Weird news - Carrying a snake on a plane

How many of you would have seen the movie, 'Snakes on a plane' ? Well, it wasn't so good, but you can imagine the prospect of sitting in a completely closed tube, and suddenly a snake starts slithering around and you could be bitten at any minute. Sounds scary and weird right ? Well consider that it was just a mistake, that a passenger accidentally packed a snake into their bag, but it seems dangerous. In this case, the snake was non-venomous, but it could very well have been a deadly snake that managed to make its way into the bag. Equally dangerous was the fact that the plane was going to Hawaii, and snakes are very dangerous for Hawaii since snakes do not have any natural predators on the islands, and the snakes can cause havoc on the island. Fortunately, the snake was detected and caught (link to article):

A small snake managed to get a free trip to Hawaii - by hiding in a passenger's bag. According to the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the juvenile snake was found in slithering out of a traveller's bag after he showed up at his rental in Maui on Monday night. The man had apparently not realised that he was carrying a stowaway, until the owner of the rental spotted the serpent. The snake had presumably slithered into his luggage in Florida. Snakes are illegal in Hawaii. As they have no natural predators on the archipelago, they pose a serious threat to the wildlife and environment

Weird news: Bees attack aircraft, prevent delays

Well, not in the type shown in horror films where a supposed swarm of killer bees would attack the aircraft and through whatever means, get inside the aircraft and attack the passengers, biting many to death. More of a kind where it was not safe for the plane to take off with so many bees all around. If a bee got into the plane, it would be unsafe, similarly, if a bee got into the wiring or anything like that, it would be unsafe. As a result, the flight had to be delayed until the bees were removed and there was no threat to either the passengers or the flight because of the bees (link to article):

The bees flew from under a wing, some attached themselves to the wing, while others covered windows of the Airbus-319. Two ambulances were called to the plane amid fears that the bees might get inside the cabin. Airport staff then 'efficiently and quickly' removed the bees from the plane's fuselage, 'metro.co.uk' reported. The flight was delayed by slightly under an hour. It is not the first time bees have caused problems for an aircraft.

Weird news: 2 year old has cardiac arrest on a plane

A heart attack or any kind of cardiac problem is a matter of great distress to the affected person as well as to relatives and friends, but it is even more problematic when this happens in a kid. The incidence of heart problems is much lower in children, unless they are born with some of those problems, but yet, it is painful to see children in such a state. This is even more problematic when an incidence such as cardiac arrest happens on a plane, where there may not be the required specialized equipment or medical personnel; in such cases, one can only hope that things become better soon (link to article):

Authorities say a 2-year-old reported in cardiac arrest on a JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to Boston was rushed to a hospital after landing at Logan International Airport. Massachusetts State Police Trooper Matthew Guarino says an ambulance met Flight 1786 about 5:40 p.m. Thursday after the pilot reported the medical emergency. Emergency responders blocked road intersections to rush the child to Massachusetts General Hospital. A state trooper drove the child's father and brother to the hospital.

Weird news - Man drives plane to pub, police go nuts

Going to the pub is a common place enough occurrence. After all, you drive to the pub, park, and then go inside and enjoy. Nothing spectacular in that, right ? But how can such a simple event become more complicated ? Well, one way is to change the mode of transport; and how better to make a splash than come toddling along in a plane, park it outside and go inside. This is known as making a splashy entrance. And when the police arrive, they were a bit puzzled. They knew that something was wrong and they will charge the plane driver, but the exact law or penalty that was to be applied to him was not clear. Finally, it seemed that the police found something; the fuel supply to the plane was visible and not adequately safe, and that is what they charged him with (link to article):

A man who taxied his light plane down a main street in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and parked it outside a pub is expected to be charged. Newman police sergeant Mark McKenzie said the plane had its propeller running, its wings removed and was being steered by foot pedals on Friday. The man parked the plane outside the Newman Hotel and was then interviewed by police.

So, they wanted to charge the man, especially since he left the engine running when he was inside the pub.

Weird news - Man gets kicked off plane for taking photos

Nowadays security on planes is getting very strict. When people make a nuisance of themselves on planes, there have been recent cases where the captain of the plane has deplaned them, and there has never been any action against the crew of such planes, even when there has been a lot of hue and cry about the actions of the crew. This has positively gone up manifold since the events of 9/11, and at this point, with the security situation as it is, you could just make a joke on a plane and if somebody misreads the joke, then you could be pointed out as a security concern, and would be evicted from the flight.
Consider this case, whereby an avid airline blogger and photo enthusiast was taking some photos on a flight. It was standard policy that nobody should take photos on the plane, but this was one of those policies that were there on the list and nobody followed, and in most cases, the crew on the flight would not have insisted. However, in this specific case, when the person was taking a photo, the crew objected and he stopped taking flights. However, later he did point out to the crew member that he was not a terrorist and used to take such photos for the blog earlier; and apparently this was enough for the crew to decide that they did not want him on the flight, and got him evicted (link to article):

I looked at the FA, smiled, but said nothing, putting my iPhone away. To be clear, I did not take any more pictures—not a single one. Meanwhile, another passenger was taking pictures behind the curtain and the FA ran over to him and demanded that he stop as well. This passenger had a lively discussion with the FA, though I did not hear the resolution. Naturally, the FA's warning bothered me and I felt the need to explain myself. I signaled for her to come back and asked her to hang my coat. I then said this verbatim— "I want you to understand why I was taking pictures. I hope you didn't think I was a terrorist. Here is my business card [offering her one]. I write about United Airlines on an almost-daily basis and the folks at United in Chicago are even aware of my blog." She took my jacket but refused to take my business card saying, "No, that's okay," then saying, "I did not know that" after I explained my reason for taking pictures. I again emphasize, I took no more pictures.

