 | | British rock star Sting (L) serves champagne to fellow passenger Piers Morgan on a British Airways Concorde.[ Reuters] |
British singer Sting said he had no worries flying on the Concorde plane for the first time after being grounded since its deadly 2000 crash.
British pop star Sting checked in for the first commercial Concorde flight from London since a deadly July 2000 crash of the supersonic jetliner, aiming to become, in the words of one of his countless hits, an Englishman in New York. "It's less dangerous than a car on the M6," he told the reporter as he prepared to board. "I feel completely safe. Why wouldn't I be?" he replied, when asked about the Concorde crash last year and the September 11 attacks, when four planes were hijacked. "People are getting their confidence back slowly, and I think that events like this will help people," he said. Sting said he was delighted to be back on Concorde, having been a regular customer for 20 years. "Concorde is a symbol of British Airways, of air travel and normal life," he said. He said he particularly wanted to fly to New York as his wife, the actress Trudi Styler, was giving a speech in the city and did not realize that he was coming over. "Flying at twice the speed of sound gives you a buzz." An Air France Concorde took off from Paris for New York shortly before the British Airways jetliner left London as both companies resumed Concorde passenger services. (Agencies) | 盡管2000年法航協和飛機出現了重大事故，但是英國著名歌星斯汀表示他毫不懷疑協和飛機的安全性。 協和客機是目前世界上唯一的民用超音速豪華客機，但去年7月法航一架協和飛機失事，協和飛機因此停飛。11月7日的飛行是協和飛機恢復客運以來的首次飛行。斯汀登上了這架從倫敦飛往紐約的飛機，正如他的一首歌的歌詞，斯汀這次要體驗一下 "英國人在紐約"（an Englishman in New York）的感覺。 他對記者說："乘坐協和飛機就像在M6大道上開車一樣，沒什么危險的。"當有人問他自去年協和飛機失事和9·11恐怖事件中4架飛機被劫持后為什么還敢乘坐飛機時，斯汀回答說："我認為很安全。為什么不坐呢？" 他說："人們對航空客運的信心正在逐步恢復，所以我認為這樣的活動可以幫助人們更快的恢復信心。" 斯汀表示他將非常樂意乘坐協和飛機返回倫敦，因為乘坐協和飛機是他20年來養成的習慣。他說："協和飛機不僅是英國航空公司的象征，還是航空旅行和正常生活的象征。" 斯汀說他之所以要飛往紐約，是因為他的妻子著名演員特魯迪-絲泰爾即將要在紐約發表演說，而且她并不知道自己的丈夫會飛過去給她一個驚喜。斯汀說："協和飛機的速度是聲速的兩倍，坐在上面可以感到耳邊嗡嗡做響。" 英國航空公司和法國協和航空公司都已經恢復客運飛行。英國航空公司的協和飛機從倫敦起飛后不久，法國的一架協和飛機也從巴黎起飛飛往紐約。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2001-11-12 01:00
