Nov 7th, 2009 at 10:30AM: digg_url = 'http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Man_Accidently_Ejects_Himself_From_Plane'; This is a what NOT to do story if you're ever in a Pilatus PC-7 Mk II. Do not, I repeat, do not, use the black and yellow handle located between your legs to steady yourself. Not even if you're pretending to be Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun. Pull on that handle and you'll find yourself out of the plane before you ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
bizarre posts
Man accidently ejects himself from plane
Nov 7th, 2009 at 10:30AM: digg_url = 'http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Man_Accidently_Ejects_Himself_From_Plane'; This is a what NOT to do story if you're ever in a Pilatus PC-7 Mk II. Do not, I repeat, do not, use the black and yellow handle located between your legs to steady yourself. Not even if you're pretending to be Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun. Pull on that handle and you'll find yourself out of the plane before you ...Greyhound bus driver heads wrong way: Where's a GPS when you need one?
Nov 6th, 2009 at 2:30PM: tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/11/06/greyhound-bus-driver-heads-wrong-way-wheres-a-gps-when-you-nee/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
Greyhound bus drivers generally don't make national news. Pilots who overshoot airports, however, end up having their story told over and over again on about every entertainment vehicle there is. How many places did you hear or read about the ...Pilots and crew brawl at 30,000 feet because of a flight attendant
Oct 5th, 2009 at 6:30PM:
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/05/pilots-and-crew-brawl-at-30-000-feet-because-of-a-flight-attenda/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
The wide open skies turned into the Wild West on an Air India flight when the pilots and crew started fist-fighting. The plane was heading to New Delhi from Sharjah, UAE when the altercation that had started before the plane took off heated up.
...Farmer in Bangladesh kills more than 83,000 rats and wins a color TV
Oct 3rd, 2009 at 2:30PM:
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/03/farmer-in-bangladesh-kills-more-than-83-000-rats-and-wins-a-colo/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
I've seen a rat scurry across a New York City street at night. It looked like a small cat. Startling. Rats in New York are one of the city's long-standing jokes. The idea of the 83,450 rats that one farmer in Bangladesh killed over the last nine ...Gondola accident at Busch Gardens in Florida: Football player tumbles
Jul 19th, 2009 at 2:30PM: We've covered amusement park accidents in the past. Here's another one. In an unfortunate mishap at Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Florida a football player from the University of Southern Florida found his good deed costing him. Maikon Bonani was working at the gondola ride when he thought the door of one of the cars wasn't latched as it was leaving the station.
With quick thinking he grabbed onto ...Are Americans the only stupid travelers? Travel agent stories
Jun 29th, 2009 at 2:00PM: "A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?"
This is only one of the stupid things an American has said to a travel agent. At Strangeplaces.net, there is a slew of side-splitting funny stories that travel agents have recounted. Some of them are so stupid, they ...83-year-old lands plane on expressway
Jun 22nd, 2009 at 1:30PM: Imagine. There you are driving along an expressway in South Florida. You're checking the rear-view mirror and side-view mirrors, watching the distance between you and the cars in front of your car, smoothly navigating traffic. You're doing a swell job, and then there's a surprise--something you weren't planning on. A yellow object comes into view. A large yellow tropical bird, perhaps? Your heart ...Pilot nightmare: Passenger flings open door and jumps out
Apr 18th, 2009 at 10:00AM: Here is a scene that I think would take one of the top spots of a pilot's worst nightmare.
Right when you're flying 23,000 above one of the coldest places above Canada this time of year, one of your two passengers, the one who has been freaking out, totally loses his marbles, flings open the door and jumps out.
That's what happened a couple days ago to two pilots who were taking two passengers ...Gadling Take FIVE: Week of April 11--April 17
Apr 17th, 2009 at 6:00PM: How wonderful to be in the middle of April when the flowers are blooming, the sun is shining. By now, you've noticed Gadling has a brand new look. Kudos to the design team! We're pleased as punch. With wider photos, Karen can show off her photography expertise all that much more.
Along with the changes, we found out that Tynan, thankfully, survived a mugging. He has tips on what you need to ...Tunisian pilot who prayed while crash landing a plane gets 10 years in jail
Mar 25th, 2009 at 5:30PM: If I were a pilot landing a plane after the engines had conked out on me, I might pray. That doesn't mean I'd take my hands off the controls and stop doing my part to aim for a safe landing, but perhaps there would be words beseeching a power bigger than myself for a dose of divine intervention. It couldn't hurt. Right?
