Gondola accident at Busch Gardens in Florida: Football player tumbles

by Jamie Rhein on

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 the door in an effort to keep it closed. Unfortunately, as the gondola of the sky ride went up into the air, so did he. Eventually, he let go and fell 35 feet. Luckily the area below was landscaped and not asphalt.

Bonani is in fair condition and it sounds as if he’ll recover–I hope. Of course, the park is reviewing safety procedures. One of the morals of this story is that if you are at an amusement park and fall 35 feet, be in good shape with well developed muscles. It does wonders for the outcome. Plus, make sure you hear that clink shut of the latch of any ride you climb into. It helps to pay attention.

As for the passengers who were riding in the gondola when Maikon Bonani fell. Can you imagine? That Busch Garden vacation turned out much differently than they ever imagined. [AP article]

Disney World monorail driver killed in crash

by Tom Johansmeyer on

One monorail crashed into the back of another at Walt Disney World early this morning, killing one driver and shaking up a family of six. According to the park’s statement, “Today we mourn the loss of our fellow cast member. Our hearts go out to his family and to those who have lost a friend and co-worker.”

The monorail, according to a report by CNN, was shut down, as the park works with law enforcement to figure out just what happens … and what comes next.

As this story develops, we’ll keep you posted.

[Via @Mashable, Photo via @weathermanfsu]

Five reasons to stay on hiking trails: One can save your life.

by Jamie Rhein on

As spring beckons people to outdoor endeavors, it doesn’t hurt to do a run-down of what is the best outdoor behavior to stay safe and not damage nature in the process of enjoying it. Here are five reasons for staying on a trail when hiking. They are not in any order of importance except for the last one. That one is the most important.

After Pat Quackenbush, the naturalist at Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio introduces himself at the beginning of the naturalist led night hike to Ash Cave, he talks about the three-foot drop on the right side of the trail further along the path. When I took such a hike, he advised the 150 plus people who had come to be wowed to stay closer to the left and watch out for that drop. This leads to Reason Number 1.

  • Reason 1: There may be places where the trail has eroded at the edges or where there is a dangerous spot to be aware of. Paying attention to the trail also helps you see roots, rocks or branches along the path that may twist an ankle or cause a fall. This also helps keep you aware of slick spots caused by mud or wet leaves.
  • Reason 2: It protects the environment. When you step off trails, you damage the ecosystem. Often there are rare plants, moss, lichen, bugs or whatever that are in balance with each other. Your boot or sneaker-clad foot can do enough damage in one second that takes years to undo.
  • Reason 3: Depending upon where you’re hiking, birds can be nesting near the trail. Your intrusion can mess up the procreation process. Even worse, you could step on a nest and take out the bird family.
  • Reason 4: Staying on a trail helps prevent you from getting lost. You still might get lost, but at least if you’re on a trail, there’s a path for people to follow to find you. If you go bushwhacking in the woods, lots of luck with that.
  • Reason 5: It can save your life! During his talk Quackenbush also said that hiking at night without a naturalist at Hocking Hills State Park is not allowed. This is for good reason. The park has cliffs and drop-offs galore. If you don’t know where they are, you can fall. In the best case scenerio, you twist an ankle. In the worst case, you die. That’s what happened this past weekend at one section of the park. A 20-year old woman scrambled up off the trail, only to fall. She later died at the hospital.

Bonus Reason: Reason 5 reminded me of this reason. If you die while hiking, your family and friends could be forever haunted by your fall. When my husband was in his 20s, one of his friends fell off a cliff in Glacier National Park in Montana. My husband was working with him at one of the lodges the time. Years later, my husband still talks about that day as if it just happened.

Seriously, folks. Stay on that trail. It’s a trail and it’s marked for good reason.

*The first photo was taken by desparil on a mountain summit in Corsica, France.

16 Tourists injured in Luxor hot air balloon accident

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Yesterday, a hot air balloon crashed in Luxor, the city of the pharaohs, in Egypt. Sixteen people were injured in the incident. For those of you with an axe to grind about cell phone towers, you just got some ammo. The hot air balloon hit a cell phone tower on the west bank of the Nile River, near Gourna village.

Identities of the injured haven’t been released yet, but we do know that they come from Canada, Denmark, England, France, South Korea and the United States. All were taken to a hospital in Luxor for treatment.

This event is not without precedent. A year ago, a similar situation led to the injury of seven tourists.

Six weird plane emergency landing stories

by Jamie Rhein on

One couldn’t argue that the US Airways emergency crash landing on the Hudson River due to birds flying into the engines is probably one of the most spectacular emergency landing stories.

There are, however, other stories that give one pause. They are not as splashy, but they sure are interesting, odd, and even downright weird. I went on an emergency landing hunt and this is what I found so far.

1. Back in December 2006, one American Airlines pilot had to divert a plane because of flatulence. One passenger who was passing gas, not the crop dusting, odorless kind that flight attendants sometimes do (ask Heather), but that foul kind you can’t quite get away from. The passenger who was passing gas lit matches to cover up the smell. When other passengers complained of a burnt sulfur smell, the pilot diverted the plane to Nashville where all passengers and all luggage was searched until the unnamed woman fessed-up. [Dallas/Ft. Worth Local News]

What about the plane VS the cow?

2. In August 2008, a Ryanair plane going from Budapest to Dublin had to land in Frankfurt after a man’s neck started to swell from an allergic reaction. Nope, it wasn’t peanuts. Turns out that a passenger had put a jar of mushrooms in the over head bin. The mushrooms leaked and got into the plane’s air conditioner system, thus out into the cabin which caused the medical woe. [UPI.com]

3. In December 2008, a Cirrus plane landed on the northbound lane of Highway 61 after there was engine trouble. The pilot and his passenger were able to push the plane to the side of the road out of the way until it was loaded onto a flatbed truck and removed. Can you imagine what it would have been like driving down the highway minding your own business when that baby came closer and closer to where you were driving? [10/13 ABC]

4. This odd story didn’t cause the emergency landing, but it is something that happened as a result. In December 2008, a World War II-era Tiger Moth in Britain hit a cow when it was making an emergency landing because of engine trouble. The cow had wandered out onto the runway. The cow was knocked down, but OK. My uncle hit a cow with his car. It wasn’t pleasant. Last summer while driving through North Dakota, we hit a few pheasants with our car. That wasn’t pleasant either. [UPI.com]

5. Here’s what one hopes would never, ever, ever, happen when flying. The plane door flies off. That’s what happened in March of 2008 when the door fell off a Bombardier Challenger CL-60 in Grand Junction, Colorado. No one was hurt, and the pilot was able to land the plane safely. A bit windy and startling, I would guess. I was riding in the passenger seat of a car once when the hood flew up and cracked the windshield. That was startling. [KOAA.com]

6. Here is a joke about an incident that almost ended up in an emergency landing. The story is thought to be true and was posted in The Australian. One plane almost made an emergency landing due to extreme vibrations. When the pilot put on the fasten the seat belt sign, the vibrations stopped. A person came out of the bathroom and said that he had been jogging in place. The story sounds a bit bogus to me, but I’ll believe about anything. [ahajokes.com]