A worker was superstitious and wanted to hang rubber chickens from the bottom of the full-motion simulators. IIRC, one was hung beneath a simulator, then removed, and the simulator stopped working. So, the management caved and allowed rubber chickens to be hung beneath all of them. That worker had a simulator dedicated to him and they put two rubber chickens under that one.
I had the same thought. I had no idea before the tour the extent to which they have to master the emergency skills, despite probably never needing to use it. On the other hand, passengers don't have to practice, but I sometimes hear it be said that you shouldn't assume a flight attendant will be there to help you in the event of an emergency!
That is a great idea. Too often, we just grow up getting used to the idea that things are just made somewhere in a "black box" and never take the time to investigate. We could probably get into more places than we realize.
I actually was in Durham for DjangoCon US a couple of times. One year I was on the fence about making a quick trip to Raleigh before my flight and that factory was one on my list. It was a very rainy day, and I was pretty tired. I decided not to go. Hopefully, I will make it back sometime. Maybe for All Things Open, which is on my bucket list.
The island of Kaua'i in Hawaii has both tours of a chocolate farm (Lydgate Farms) and a coffee plantation (Kaua'i Coffee) with a visitor center. Just gotta find a conference out there, then hop on a Southwest flight.
