Aircraft in the News and Odd Stories

That's what they call it... don't argue with me, I didn't call it that

As suggested in the 'Daily Mail'...An Australian couple with first class seats on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne refused to fly when the airline could not offer them pyjamas in the right size, reports the Daily Mail. The couple's behaviour delayed the flight by half-an-hour. The couple insisted on being given extra large pyjamas to wear on the 15-hour flight. They demanded to leave the A380 and were walked back to the terminal to wait for the next flight.

Lol!!!!!!!

A pensioner in possession of two return Ryanair tickets from East Midlands, UK to Dinard, France called the lbudget airline for a refund after his wife suffered a heart attack. His claims suggest that the airline told him to fly without his wife and take the flight with someone else! The man is now demanding an apology from Michael O'Leary, head of Ryanair. The airline confirms a full refund would be issued on receipt of a faxed doctor's note, reports The Telegraph.

An exerpt from the Daily Mail once again.

Apparently this occured a few months ago...

Pilot flying over his house catches theif in the act​

It's not often that you are flying your private Cessna and decide to fly over your house and see something strange going-on at your residence. However, to Cessna airplane owner David Zehntner, while on a flight from North Carolina to his LaBelle, Florida, home, he spotted an odd vehicle in his parking lot.

He told reporters, “At about 800 feet, we fly over our house. We look out and say, ‘There’s a truck in our driveway.’ So I literally drop down to 300 feet; that’s extremely low. I’m circling and watching the guy walking around and looking in our windows and testing the doors to see if he could get in.” Robert Haines, 59, was that guy trying to allegedly break into the Zehntner residence.

Haines apparently hooked up a red-trailer -from the Zehntner residence- to his truck and stole it, all while being watched from above by the owners. They followed the theif and although they tried to call authorities from the aircraft that proved unsuccessful. However, when Zehntner saw Haines pull onto the interstate highway near the airport, he quickly landed and gave police a vector to intercept the thief. Haines was later caught 'red-handed' and charged with grand-theft.

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Unruly passenger gets restrained on Icelandair flight​

You can check out the story at the following link.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/unruly-passenger-taped-seat-icelandair-flight-1B7833828#



Photo via andyellwood.tumblr.com

Damaged Sea King hoisted by Mil Mi-26 ​

Finally the Westland Sea King helicopter that went down in the Artic Circle has been rescued. A Mil Mi-26 rescued the damaged helicopter from the remote area. The Sea King helicopter was operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force and sustained serious damage to its undercarriage while trying to land during a training exercise. UK company Air Charter Service was used to carry out the 'salvage' operation.

Photo by Air Charter Service

Now this is an interesting story.

The only remaining flyable Sikorsky S-43 flying boat, the only one of 53 that were built in the '30s) has now been acquired by Kermit Weeks. The aircraft was allegedly owned by Howard Hughes before and has an exciting history to tell. This guy that now finally got his hands on it can count himself lucky to have a piece of significant history and also have the bragging rights to go along with it. Below is a photo of the historical bird.

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How about this? snake literally on plane...it surely got the ride of its life or should I say..the ride that ended its life

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/8165431/Snake-hitches-a-ride-on-Qantas-flight

After close to 54 years of in flight service the venerable DC-8 operations in the US are now set to become even rarer with the pending retirement of Air Transport International's (ATI) remaining DC-8 fleet. ATI is withdrawing its last four DC-8s birds from service early this year and replacing them with Boeing 757s. Once completed, only two DC-8s will be in operation with US operators: a DC-8-63F with National Airlines and a DC-8-72 test bird with NASA.

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This is something you don't hear everyday...

An Air India pilot redirects her flight to pick up favourite food

An Air India pilot has been suspended after failing to comply with orders to alter her original flight plan. Why you may ask? The flight was originally flying via Jodhpur. The Captain Smriti Trehan had ordered the city’s legendary onion kachoris to be delivered to the airport on Sunday. Altering her route would have meant her missing her pick up of the Onion Kachoris so she refused to change course. As a result she is now suspended.

lollllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!

A320 pilot preoccupied with cellphone, forgets to deploy landing gear

We all heard about driving and texting and driving and using cell phones in general but doing it while your the captain and on approach. In 2010, a pilot of a Jetstar flight was inbound to Singapore's Changi International and apparently forgot to lower the A320's landing gear. Even the co-pilot missed the error, even though he felt something wasn't right. The pilot was too busy preoccupied with his cell-phone. They never fully realized what was happening until the aircraft itself started sending a warning at approximately 720-feet. The pilot then eventually aborted that attempted landing and went around.

That's funny and unfortunate...