Frisky Passenger Faces Prison

by Jonathon Morgan on

Ever take a trip with your spouse or significant other, and suddenly find yourself “in the mood” at 20,000 feet? You may want to keep that affection in check. Some guy from California might go to jail for getting it on with his girlfriend in the air.

Carl William Persing has been convicted of interfering with flight attendants and crew members after he and his girlfriend “made other passengers uncomfortable” by “kissing” and “embracing.” After they asked him to take his tongue out of his girlfriend’s mouth, Persing got miffed, threatened the attendants — twice — and found himself in an awkward conversation with FBI officials upon arrival in North Carolina.

Sounds like he was acting like a jerk, so fair enough. I know I wouldn’t want to watch anyone suck face — let alone when I’m stuck with them for a cross-country flight. But because it all happened on an airplane, Persing was breaking federal law, and has thus been convicted of a federal felony — which means he’ll probably serve jail time.

Wow. I can only imagine the conversation with other inmates while he’s in the slammer.

“Why are you in here?”
“I robbed a bank. What about you?”
“I. Uh. Made out with my girlfriend on an airplane.”

Doesn’t exactly make him sound like a force to be reckoned with.

Boeing 737 Stuck on Busy Mumbai Road

by Justin Glow on

Just when you thought Mumbai couldn’t get any more hectic, someone comes along and leaves a Boeing 737 sitting in the middle of a busy road. BBC reports, “The decommissioned aircraft was being driven through the city at the weekend when the driver got lost and then abandoned the plane.”

Is this for real? Seriously, how can you put one person in charge of transporting a 737? Never mind the fact that he didn’t know his way around the city very well. It’s no wonder Road Junky listed Bombay as one of the 10 worst cities to visit (even though I completely disagree, Bombay is great — even with the lost plane). Bizarre, but true.

[Via WorldHum]

Early Footage of the Wright Brothers Flying

by Willy Volk on

Orville and Wilbur — despite some goofy names — sure knew how to push the limits of travel. Not content with simply walking, biking or driving, on December 17, 1903, Wilbur managed to get aloft — for 12 seconds. Those 12 seconds changed travel forever. Though there is no film of the event, it must’ve looked something like this. By 1908, the brothers were traveling the globe showing off their invention. Though still quite a rocky ride, the experience was far more civilized: pilots sat upright and catapults were no longer used to get the planes going.

Learn more:

Terrafugia’s Transition: An Airplane-Car (or Car-Airplane?)

by Justin Glow on

Terrafugia (Latin for “escape from the world”) is a company founded by graduates of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT who have made it their mission to develop “the expansion of personal mobility through the practical integration of land and air travel.” Their vehicle, the Transition (shown above), is part car, part aircraft “that will be able to land at the airport, fold up its wings, and drive on the road.”

Want your own? They’re currently taking reservations. For $7,400 (5% of the expected sticker price of $148,000), you can make sure you’re the first one on the block with a flying car. Completed crafts are expected to ship in 2009. More pictures after the jump.

JetBlue Employees Arrested for Fraud Scheme

by Dave Luna on

Customer service representatives are supposed to give you service with a smile. Unfortunately, for a number of JetBlue fliers, that corporate grin had a little bit of deception behind it.

A Manhattan District Attorney discovered that four JetBlue representatives and a New York City corrections officer were involved in a credit card scheme that defrauded JetBlue customers. The criminal group stole credit and debit cards accidentally left at a JFK Airport JetBlue customer service desk by hurried passengers. The party used these accounts to purchase liquor, gifts, and lingerie. You know, I always suspected that airlines were ripping me off, but I just thought it was related to ticket prices.

Authorities arrested the five perpetrators, and JetBlue suspended the employees. I guess the moral of the story is “Don’t push the agents at the customer service desk.”

I’d like to note — for those playing at home — that JetBlue had nothing whatsoever to do with the credit card fraud. The company is too busy delaying flights for them to focus on such petty disturbances. Again, that’s just another joke.