We were inbound to Auckland after a long 12-hour Pacific sector through the night. It was around 5:00 a.m., and there were four other wide-body inbounds (787s, 767s, and 777s) arriving about the same time. Auckland Control was doing a no-nonsense job, without any chit-chat, when the terminal information changed due to a pressure difference (hectopascals down here, not inches).
She read it out as:
“All stations inbound Auckland, new information: Charlie, QNH niner, niner, niner. And nobody better say ‘Batman.'”
The four of us sat there on our flight deck for what seemed like ages, all thinking:
“What? ‘Batman’?”
… when one of the second officers suddenly called out:
“Oh! Niner, niner, niner, niner — Batman!”
We all laughed so loud the cabin crew said they heard us down the back!
No one said “Batman” on the radio, either.
Callum T.
