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A plane-speaking headline from Peterborough

With today’s crowded skies, you might think at first glance that this headline from the Peterborough Evening Telegraph website was a bit of a case of dog bites man…

The plane truth later emerged however when it was revealed that the aircraft was a Nato surveillance plane on a training flight around the UK.  The headline was duly changed to ‘NATO pilots use Peterborough airspace for training.’

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  • January 24, 2012 at 4:00 pm
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    First headline probably written by a reporter and changed when someone more experienced saw it

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  • January 25, 2012 at 9:58 am
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    I love the idea of there being ‘Peterborough airspace’.

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  • January 25, 2012 at 3:27 pm
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    The “Peterborough airspace” reference reminds me of a management policy handed down some years ago at my multi-district workplace. Headlines on all stories, large and small, had to include the relevant town or village as a reference point. Hence some little gems like “Rye dog hit by car” and “Broad Oak cow escapes from field.” It was a sad day when the policy was abandoned.

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  • January 25, 2012 at 3:37 pm
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    This story caused hilarity on the Telegraph’s website – the reader comments were better than the story.

    Many were mocking, along the lines of: “Hello, Telegraph Newsdesk – I’ve just seen a big lorry on the A1. Would you like a photo?”

    It was a complete non-story: these planes fly over the city and large parts of England all the time. There are bases in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. It just happened to be a clear day and one circled the city a few times creating an interesting contrail.

    It’s a shame the newsdesk didn’t ring the RAF. Perhaps it was a slow news day?

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