back to article Flight 666 lands safely in HEL on Friday the 13th

Finnish flag carrier Finnair has successfully flown the devil to hell on Friday the 13th. Finnair flies a daily AY666 service from Copenhagen to Helsinki and operated the flight as usual last week, on Friday, January 13th, 2017. But sharp-eyed aerosexuals noticed that the plane departed gate 13 at Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup …

  1. James O'Shea

    damn

    and here I was thinking that Flight 666 went to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Norway

    1. Winkypop Silver badge

      Re: damn

      I've been to Hell and back.

      No much there as it turns out.

      1. Yesnomaybe

        Re: damn

        Nope, not much there. I have been through Hell many times. I never stop.

        1. JetSetJim
          Coat

          Re: damn

          Meh, I go back and forth past the end of the world every day.

      2. Chemical Bob
        Devil

        Re: I've been to Hell and back.

        I've been to the Elysian Fields once. Not much there either.

        https://www.google.com/maps/place/Elysian+Fields,+TX+75672/@32.3684895,-94.1851575,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8636e38571bdd763:0x5d1e3b5f2c5b8f31!8m2!3d32.36848

    2. d3vy

      Re: damn

      Never mind flying... I much prefer taking the highway.

      1. edge_e
        Facepalm

        Re: damn

        50 comments and nobody asked if the pilot was called Eddie?

        Come on people

  2. Blofeld's Cat
    Devil

    Hmm...

    It's not often you get a chance to combine hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, paraskevidekatriaphobia, stygiophobia, triskaidekaphobia and aviophobia on one occasion.

    1. Mark Simon
      Pint

      Re: Hmm...

      or hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia for that matter …

    2. JetSetJim

      Re: Hmm...

      Not forgetting the potential to include acrophobia, agorophobia and claustrophobia

      1. Commswonk

        Re: Hmm...

        Looking at some of the foregoing I would have thought that ortographobia might have presented a serious risk.

        The really funny thing is that an on - line search revealed a "definition" that was grammatically incorrect. Oh the joy...

      2. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Joke

        Re: Hmm...

        those are all REAL phobias... not like the kinds of labels that are thrown about way too often these days [simply for disagreeing with 'whomever'].

        As for the plane, I heard it from a "reliable source" [aka fake news] that the pilot carried a rabbit's foot that had been soaked in holy water for 7 days, with a touch of garlic. And before departure, the entire crew bounced on one foot while chanting "Waa Tanaa Siam!". And they sacrificed a chicken as well, by ordering takeout from the local KFC.

        This flight, of course, was simultaneously 'blessed' by a recital of that famous poem, "I am Sofa King" "We Todd Ed"

        1. mstreet
          Coat

          Re: Hmm...

          Re: "those are all REAL phobias... not like the kinds of labels that are thrown about way too often these days"

          I hope you aren't trying to belittle my Luposlipophobia. (Fear of being chased across a freshly waxed floor by a pack of hungry timber wolves).

          And yes, that is a blatant "The Farside" rip off.

    3. PNGuinn

      Re: Hmm...

      Yeah, ok - but where does aerosexual fit in grammatically to that scheme of things??

      Enquiring minds - good source of mind bleach etc etc ---

  3. Unicornpiss

    Well, it didn't crash...

    That's lucky, isn't it? I would have flown on it with no qualms. I used to drive 13 miles, get off at exit 13, and work in Suite 13. 13 has usually been fairly lucky for me..

    1. Boothy

      Re: Well, it didn't crash...

      I was going to say the same thing, but for 666, regularly shows up when something it going well

    2. The First Dave

      Re: Well, it didn't crash...

      Of course it didn't crash - the son of satan was on board!

      1. Someone Else Silver badge
        Devil

        @The First Dave -- Re: Well, it didn't crash...

        Of course it didn't crash - the son of satan was on board!

        No he wasn't. He was in Trump Tower, where you can usually find him.