For the Tunisian pilot I read about in the guardian.co.uk, uttering a prayer ...Gadling Take FIVE -- March 14-March 20
Mar 20th, 2009 at 7:15PM: Happy first day of spring! This week we're having a book give-a-way. Pico Iyer's book The Open Road: Global Travels of the 14th Dalai Lama can be yours. All you have to do is leave a comment about a place that captured your attention at the end Iyer's Talking Travel interview. Two winners will be picked in a random drawing.
Mike just came back from his awesome trip to New Zealand and Australia. ...Passengers revolt and refuse to fly without a new pilot
Feb 4th, 2009 at 9:30AM: Last month, two passengers heading through airport security thought a pilot was drunk and called the authorities. Last May, a pilot was found drunk and naked in the woods. In this latest what-is-wrong-with-the-pilot episode, more than 100 passengers on a Boeing 767 jet bound for New York from Moscow signed a paper saying they thought the pilot was three sheets to the wind.
This happened after the ...In Dubai, money can buy you a room on a refrigerated beach
Dec 16th, 2008 at 10:30AM: Sometimes the creativity that blistering hot weather breeds is truly mind-boggling: Pallazo Versace Hotel has decided to create a temperature controlled beach extending out and around its new hotel in Dubai, so that the "top people" (ugh) don't burn their feet. "We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on," says Soheil Abedian, president of Palazzo Versace. Of course, ...Doctor turned over to FBI for trying to use front toilet in aircraft
Aug 12th, 2008 at 8:20AM: A 65-year old Indian urologist was turned over to the FBI after he tried to visit the toilet in the front of the airline. The first time the doctor tried to use the toilet on the Southwest flight, it was occupied by the captain, so he went back to his seat. When he saw the captain come out, he got up to go again when he was pushed back into his seat by airline staff. Apparently this was because ...Latest accident at Six Flags is another safety reminder
Jun 29th, 2008 at 1:40AM: Perhaps it's the word amusement that helps make amusement park accidents seem so devastating. The latest accident I heard about on the news tonight is too awful to imagine and is a reminder to go over safety lessons with teens over and over and over again.
As a parent of a teen, I know that the diatribe of safety lessons may not actually keep my daughter that much safer, but what else is a ...Terrorist themed restaurant in Lebanon
Jun 23rd, 2008 at 8:30AM: Who said terrorism and violence couldn't be laughed at, or to that matter, even eaten!? Fast food restaurant "Buns and Guns" in Beirut allows you to do both. In a space decorated as if a military post (with weapons, ammunition and camouflage netting hanging from the ceiling), this eatery serves "rocket propelled grenade" (chicken on a skewer), "terrorist bread" and other dishes called ...Dubai plans "Tower in Motion"
Jun 22nd, 2008 at 9:40AM: Nothing phases me in Dubai anymore. Anything and everything is possible in this city, so when I read news like this: "Dubai plans self-powered skyscraper with individually rotating floors," I'm quite numb. Opening para: "A $350 million tower to be known as the Dynamic Architecture building is to be constructed in Dubai. The 68-story tower will feature floors that can be individually rotated via ...China renaming menu items to make them less bizarre
Jun 19th, 2008 at 11:30AM: Sometimes not knowing the language of the country you are visiting is a good thing.
How else could you possibly justify ordering a local dish called "Husband and wife's lung slice" or possibly "Chicken without sexual life" in Mandarin? This way, you simply believe something must have gone awfully wrong with the translation. Chances are, it is an accurate translation. China is known for a wide ...Tours where you get to be Indiana Jones
May 6th, 2008 at 11:40AM: As if traveling to a new country wasn't adventurous enough, a Spain based company called "Viajes Con Imaginación" (Vacations With Imagination) has started offering trips to Egypt where they not only organize your entire itinerary, but they also plan strange things and make them happen to you. For example: robberies, kidnappings, ghosts coming to haunt you at night -- it's all part of the ...The world's craziest houses
Apr 8th, 2008 at 10:40AM: They say that "home is where the heart is," but I have to wonder when I look at the at the "Gravity-Defying Homes" gallery over at design site PointClickHome. Perhaps the expression is better written as "home is where the crazy is?" Point Click Home's gallery features a slideshow of some of the most surreal and interesting houses from around the world, including strange structures in Russia, The ...
