Filmin' Saudi Style

Traditionally, Saudi Arabia hasn't had much time for film. The country boasts no cinemas (think Surinamese moviegoers have it bad?), and until last year, nothing but a handful of shorts had ever even been filmed on Saudi soil. It seems the country is looking to make a change, though. For the first time, Saudi Arabia's Association for Culture and Arts has submitted a film for consideration for an Oscar. This first is especially momentous in light of the fact that the writer-director also happens to be a woman. The film is named "Wadjda" after its protagonist, a young girl who wants to own a bike. The story, created by Saudi's first female director, Haifaa Al Mansour, is a parable for female independence in a country renowned for setting limits on women's movements and ambitions. But enough about that because there is a more serious matter at hand: cruising at 9,000 metres, pilots snoozed in the cockpit of a 300-passenger airliner en route to Britain last August, UK aviation authorities told CNN on Thursday. A spokesman for the UK's Civil Aviation Authority says that the Airbus A330 incident occurred while the aircraft was operating on autopilot on a long-distance flight. The CAA wouldn't reveal any other details of the flight, its route, or its destination airport, but sources say the offending airline is Virgin Atlantic. British pilots are allowed to sleep while in the cockpit under certain circumstances, but the pilots reported having only five hours of sleep over two nights "due to longer duty period with insufficient opportunity to sleep," the CAA report states. "Both crew rested for 20 minute rotations and fell asleep." "You can't have five hours of sleep in two days," says veteran airline pilot and aviation consultant Mark Weiss. "That doesn't work." There's no excuse for this rubbish. Falling asleep on the job is NEVER a good idea, especially if you're a pilot. There needs to be at least one person in the cockpit awake and able to fly the plane, otherwise the plane could've crashed and everybody on board could've died. You can't just both fall asleep with nobody to fly the plane during your period of simultaneous slumber, especially if my niece (pictured) is on board.