Nicely said.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Jose" wrote in message
m...
| A metaphor that the user needs to explain.
|
| "Magic words" (real ones, which btw do not exist) are
words which, when
| uttered, do things that are beyond the laws of physics.
They are
| incantations of, well, magic. Simply saying the magic
words cause
| things to happen which ordinarily could not take place.
|
| "Please" and "thank you" are metaphorically "magic words"
because by
| using those words, people respond differently than when
the same
| situation is presented, but without these words. They are
(of course)
| not =really= magical and do not invoke the other world,
but because they
| are powerful social lubricants, they have been given this
metaphorical
| moniker.
|
| "Mayday" and "this is an emergency" are also words which
elicit a
| powerful response when otherwise such a response would not
be
| forthcoming. While they do not have the power of actual
magical
| incantations (and thus cannot put fuel in your tank) they
will in
| general garner much more assistance than would normally be
gotten
| without them.
|
| "Unable" is similar in this respect. By conveying that
the requested
| action is not just inconvenient, but either unsafe or
impossible, the
| other party is more likely to try to find a workaround, if
it is possible.
|
| As with all incantations, metaphorical or otherwise, abuse
leads to the
| wrath of the Dark Side, which may be vented on those later
to come.
| Therefore, these magic words should be used with care.
But they do have
| a powerful effect, even if it is not truely magical.
|
| Controllers can use these words too. "Request straight in
to runway 5"
| (runway 5 is full of men and machines, seventy parked
cars, and a large
| tent). "Unable runway 5, I can give you left base to
runway 35. Report
| three miles."
|
| Generally however it is the pilots who will have the more
stringent
| operations requirements, and will be more likely to use
magic words.
|
| Jose
| --
| Nothing takes longer than a shortcut.
| for Email, make the obvious change in the address.