Each week, Benet Wilson from AviationWeek posts some of the craziest aviation news out there. Here are three examples of the stories she found this week:
Drunk pilot, part one. Air India can’t seem to catch a break. First it had to deal with two pilots allegedly molesting a flight attendant. And now it has to deal with a pilot preparing to fly from Mumbai to New York failing a pre-flight breathalyzer test, reports The Australian.
Drunk pilots, part two. Pilots in India who show up drunk on the job usually don’t face serious penalties, reports India Today. A shortage of experienced pilots cause airlines to turn a blind eye to alcoholic infractions, it added.
I hope it was at least good beer! A 23 year old passenger on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Fort McMurray, Alberta, caused the flight to be diverted. Why? He had stolen a beer from the beverage cart and tried to hide the evidence by flushing the can down the toilet, reports The Standard. The flight diverted to Kelowna and arrived 75 minutes late.
Retro is so awesome. Southwest Airlines is well known for their sparkling personality, and it was no difference in the past! This video was created in 1986 as a reaction to the Chicago Bears’ Superbowl Shuffle. It was once featured on the CBS program 60mins and it was also used as an orientation tool for new hires. I really think they should do a re-make with their rapping flight attendant.
I don’t think anyone really wants to give birth on a plane. However 31-year-old Liew Siaw Hsia gave birth to her child while on AirAsia flight AK 6506 this Wednesday. The airline made an emergency landing, but the kid didn’t want to wait. The baby was delivered by a doctor on board and at about 2,000 feet.
Not only did the mother arrive with a new baby, she also arrived with free flights for life! “To celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to present both mother and child with free flights for life,” said AirAsia’s director of operations Moses Devanayagam after visiting them in hospital.
This is great publicity for the airline and a wonderful story to tell the child when he grows up!
A man tried to use an in-flight knife to hijack EgyptAir flight 736 from Istanbul Turkey to Cairo. 30 minutes into the flight the man used his knife to threaten a flight attendant. The hijacker demanded the flight be diverted to Jerusalem. Luckily there were air marshals aboard who were able to detain the man. The 26-year-old said he wanted to “liberate” Jerusalem, a security official at Cairo airport told AFP.
The Boeing 737 landed on-time and all 87 passengers and 8 crew safely landed unharmed in Cairo.
Often, it has been joked about how airline security can be so tight, yet airlines provide knives on board. However, I doubt the people on the flight would have been in any real danger against a plastic knife. However, this is a great reminder on how Air Marshals can come in very handy.
Last December we reported on a Go! Airlines flight where the pilots fell asleep and missed the airport. Today a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 flight missed their destination of Minneapolis by 150 miles.
The flight crew said they became engrossed in a conversation about airline policy (and honestly, who couldn’t?) and lost track of their location. However, the FAA is investigating if pilot fatigue played any roll in this event.
The flight from San Diego to Minneapolis had 144 passengers onboard and none of them were aware of what happened, until the aircraft was swarmed by police once they finally arrived. The police kept all passengers onboard until they were allowed to question the flight crew.
The FAA lost contact with the aircraft while it was traveling at 37,000 feet and they notified the Air National Guard, who then put two fighter jets on alert. They were never given the order to take off.
Andrea Allmon, a passenger who had been traveling from San Diego on business, stated, “When I do my job, I do my job. These guys are supposed to be paying attention to the flight. The safety of the passengers should be first and foremost. (It’s) unbelievable to me that they weren’t paying attention. Just not paying attention.”
She is right. No matter if they were awake having a heated debate, they should have still been paying attention to their flight and of course the radio. The FAA is investigating the incident and the two pilots have been suspended from flying. Hopefully it is not found that the pilots fell asleep during flight.