  4. harmjschoonhoven

    Friday XIII

    "This is the Friday the Thirteenth Club, meeting in Paris in 1930 to dance underneath a ladder and carry open umbrellas indoors. Being a rational reader of Nature, you surely applaud this contemptuous attitude towards superstition, so you won't be at all concerned by the following sinister tale. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar to replace the old Julian system, whose inaccuracies had made Easter slip slowly through the seasons. To bring the festivals back to their old positions, ten days disappeared from October 1582. Some people thought the days were being stolen from them. But rebuilding and resetting the calendar had a more subtle effect. The Gregorian cycle of 400 years contains exactly 20,871 weeks, and hidden in the calendar's machinery is a bias towards certain days of the week landing on certain dates in the month. The 13th is more likely to be a Friday than any other day (Brown, B. H. Amer. Math. Monthly 40, 607; 1933). Bernard Yallop now points out that with a personal computer it is possible to look for such peculiarities "without resorting to mathematics" (Spectrum October, 66; 1998). His table shows for example that there are 688 Friday-the-thirteenths every 400 years, but only 684 Thursdays; and a month (like a week) is most likely to begin on a Sunday. Did the Friday the Thirteenth Club know of their good fortune in having these extra opportunities to carouse? I only hope they didn't meet a sticky end before finding out."

    Stephen Battersby, Nature, Vol 396, 12 November 1998, page 113

    1. P. Lee
      Devil

      Re: Friday XIII

      I'll bet the lady in the picture with the open umbrella, closed it while she walked under the ladder!

      Superstitious? I think not. Good solid science behind that one.

  5. Haku
    1. MrT

      Re: Was there anything on the wing of the plane perchance?

      Passing by "Horror at 37,000 feet" on the way...

    2. chivo243 Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Was there anything on the wing of the plane perchance?

      No, there was "something" on the wing...

      +1 isn't enough! Great references, like them all

  6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Gimp

    The Omen!

    A fitting foreshadowing to the upcoming ultra-anti-semitic / super-mafiosic / gas-chamber-planning / black racist non-pandering / extra-anti-minorities / Putin-friendly / menacing-plumber enabling Trump administration.

    I just don't see how to connect it. Let's have the passenger list, we will find something!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: The Omen! I

      Omg the Trump bogey man. How do you even sleep at night with such fear... Yawn ( one of many I expect in the next 4 years).

      The end is nigh. That's you that is. Who cares if he won and will do what he says ... or more importantly why do you care.. you can't change it.

      Jeez people like to complain from a position of not having to actually do anything. Complain about Syria then join the military. But give up on brexit and Trump it's really boring now.

      1. VinceH
        Facepalm

        Re: The Omen! I

        Yes, shut up Destroy all Monsters! You are absolutely not allowed to have an opinion, let alone voice that opinion - and doing so in attempt to be funny? Shame on you!

        1. Someone Else Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: The Omen! I

          First, they came for the comedians....

      2. cream wobbly

        Re: The Omen! I

        How do you sleep at night? By being male, white, straight, middle-aged with no major health problems, reasonably middle-class-ish or better off, and renting, in a fairly low-crime area of a reasonably large city far away from any coastlines.

        Of course, if any of your family members are female you can worry at night about being denied reproductive healthcare. If any are not white (or not passing white) then worry about racist attacks. If any are GLBTQAI, worry about being denied a potty, or denied healthcare, or bigoted attacks. If any are elderly, or are young, worry about losing healthcare and benefits, including public schools. If any have pre-existing health conditions, worry about being told to FOAD, (or at least to D). If any are lower-middle class or working class, worry about losing employment and therefore benefits. If any are homeowners, worry about increasing mortgages and plummeting property values. If any live in high-crime areas, worry about policing being retracted. If any live in smaller cities, worry about services being pared to nothing. If any live near the coast, worry about global warming denialism feeding into weakened flood defences.

        Of course, if you don't know anybody like that, go ahead. Don't worry. It's all so terribly boring.

      3. Kiwi
        FAIL

        Re: The Omen! I

        or more importantly why do you care.. you can't change it.

        Why shouldn't I care about something that has the potential1 to cause a lot of pain to a lot of people I love? (and any one else for that matter). Doesn't matter that I may not be able to do much to change it.

        I don't have anyone in Syria or the armed forces, I can't join myself (age and health issues), and even if I went over there to fight "on the side of good" (don't know enough of the situation to be sure which side that is, btw) as defined by my government, I believe the very act of planning to head to Syria to "help those I am sure are in the right" is actually a criminal offense here now, under various anti-senseterrorism laws.

