ABSTRACT
On a recent transatlantic flight, some 37,000 feet above the west coast of Greenland, the captain of our wide-bodied Airbus A330 took the unusual step of interrupting the in-flight movie. It was, he announced, one of the clearest days in the northern hemisphere that he had ever experienced in his flying career and he encouraged everyone to look out of the windows at the glaciers and icebergs below. A small minority of passengers (the author included) immediately jumped up, cameras in hand, and clambered over fellow travellers in an effort to see out of the window. Others casually glanced over their shoulders but, clearly unimpressed by what they saw, quickly returned to their crosswords, magazines, and hand-held game consoles. The frozen world beneath the windows evidently held little fascination for the majority of passengers aboard TCX flight 34K.
