[Dartskipper]

In the early days of long distance air travel before jet engines came into use, an airliner with a full load of passengers was en route from Heathrow to La Guardia. About two hours into the long journey, one engine spluttered to a halt. The crew tried restarting it without success. The Captain announced that they were now flying with three engines but there was nothing to worry about, but there would be a delay of about one hour to their journey. About one hour later, a second engine failed. The Captain made another announcement that the aircraft could still safely fly on only two engines, but there would be a further delay to their time of arrival. After another hour a third engine failed, so the Captain made a further announcement that the plane could still fly safely on only one engine, although their time of arrival would be further delayed by approximately two more hours.

The cabin was in silence as the passengers digested this information. A voice, clearly a little inebriated from partaking of too many refreshments, pipes up from the rear of the cabin.

" I hope that fourth engine ("hic") doesn't shtop ("hic") or we'll be up here all night."