        1This actually covers pretty much all politicians the world over, not just trump. Shrillarity could've been as big a threat, as could the people behind the scenes who don't get elected every few years. All it takes is someone to pick the wrong fight with another, and a dispute turns to war, or trade sanctions that cut trade ties with NZ, or...

  7. redpawn

    Cover nearly blown

    The Universal Coincidence Generator (UCG) almost revealed itself by jamming in the on position. By chance an engineer caught it and shut it off just before it put thirteen thirteen year old passengers aboard along with their black cats.

    It may be some time before the normal concentration of coincidence is observed.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Mushroom

    Flight time 1:15?

    Surely they could sped up a bit for just that one flight. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Flight time 1:15?

      1/15 = 0.0666666666666666666666666666 (0.0satan recurring)

  9. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Am I a killjoy

    by pointing out it should be 616 not 666?

    1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

      Re: Am I a killjoy

      616? Is that a lesser evil?

      1. Joe Harrison

        Re: Am I a killjoy

        668 the Neighbour of the Beast

        1. Arthur the cat Silver badge

          Re: Am I a killjoy

          668 the Neighbour of the Beast

          vi vi vi - the Editor of the Beast.

    2. MacroRodent

      Re: Am I a killjoy

      Yes, you are. In popular culture, 666 is the Number of the Beast, because that is the value used by all translations of the Bible over the centuries. In this respect, it does not matter if there are some obscure manuscripts that say 616.

      - Greetings from HEL, currently quite frozen.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hope mine is the 13th comment!

    Anyway, Finnish doesn't look superstitious like many US developers who jump version 13....

  11. jake Silver badge

    And so?

    This means what, exactly, in the 21st century?

    1. MrT

      Re: And so?

      The flight scheduling software still works as planned... ;-)

    2. lglethal Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: And so?

      This means what, exactly, in the 21st century?

      that someone in Flight Scheduling at Finnish Airways has a sense of humour?

    3. Mark 85

      Re: And so?

      This means what, exactly, in the 21st century?

      Possibly that there's still a lot of really tall buildings that don't have a 13th floor. Seems to be the older ones that don't however.

  12. MrKrotos

    Theres a few of em https://goo.gl/maps/ys2NjNEB5T72

  13. Hans 1
    Happy

    The flight 666 to HEL is a means of teaching the USians that superstition is a very USian kind of thing, like creationism, flat earth "theory" (not a "scientific theory", ok) etc ...

    Where was the Natural History Museum (Creationist shrine) again, Kentucky ? I cannot remember ... over here in Europe, creationism is laughed out of the room.

    PS: For the creationists on here, look up mDNA, there, undeniable scientific proof creationism is BS! That was if inbreeding and its effects was not already proof enough ... then again, you might be inbred yourself, keeping up the tradition .... in which case this post scriptum is useless! You know where the downvote button is, and I will know how many cretins are on here ....

    1. breakfast Silver badge
      Holmes

      Creationists don't tend to worry about science much, so they might ignore that, but I think I've hit on a compelling argument for anyone coming from an Abrahamic perspective.

      The problem is the foreskin. Why would a designer deity add something to the male body and then the moment they get in touch with their creation immediately demand that it should be cut off? Surely either the designer would be imperfect or the insistence on removing it would be an insult to the creator. Either way the core tenet of a perfect creator is undermined.

      If foreskins don't make sense you must acquit my client!

      1. Richard Scratcher

        Not a bit of it!

        The foreskin was added by the creator precisely so it could be cut off by the chosen people as an easy indication that they are one of the faithful. It serves no other purpose, which is why we don't see foreskins on animals. There is no equivalent removable label on the female body because women don't really count.

        It's all in the book.

        1. David L Webb

          Re: Not a bit of it!

          It serves no other purpose, which is why we don't see foreskins on animals. There is no equivalent removable label on the female body because women don't really count.

          Except other mammals do have foreskins and there is one on the clitoris

          http://intactwiki.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_Foreskin

          and

          http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=15

        2. Fursty Ferret

          Re: Not a bit of it!

          Doesn't cutting off the foreskin just void the warranty?

          1. breakfast Silver badge

            Re: Not a bit of it!

            Wait, this thing has a warranty on it?

      2. Hans 1
        Thumb Up

        >Creationists don't tend to worry about science much, so they might ignore that

        I attempted to address that in the last part of my post scriptum, and, apparently, it works .... one downvote already ... have an upvote!

      3. Kiwi

        Surely either the designer would be imperfect or the insistence on removing it would be an insult to the creator.

        Y'know, I've spent a lot of time wrapping gifts over my life. Some have been wrapped carefully in layer apon layer of protective and/or "beautiful" wraping paper, some have had ribbons on them (which, despite my time in the scouts, is pretty tough given my focus and knot-tying skills!), some have been hastily covered in the nearest paper, some have just had a towel or jacket or whatever was handy tossed over them as an afterthought.

        Never once has I considered it an insult that all of my hard work and labour, or seconds of afterthought, have quickly been discarded by someone.

        Not that I am saying that foreskins are necessarily gift-wrapping, but I can think of a few people who would say it is!

        Either way the core tenet of a perfect creator is undermined.

        I don't know why the idea of circumscision was there. Obvious not cleanliness, because a) a lot of other peoples didn't have it and didn't have related issues and b) Paul claimed it was of no importance.

        Anyway, visitors so much go.

    2. harmjschoonhoven

      @Hans 1

      This will teach them: G.B. Trudeau cartoon

    3. mstreet
      Trollface

      mDNA?

      Though not a creationist, I fail to see how Madonna's line of skin care products can be construed as scientific proof.

    4. Kiwi

      PS: For the creationists on here, look up mDNA, there, undeniable scientific proof creationism is BS!

      mDNA, as in mitochondrial DNA? That part of our biology that points to a common ancestor to all humans somewhere between 6,500 and 200,000 years ago? You know, a common ancestor exactly like Creationists claim?

      How so is this somehow proof of evolution? You evolutionists might need to work on promoting these "proofs" a little more if you want people who actually spend time thinking about things to believe them :)

  14. AceRimmer1980

    /puts a hex on this thread

    hmm..that's 0D..

  15. agurney

    Room 13

    Many hotels don't have rooms with '13' on the doors.

    I ended up with a frustrating networking problem when helping install an IPTV system in a Spanish hotel a few years ago. The contractors had wired an IDF on each of several floors in the hotel. The job looked neat enough but we were seeing some unexpected behaviour, so we started tracing the cables..

    - port 1 was connected to room 101 (201, 301, 401...)

    - port 2 to room 102, 202, 302 ...

    and so on, as expected, until ...

    - port 13 was connected to room 114 (214, 314, 414, ...)

    and so on for all the remaining rooms and floors (fewer than 13 thankfully).

    1. AceRimmer1980
      Coat

      Re: Room 13

      Concorde's 13th fuel tank was labelled 12A.

      1. Robert Baker

        Re: Room 13

        When I was in hospital in March 2014, I was in bed 12B - between beds 12 and 14.

  16. Paul Woodhouse

    thank fuck it landed safely, imagine the bruhah from the conspiracy theorists and religious nutters if anything had happened to it...

  17. An0n C0w4rd

    Changes?

    Sorry to ruin everyones joke comments by asking a question, but what changes to European flight numbering? Are the going to 4 digit numbers across the board or something?

    1. SkippyBing

      Re: Changes?

      I think that's changes to Finnair's European flight numbering, rather than changes to the numbering of all flights in Europe. At least theirs is the only website I've found any reference to flight numbering changes on, the new number should be in the 900-999 range, doesn't look like the 600-666 range is being used in future.

      http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/269813/finnair-w17-flight-number-changes/

  18. arctic_haze

    Apollo 13

    "Houston we have cleared the tower at 13:13"

    Yes, they really did take of at the very minute.

  19. Lion

    For the Hell of it

    The North American railway company known as TH&B. (The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo) Railway made several trips daily for 90 years. TH&B dubbed by some as the 'To Hell and Back' Railway company did not skip a single Friday 13th run. Considering the weather in this location. maybe there is proof that Hell does freeze over.

  20. Stevie

    Bah!

    Gate 15? GATE 15???

    Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhhh!

  21. Potemkine Silver badge

    6 minutes late

    Landing at 13:37 would have been much more leet

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