NEWS: Man up! You Don't Need Wing Tips!

Well, I guess this is, at least, one instance of US > Canada then. Thank you Ralph Nader.

I've worked on aircraft for eight years now. The only way I could see something like this happening in the US military is a possible one-time flight back to the aircraft's home station for heavy maintenance with minimal crew aboard.

ya it would probably be the same, but if we HAD to do a SAR or something important and if it didn't endanger the aircraft why not go ahead with the mission.

Fortunately, there are usually enough aircraft available that one can be designated as a spare in case there is something wrong with the primary.

hmmm,..lets try argument by analogy.

* the tip of this condom looks bend and just not really safe looking,..it has been electronically tested, and should work.

* the tip of my kitchen knife looks rusty and bend,..it should not affect the chopping efficiency of the blade, just make it harder to pierce open the bag the chicken is in...i'll use this one over any other knife i may have and i will just keep the rusty tip away from the food.

*My lovers penis looks purplish and is lop sided horribly to the left,..there is in fact nothing wrong with it..yeah, i will suck and fuck it anyway..

*my stereo has four exposed frayed wires coming from it, apparently they are all earthed and can be touched quite safely..yeah, I am happy for my kids to twiddle with them.

*car is making a ghastly sound, it is apparently just the mud guard and nothing serious..i will take it for that cross country drive...

* my prescription medicine looks different to how it normally looks..it was given to me by normal pharmacist..the pills are just oxidized a little and it won't effect their effectiveness,..i won't ask for new ones...

*My sheets in the hotel have a suspicious stain in them,..apparently it is sometimes caused by the laundry powder they use, it shouldn't affect my sleep..i am happy to bed down in that stain.

sorry dudes...whether or not the plane needed the tip or not...i am not gonna fly in it.

Actually, a truer analogy:

The ground effects kit on my car cracked when I backed up into something so I had a team of mechanics check it for safety.

They completely removed the body kit and I drove on the freeway. I won't get as good of gas mileage.

but it's not really "structural damage" as in the type of damage where the unternal structure of the plane is damaged in such a way that can cause structural failures if not fixed. it's an optional accessory that helps get better gallons per mile out of the aircraft. since most people are familiar with car accessories and not airplane accessories, i'll put it this way: you know that fancy spoiler that you put on to coax a little speed out of that shitty horrible-sounding import of yours? just got clipped off by a truck.

yeah, it's like that.

and they flew A-10s with a number of wonderful little holes in combat once they determined (in each individual case, mind) that it was merely superficial damage. give it a good look over (with manly tools), put a little Bond-o-ish stuff on it, slap on some paint.... golden. or keep 'em. they look good on 'em. i've personally seen plenty sitting in storage with a few "blemishes" on 'em.

Nah, the military doesn't fly damaged aircraft at all......

But seriously it would be no big deal to fly with the wing tip removed. As stated before we can fly with a lot of items missing or inop as long as we comply with the procedures. One real good one is an engine start valve that will not open, a mechanic comes out with a big long screwdriver to manually open and then close the valve, all the while standing there in full view of everyone on the plane, yep that gets the questions going. The vast majority of "problems" on a plane are invisible to the cabin occupants.

oh look at us we have more than one aircraft

Hey, that's what a over-blown military-industrial complex gets you.

Well, I guess you guys got me there. I'll amend my original statement.

There is no way that aircraft would have been cleared to fly if all the proper procedures were followed.

How about this, then:

I wouldn't want to fucking fly on an airline where pilots get away with a lame fuck-up like that.

Is that better for all the attendant professionals and/or know-it-alls?

Hey, don't hate on the employed.

I agree with this point 100%. I'd have no problem on this flight, but everyone should be given the choice before boarding. You just don't sit 400 people on a plane and say, "Oh, by the way, our left winglet is stil missing. Enjoy your flight."

Meh, give me a nice pair of Stacey Adams instead.

Or just people who have decent reading comprehension and don't just jump to conclusions based on pictures? Because really, that misleading picture from Daily Mail is the only real reason this (very inaccurate) article here on SG actually was written.

Though I suppose knowing what a wingtip is, and having some knowledge of aircraft to begin with is what made me initally suspicious.

I wonder how often aircraft hit each other on the ground in low speed collisions like this one? Those big jets must have a hell of a blind spot

I was totally expecting this article to be about mens' shoes.

um... this feels so fake... but snopes says no. I would have pulled the handle and released the slide... always wanted to do that anyways.