83-year-old lands plane on expressway

by Jamie Rhein on

Imagine. There you are driving along an expressway in South Florida. You’re checking the rear-view mirror and side-view mirrors, watching the distance between you and the cars in front of your car, smoothly navigating traffic. You’re doing a swell job, and then there’s a surprise–something you weren’t planning on. A yellow object comes into view. A large yellow tropical bird, perhaps? Your heart starts pounding faster. You think “Gaad!!! WHAT IS THAT THING?” It’s a plane–a single-engine Hummelbird plane, and it’s landing in front of you. ON THE EXPRESSWAY for heaven’s sake. And the plane is being driven by an 83-year-old.

That’s what happened yesterday morning to drivers on the Sawgrass Expressway near Oakland Park Blvd. Luckily the plane didn’t hit any cars and cars didn’t hit it when it landed in the midst of traffic after pilot Ralph Squeglia experienced engine trouble.

Lest you think this mishap had something to do with Squelia’s age, on the contrary. He’s been flying since the mid-1940 and knows a thing or two–such as how not to panic when landing a plane on an expressway and what to do if the airplane’s wing clips a light pole. Oh, yeah–and how to do so without hitting cars.

According to Carlos Miller’s Miami News article, Squelia is not getting a citation from the state troopers and the FAA has yet to comment. As for the state trooper’s report, perhaps there isn’t a citation regarding how one should land a plane in traffic. Like “I’m sorry sir, you landed on the wrong side of the road. You’re supposed to be going with traffic.”

More crazy stories from the skies

One town doesn’t want tourists for Memorial Day

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’re a tourist, Ithaca, in the Finger Lakes region of New York, doesn’t want you–at least not for Memorial Day. It’s not a snob thing. It’s not that the town wants people who live there to enjoy backyard barbeque’s and parades in peace without strangers–you know, outsider types–from stopping them to ask for directions or take up their parking spots.

Actually, parking spots have something to do with it. The town is not that big for a lot of extra folks for a mega weekend like Memorial Day. Between Cornell’s graduation ceremonies and every day traffic, there isn’t enough room for every Tom, Dick, and Harry (and Mary) who has a hankering to head through this pristine town for a holiday.

Think about having a party at your house for example. Don’t you count silverware, place settings, number of chairs and the condition of your grass and plumbing to decide just how many people you can have tromping through? Ithaca, realizing they are ill equipped to be the best hosts at this time is basically saying, don’t bother.

Don’t think that just because you’re not welcome for one of the biggest pre-summer weekends that you’re not welcome forever. Don’t get your feelings hurt. They did want you for Mother’s Day and offered specials as Karen pointed out. And the town definitely wants you the last weekend in May for the Ithaca Festival, the quirky event that celebrates the town’s creativity. Then you’ll have fun. They promise. Mike, our Sky Mall Monday guru, lived here once and vouches for the friendly attitudes of the town’s people and the charm of the place. I believe him. In my opinion, a guy that dons a hazmat suit to test out the Hotel Carter, the dirtiest hotel in the U.S. can be trusted. [I Love New York]

Ugliest city in the world is attracting tourists with its ugliness

by Jamie Rhein on

Folks in Holland have named Charleroi, Belgium “The Ugliest City in the World.” Not to be daunted, some of Charlori’s town folk have embraced this less than pristine distinction. In a case of work with what you have instead of lamenting what you don’t, they are offering tourists “urban safaris.”

The tours take in all that makes Charleroi, a city surrounded by slag heaps, so darned depressing. You can climb on coal piles, see where renowned citizens who killed themselves or others once lived, and visit an abandoned factory. The first white female suicide bomber who blew herself up in Baghdad was from Charleroi, another detail presented on the tour.

These creative tactics seem to be working since the tours are booked through next month, according to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Maybe one day, if the economy picks up, there will be different tours that highlight the places in Charleroi that used to be ugly before gentrification set in and ruined it.

A Day in the life of Abbey Road time lapse

by Jamie Rhein on

If you keep watching this video of people crossing Abbey Road The Beatles’ style, you’ll notice patterns. Some people organize themselves just like The Beatles did in their iconic photograh of the Abbey Road album cover.

The time lapse photography is set to the song “Garble Arch” by the music group Blame Ringo. Look for the near misses. Some people were almost clocked by vehicles that sped through the crosswalk. One guy does a bit of flashing at oncoming traffic.

There is something about this video that’s mesmerizing.The time lapse photography is set to the song “Garble Arch” by the indie band Blame Ringo. In case you have a hankering to cross Abbey Road yourself, it’s located in the the city of Westminster section of London outside the entrance of EMI’s Abbey Road Studios

Passengers revolt and refuse to fly without a new pilot

by Jamie Rhein on

Last month, two passengers heading through airport security thought a pilot was drunk and called the authorities. Last May, a pilot was found drunk and naked in the woods. In this latest what-is-wrong-with-the-pilot episode, more than 100 passengers on a Boeing 767 jet bound for New York from Moscow signed a paper saying they thought the pilot was three sheets to the wind.

This happened after the pilot sounded inebriated when he slurred the preflight announcements. According to this article in The Moscow Times, when he switched to English, the passengers had enough and refused to allow Aeroflot Flight 315 to take off.

It didn’t matter one bit that the flight attendants told the passengers to “stop making trouble,” and if the passengers didn’t like it, they could get off the plane. The passengers called for reinforcement from Aeroflot’s home office, but the talking heads wouldn’t pay any attention to the passengers either–at least not until a Russian TV personality and socialite, who happened to be on the plane, stepped in.

Finally, the pilot, along with the other three pilots on board, were switched out so new pilots could get the passengers air bound.

As absurd as this story sounds, consider this. An Aeroflot representative later said that it wasn’t that big a deal if a pilot is drunk because the plane flies itself with a press of a button. Kent?