Weird news - Plane has to make an emergency landing after a man drinks poison

There are a lot of weird people, or people with tendencies that seem odd to others. However, as long as it does not affect us, we could not care less. We start getting involved when we see such problems starting to impact us. Consider the case of a plane journey where people are heading off for a 2-3 hour trip. People are normally in a hurry, and expect that they will reach their destination at the expected time, and a lot of schedules can get impacted if the plane travel does not happen on time (link to article):

A Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight made an emergency landing at Chaudhary Charan Singh airport in Lucknow on Thursday after a passenger allegedly consumed poison on board, police said.
Sumit Rajak, who consumed poison, was rushed to a private hospital after the Kolkata-Delhi SpiceJet flight made an emergency landing.
"After being alerted by the pilot about the medical emergency, arrangements were made for the emergency landing," airport director A.K. Dixit told reporters.

Weird laws of Alaska - Read and enjoy

Each and every state has its collections of weird laws, so here are some from Alaska. As long as you not impacted, it is fine; but if you have ever been affected by any of these, please do reply.

Here goes:
A moose may not be viewed from an airplane. (not sure of what to do when you do see one)
It is considered an offense to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose. (why waste perfectly good booze)
It is considered an offense to push a live moose out of a moving airplane. (this should be a law against any animal, why specifically the moose)
No one may tie their pet dog to the roof of a car. (Animal cruelty, so a good law, but does that mean that you can tie your pet cat?)
Persons may not allow "attractive nuisances" to exist.
No child allowed to build a snowman taller than the child on school grounds
No Huskies allowed inside school buildings.
Stealing snow from a neighbours garden to make a snowman is against the law. Using it for an igloo is acceptable. (Igloo is a place of residence, so maybe that is why)
Persons may not live in a trailer as it is being hauled across the city. (you can crawl on top of the vehicle as long as the trailer is in the city)
It is illegal to throw a grenade on the street. (There goes my plan for getting the street made again)
Intentionally avoiding walking on the cracks in the pavement is illegal. (How do you prove such an act)
A person may only carry a concealed slingshot if that person has received the appropriate license. (ouch, there goes my collection of slingshots and paper knives)
Employers of bars may not let their bartenders serve while they are drunk themselves.
While it is legal to shoot bears, waking a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a photograph is prohibited. (Must be a part of the law that prevents suicide)
Juneau - Owners of flamingos may not let their pet into barber shops. (or any other pets)
Nome - One may not roam the city with a bow and arrows.
Fairbanks - Moose should not have sex on the sidewalks (good, else you would have to explain sex education to your children even when they are young)
Fairbanks - You cannot tie your horse to city streets, but dog sleds are fine (public pressure by the dog sled owners association ?)

Air France disaster hoax fools Bolivian TV

The Air France disaster over the Atlantic Ocean in July was a mystery, with investigators unable to find a lot of wreckage, were only able to find 51 bodies overall (most of them were lost to the sea), and unable to find the black boxes that would be able to help them figure out what actually went on. Right now, the most investigators have been able to do is to use a series of automated messages that the plane sent out over a 2 minute minute, and speculate over what went wrong. They seem to have determined that the crash happened because the speed detectors on the plane threw wrong information, and hence caused the plane to go into a spin.
However, as with any such disaster, there are a lot of people who try to make some mileage out of this tragedy, or spin some new stories. One of these is a hoax about a camera being found in the wreckage, that apparently caught a few shots as the plane went down. One Bolivian TV channel apparently got caught in this hoax and showed this on the TV (link to article):

Bolivian TV channel PAT has been left looking a bit daft after broadcasting extraordinary images of the last moments of Air France flight 447, lost over the Atlantic on 1 June.
In fact, the camera can be traced to ABC Studios and sharp-eyed readers will notice that the photographs feature well-known actress Evangeline Lilly, aka Kate Austen from TV series Lost.

Man steals a plane from Canada and lands it in the US

You would have heard of somebody stealing stuff from houses and running away undetected, or maybe even stealing a car and eventually getting caught. In some cases, you see those chases on TV where a criminal or a suspect is being chased by police, and either the criminal gets away, or police catches the person. But have you ever thought of a case where a person steals a huge plane, and then runs away ? There is no airborne police to catch such a person - so how do you catch such a person ? Well, in these times, when a plane is a security risk if in the wrong hands, you catch such a person through using fighter jets (link to article):

A pilot stole a plane in Canada on Monday afternoon and, with American jet fighters in pursuit, flew it all the way to Missouri before landing on a road, the authorities said. The single-engine, four-seat Cessna, stolen in Thunder Bay, Ontario, about 2:30 p.m., was intercepted by fighter jets over Wisconsin, where it prompted the evacuation of the State Capitol.
It kept flying south after the pilot failed to respond to radio calls and other signals. The pilot finally landed the plane on a road in Ellsinore, in southeastern Missouri, said Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

How easy it to steal a plane ? This is not a cellphone or some other small item that can be easily stolen; this is a plane that caused the damage in the WTC attacks and when fully loaded with fuel, can cause large damage (even if a small plane).