Travel News
Icarus Award: Guns, Bats, Bathrooms & a Heart-Attack Sandwich
The Fall of Icarus Statue at the University of Kansas - photo credit: Flickr user Kansas Poetry(Patrick)
The results of the A-List Icarus votes are in and Darius Miles, the NBA player who went through security with a loaded gun, was the resounding winner.
With 34.4 percent of the votes, he beat out fellow nominee Lindsay Lohan by a full 10 points, proving that when it comes to winning Icarus, crime pays.
This week we have five new Icarus nominees, including a Miles copy-cat crime. See this week’s Icarus nominees, judge for yourself, and vote in the poll below…
Locked and Loaded Playboy Bunny
Former Playboy Playmate Shanna McLaughlin must have been trying to get some of Darius Miles’ Icarus-winning glory. On Monday night McLaughlin was arrested at Orlando International Airport for trying to board a plane with a concealed weapon. The Playmate-turned-Florida-graduate student was en route to Los Angeles for a photo shoot when a TSA agent noticed a handgun in her bag as she was passing through security. Upon being questioned, McLaughlin informed the agent that it was her boyfriend’s gun, a Ruger SAA .45 Colt, loaded with hollow point bullets. Despite the fact McLaughlin forgot she was carrying the gun, she did mention that she had a license to carry a concealed weapon. Nevertheless, McLaughlin was taken to jail on a misdemeanor, and has since been released.
Mile-High Club
Last week a Chinese newspaper released photographs a Cathay Pacific pilot and a stewardess having an amorous moment in the cockpit. As cartoonish recreations of the photos spread throughout the Internet, Cathay Pacific Airways launched their own investigation. The company released a statement that it was their crew engaging in the lewd acts, but found no evidence to suggest that the incidents happened on their flights while airborne. As reports continue to be filed and airline regulators investigate, the two crew members were fired. Cathay Pacific CEO John Slosar, said, “I am satisfied that the actions we have taken are the right ones and that the lessons learned will make all of us in the company even more conscious of our responsibilities under our own Code of Conduct and the privacy provisions of Hong Kong law.”
Come Fly the Winged Skies
A bat stowed away on Delta Flight 5121 from Madison, Wisconsin to Atlanta, Georgia. Last Friday an “unidentified winged creature” was caught on tape flying up and down the aisle of the regional jet that was operated by Delta partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Eventually, the bat flew toward the back of the plane and into the lavatory, where a passenger trapped the bat for the duration of the flight. Upon landing, as staffers were attempting to remove the bat from the lavatory, it broke free again and flew into the terminal. Eventually a maintenance worker was able to lure the bat out a door and into freedom.
Baby or Bathroom?
U.S Ski Team member Robert Vietze was caught urinating on a sleeping 11-year-old girl on a recent JetBlue red-eye flight from Portland, Oregon to John F. Kennedy airport. According to police reports, 18-year-old Vietze was intoxicated after consuming eight drinks. En route to the bathroom, he started urinating on the girl. Vietze told law enforcement, “I was drunk, and I did not realize I was pissing on her leg.” Crew members separated Vietze from the girl and her family and did their best to help clean up the child. Port Authority cops greeted the plane and put Vietze into custody. Vietze has been issued a federal summons for indecent exposure.
Heart-Attack Sandwich
Health nuts always like to claim that sandwiches and sodas will cause heart attacks, but it almost seems like the crew on Ryanair think they can also be the cure. On a recent flight from the U.K. to Sweden, a 63-year-old passenger had a cardiac episode. While his stepdaughter, a nurse, was able to stabilize him, the Ryanair crew offered him a sandwich and a soda, claiming that the situation was caused by low blood sugar. Later, the crew came back to charge him for the sandwich and soda. In a statement to the UK press, Ryanair defended their crew who they believe acted appropriately. To add insult to injury, after making an emergency landing for the sick passenger, an ambulance was not waiting and he had to be driven to the nearest hospital.
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By Lily J. Kosner for PeterGreenberg.com. Top photo via Flickr user Kansas Poetry (Patrick).
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