We’re not sure what was up with the two Qantas pilots who have subsequently been suspended after the Boeing 767 they were piloting came within 700 feet (200 metres) of landing at Sydney airport before they realised that… ummm, they hadn’t lowered the wheels! Ahh details, detailswe say – wheels are for wimps!

Ok, we’re kidding really. Just for interest sake, our pilot friends tell us that a Boeing 767 crew on an instrument approach would normally start lowering the gear when the plane is between about 2,000 feet and 1,500 feet from the ground in order to ensure that the aircraft was stable and configured to land by the timeit was down to 1,000 feet.

The airline has naturally launched an investigation into the incident and the pilots were due to be interviewed by air safety investigators. The flight from Melbourne was forced to do a second lap above the airport after a cockpit alarm went off as the aircraft prepared to touch down. Thank goodness for onboard computers. The Belly Achers’ theory is that the two Qantas pilots were actually on Facebook chatting with their American cousins flying the Northwest plane. So you see, the moral of the story is that the problem lies not with the use of laptops in cockpits, but those damn productivitysucking social networking sites! Sorry… we have to go now as we have a new friendrequest.