AL-BUKAIRIYAH: Talk about running grocery store errands with panache! According to a report in yesterday’s Arabic daily Shams, a number of locals in this town in Qassim province are upset over a Saudi Army pilot’s decision to fly a helicopter to the grocery store, landing the aircraft on an empty lot nearby. Eyewitnesses told the paper that this is the third time the pilot has gone to the grocery store by whirlybird. Others also said the man buzzes a local girl’s college. The Saudi Army had no comment on the incidents.In any normal army, a single incident like that would be enough to severely punish the pilot.
The Saudis have bought some $100 billion worth of high-tech military technology in the past 15 years. If their army is that lazy as to allow soldiers to use expensive helicopters as personal transport, how safe are their other weapons from just being stolen, or used in a coup?