Want to be a pilot? No experience required

by Grant Martin on

Those of you that have been reading Kent Wien’s Cockpit Chronicles may experience the deep envy that many feel when we read about the great destinations, experiences and adventures that a pilot is privy to. Indeed for many, the job of a pilot is a dream, something that we aspire to as children but rarely pursue later in life. And by the time many of realize how much we want to chase that dream, well, we may think that it’s too late to inviest the time and money in training. If you win this contest, however, that could all change.

Air Asia, Malaysia’s most successful low cost carrier has a shortage of pilots, and in an effort to build interest and support in the brand they’re launching the “So you Wanna be a Pilot” competition. 10 lucky winners who submit a blog entry to their site could be selected to win training from the ground up. Obviously you have to have basic education in Physics, Mathematics and the like, but every pilot should have that, right? Oh and the other caveat? You need to have a good command of Bahasa Malaysia. But that’s not hard to learn, right?

Check out the rest of the details on AirAsia’s blog.

Learning to fly with Mahalo Daily’s Veronica Belmont

by Kent Wien on
My favorite web personality, Veronica Belmont of Mahalo Daily, shows you what’s involved in a $100 1-hour introduction flight. If you’ve ever thought about learning to fly, why not try it out at your local airport. She did:

To find the local flight school in your area that offers this $100 intro flight, go to www.beapilot.com.

Note that the $12,000 figure is for American Flyers, a high end national flight school. My local airport charges half that price for 55 hours toward your Private license. I get a lot of emails asking about the first step in learning to fly–this is it!

Kill Flies with a Map of Milan, Italy

by Justin Glow on

From the Why not? department: “the quintessential lifestyle navigator,” Charles & Marie, are stocking a fly swatter patterned with a Milan, Italy street map. Yes, those little lines you see represent streets in Milan, so that you can — SNAP! — smash a fly at the corner of Via Senato and Corso Venezia if you so choose. Much cooler, if you ask me, than killing flies with a regular old fly swatter from K-Mart.

The swatter comes in blue, green, orange, violet, and white, and costs $15 USD, but is currently sold out.

[via BoingBoing]

Sir, There’s a Fly in My Urinal

by Dave Luna on

Here’s something from the “Urban Legend or Not?” files…

It seems the bathroom authorities at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport placed a picture of a housefly in the bowls of men’s room urinals. This simple image gives gents a — shall I say — bulls-eye. The little insect ensures guys aim for the drain and keep off the floor. This supposedly saves time and money in restroom cleaning costs. The folks at TruthOrFiction.com contacted the airport, and the Netherlanders confirmed the claim. That’s what I call dedication to journalism.

I actually saw one of these urinal flies in Schiphol Airport, and I just figured it was some plumbing company’s odd logo. Also, if you wanted to know, their Musca domestica mind-trick worked on me.