She said they had originally intended to fly by RAF plane, but on Friday it had become unserviceable outside the UK, leaving them with "no other viable option" at short notice.

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Also, I would never have imagined I would fly in a private plane by myself, and now I have.

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The 19-second clip, titled "200mph Plane fly-by within 2 feet of person, " was uploaded to YouTube, according to The Smoking Gun, which also posted the video.

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"We were due to fly out of Krasnoyarsk by military cargo plane but because of the celebrations we cannot go until Thursday morning, " said Ms Daniels, from Whimple, Devon.

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The blocking of plans for the Queen Mother to fly to Iran in Concorde by Harold Wilson because he was worried about the plane's safety.

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Meanwhile at Imperial College in London, Varnavas Serhides designed a plane that has no tail by taking advantage of advanced "fly-by-wire" controls and eliminating the need for a horizontal stabilizer and vertical tail, which also reduces drag.

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It is developing a surveillance system funded by several U.S. government agencies based on an unmanned plane that will fly at an altitude of 11 miles (versus 22, 000 miles for a satellite) and stay aloft for a week at a time.

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