Man In Space
Way back in 1982, Larry Walters, a truck driver from Los Angeles, built a homemade airship out of a patio chair tied to 45 helium weather balloons. His survival kit included sandwiches, a radio communicator, beer and a pellet gun to shoot down balloons so he could descend back to earth. Talk about Pixar’s Up in real life!
Not anticipating the success of the machine, Walters, who had intended to hover a few metres above ground level, reached an altitude of more than 4,500 metres! He encroached into controlled airspace above Los Angeles International Airport, causing havoc and becoming the cause for delayed flights for hours.
For The Love Of Jodhpur’s Kachoris
Captain Smriti Trehan’s craving for Jodhpur’s famous onion kachoris ended up delaying an Air India flight! Trehan was originally scheduled to fly a 12 PM Mumbai-Jodhpur-Delhi flight, but her schedule was changed, assigning her instead to a 2 PM direct Mumbai-Delhi flight with no stopover in Jodhpur.
However, Trehan had already arranged for some delicious onion kachoris to be delivered to her at Jodhpur airport during the stopover. Unwilling to miss out on her treat, she ignored the reschedule and went ahead with the original 12 PM flight. This left the 2 PM flight without a pilot, and it took airport officials some time to find a replacement, being the cause of one-hour delay of the flight.
Operation Earplugs
A plane taxing out onto the runway was delayed because a passenger had lodged his earplugs so deep into his ears, he couldn’t retrieve them! Afraid that the air pressure would make things worse and cause permanent damage, the captain came out with his personal tweezers and performed a successful operation, which caused a 90 minute delay.
Lavatory Surprise
An Istanbul-New York Delta Air Lines flight was diverted to Dublin, Ireland, last year after flight staff discovered what they thought was a bomb in the lavatory. It turned out to be an innocent mobile phone that a passenger had tried to charge using the shaving socket in the aircraft’s lavatory.
Snakes On A Plane
What can be scarier than facing your worst fear? Two flights were cancelled in Australia in 2009 after four out of a dozen Stimson’s pythons went missing from the cargo hold.
These pythons were being transported from Alice Springs to Melbourne, but when the flight landed, four of the twelve snakes were missing. Despite an extensive search, the pythons were never recovered. Mmm, strange?
Puppies On The Run
New York’s La Guardia Airport saw a high speed chase in April 2011, when a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy broke free while being loaded onto a plane. Ground staff frantically chased the puppy on the tarmac, which delayed three flights, before it was captured and loaded back onto the plane.
Jumping Jackpots
Leaving Las Vegas, a passenger who had checked in his bags, hit the jackpot at a slot machine while waiting for his flight to board. The passenger, understandably, refused to leave his $350,000 win, so the airline had to search and remove his luggage, delaying the flight considerably. The passenger meanwhile, who was the reason for the flight delay, stayed behind to celebrate his win, wohoo!
Something Fishy
Copenhagen saw a Lufthansa flight land at the airport for a bizarre reason, a smelly carpet! An Airbus A320-200 took off from Stockholm for Frankfurt, but had to land in Copenhagen when passengers complained of a strong odour aboard the flight.
Crew members opted to divert and had the 129 passengers disembark, and rebooked on other flights. Maintenance staff later discovered the smell to have originated from a recently installed carpet.
Spider Mom
Air traffic controllers at Kansas city airport were evacuated and moved when three of the staff were bitten by spiders. Exterminators discovered that a spider’s nest egg had hatched, releasing anywhere from 400 to more than a thousand baby spiders. Flights were delayed, but passengers were safe.
“Where Are My PJs?”
A couple in the first class compartment of a Qantas plane caused an uproar when they discovered that first class had run out of designer XL pyjamas. When the couple refused to accept business class PJs, flight staff opted to turn back and offload the couple. Passengers on board were concerned about the return, but when the captain announced the reason, all they could do was laugh!
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