Video: Skydiving accident uncut (graphic)

by Elizabeth Seward on

Like most other people out there, I was nervous before I went skydiving for the first time. That whole ‘jumping out of a plane thousands of feet above land’ thing kind of got under my skin. Every jumper’s worst nightmare is to be involved in a skydiving accident, but those fears are usually brushed off by other people’s reassurances of, “Dude, that never happens”. But sometimes it does.

Chris Colwell’s first-hand helmet video of his own skydiving accident that left him quadriplegic made me cry the first time I saw it. And then I cried again the second time I saw it. It’s hard not to be hit with difficult-to-handle emotions when you watch this video. It is tragic. But Chris’ attitude post-accident is admirable. He remains positive to this day and has a YouTube channel worth checking out.

WARNING: This video is not easy to watch and it may contain content not appropriate for children.

Man sues Chicago Hilton for $50,000 after tripping over luggage

by Katie Hammel on

It seems there’s no end to the ridiculous things people will sue over these days. There was the alcoholic who drunkenly fell down the stairs and then sued the hotel for over-serving him, the guy who got electrocuted while trying to sneak onto an Amtrak train and then sued the company for parking the trains where it did, and many, many more.

Now a man is suing Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton for $50,000 after he tripped over some unattended luggage in the hotel lobby. The complaint, posted on a Chicago legal website, alleges that “on or about October 7, 2007” the plaintiff, Richard J. Wood, “tripped, stumbled, and/or fell” over the luggage. (Well…which was it? Did he merely stumble, or was it a fall? And how does he not know which day it happened?)

The suit, in its convoluted legalese, alleges that the Hilton staff were careless and negligent in leaving the suitcase out where Wood could trip on it. Apparently, Wood bears no responsibility for not looking where he was going. There’s no word on how the man was physically injured, but the suit claims he suffered “great pain, anguish and suffering, loss of a normal life”. Was it $50,000 worth of anguish? Unless Hilton settles, it’ll be up to the court to decide.

26 hurt on turbulent Continental flight

by Katie Hammel on

On most flights, turbulence is a minor inconvenience. You have to return to your seat and buckle in, and you may have to wait a little longer to get your next vodka and cranberry (oh, is it just me that needs a cocktail, or three, to relax on a plane?). Planes are generally able to avoid the worst of the bumps, thanks to radar and reports from other planes in the area. But sometimes, turbulence strikes seemingly out of the blue, and that may be when it is the most dangerous.

This could be what happened on Continental Flight 128, which hit severe turbulence on its way from Brazil to Houston and was forced to make an emergency landing in Miami early on Monday. The plane encountered the turbulence just northwest of Puerto Rico and landed at Miami shortly after 5:30 a.m.

The turbulence was so rough that it catapulted passengers from their seats, slamming them into luggage bins and bashing their heads into overhead seat controls, cracking the panels and breaking glass in the reading lamps. 26 people were injured. Four of the injuries were reported as serious and 14 people were taken to the hospital.

Passengers stated that the turbulence didn’t last very long, and that after it had passed everyone remained calm. There’s no word yet on what exactly caused the turbulence, but the FAA is investigating.

[via ABC News]

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.