We’ve all heard about Snakes on a Plane, the movie starring Samuel L. Jackson. Call this one Scorpions on a Plane: A man bound for Indianapolis was stung by a venomous scorpion that he stowed away in his carry-on luggage.
The toxic Arizona bark scorpion and five babies were killed after [Southwest] Flight 2093 from Phoenix landed at Indianapolis International Airport at 12:10 a.m., said Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis. The 44-year-old passenger was not seriously injured, but the jetliner was fumigated overnight.
Pilot recalls ‘massive gust of wind’ before crash
Pilot David Butler noticed the blustery winds while he waited for takeoff clearance at Denver International Airport last December. Now, aviation experts are saying that the powerful crosswind most probably played a part in the crash of Continental Airlines flight 1404.
The [National Transportation Safety B]oard hasn’t yet reached a conclusion on what likely caused the crash, but aviation safety experts have suggested that a powerful crosswind may have weather-vaned the plane. That’s a phenomenon in which wind pushes an airliner’s tail hard enough to swing its nose into the wind, like a weather vane. The 737 is shorter than many airliners, making its rudder larger relative to the rest of the plane, experts said.
The weird requests of rich hotel guests
Just because you’re rich, you think you can have whatever you want, including requests to hotel staff that leave them shaking their heads.
The Web site of Great Hotels of the World, an alliance of luxury hotels, has just published a list it politely calls “Most Unusual Guest Requests.”
Among them:
Turn Down the Ocean: A guest at Spain’s Gran Hotel Elba Estepona & Thalasso Spa found the sound of the sea so irritating he actually asked hotel staff if they could stop it.
This Bed’s Too High: A guest at the Hotel Puente Romano thought his bed was too high so requested that the feet be cut off in order to make it a more comfortable height. The hotel refused.
