinder -- KingPenguin (talk) 01:52, 6 April 2023 (UTC)
I like the alternate title text explanation that the pilot has been flying for so long that their cell phone service was deactivated. Kind of like the bus driver from that one Cyanide and Happiness video. 172.71.158.216 02:31, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
Is the title text a pin on the word 'mobile'? As in, the pilot has a mobile phone, but it also moving too fast (=is too mobile) to use it? 172.70.247.43 18:30, 31 August 2023 (UTC)
