Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
Teenager Launches His Own Fake Airline

It’s a scene right out of “Catch Me If You Can”. Daniel Foggo and Martin Foley, writing for The Sunday Times:

A teenage boy from Yorkshire succeeded in persuading British aviation executives that he was a tycoon about to launch his own airline. Using the pseudonym Adam Tait, the smooth-talking 17-year-old told airport and airline executives that he had a fleet of jets.

Tait, who said he was in his twenties, even flew to Jersey to attend a 1½-hour long meeting with the director of its airport. Their talks were considered promising enough for a further meeting to be arranged, which was due to be held next week.

Other air industry bosses found themselves dealing by telephone or e-mail with Tait’s fellow executives, David Rich and Anita Dash, who proposed to launch a cut-price Channel Islands-based airline servicing most of Europe.

What no one realised was that Tait, Rich and Dash were all the same person: an aircraft buff with the gift of the gab and an overactive imagination.

Exhibit A for why we should never, never underestimate kids’ abilities; and the kicker is that Tait is a teenager with a form of autism. (It’s not stated, but it’s likely Asperger’s.) I’m constantly amazed at how our mental conceptions of an age or handicap are, really and continually, profoundly limited when we look at the sheer scope of human potential. Tait’s father said this about him, and his airline-building efforts:

“People like him are not criminals, they are just misguided — they don’t understand what they are doing. Can someone grab hold of these people and harness their energy and use them for something that could be good?

“If someone with little or no education who has extreme enterprise and talent could have his energy channelled in the right direction, what could they achieve for themselves and our country?”

Frankly, I don’t see how young 17-year-old Tait’s efforts to start an airline are really all that different from a 30-year-old venture capitalist’s efforts.

Jul 23, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #