HistoryWeirdLarry Walters tied 42 weather balloons to his lawn chair and rose to 16,000 feet over Los Angeles.8779k11 years ago
EntertainmentMind-BlowingOutdatedShould there be a crash, Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane as a precaution.4492k15 years ago
ScienceMind-BlowingOutdatedToday's top fuel dragsters take off with more force than the space shuttle.2511k17 years ago
FoodInterestingThe average economy airline meal costs the airline $4-15. The average first class meal: $100 or more.861k17 years ago
PlacesInterestingThe distress code 'Mayday' comes from the French for help me, M'Aide!581k17 years ago
BodyMind-BlowingIn 1972, Vesna Vulović, a Serbian flight attendant, survived a fall of 33,330 feet when her plane exploded over Czechoslovakia. She held the Guinness World Record for the highest fall survived without a parachute until her death in 2016.476k11 years ago
PeopleWeirdOutdatedThere’s a company that provides private flights for individuals who want to join the “mile high club”. For $425.00 you get a 1 hour flight, chocolates, champagne, and a curtain.143k12 years ago
BodyWeirdFrench entertainer Michel Lotito ate an entire airplane piece by piece. It was a Cessna 150. He chewed through it over two years, swallowing bolts, the propeller, the seats, the wings. Across his career he consumed roughly nine tons of metal plus glass, batteries, and rubber tyres. Doctors said his stomach lining was twice the thickness of a normal person's.79091 month ago
TrendingHistoryInspiringA flock of Canada geese knocked out both engines of US Airways Flight 1549 roughly two minutes after takeoff. Captain Chesley Sullenberger had about three and a half minutes to save 155 lives. He landed on the Hudson River - and when NTSB later ran simulations with a realistic 35-second decision delay added, the return to LaGuardia crashed short of the runway. The river was the only choice. Every single person survived.18 days ago
HistoryMind-BlowingThe SR-71 Blackbird was built from titanium the CIA secretly bought from the Soviet Union - the very nation it was made to spy on. The airframe was 92% titanium, and the vast majority came from Soviet ore. The panels were fitted loose on purpose: on the tarmac the plane dripped fuel, and only Mach-3 friction heat expanded them tight. JP-7 fuel also doubled as a coolant, absorbing heat from the skin.23 minutes ago
HistoryWeirdIn 1971, a man named Dan Cooper hijacked a plane, extorted $200,000, parachuted into a stormy night, and vanished without a trace. The only clue ever found was $5,800 of the ransom, rotting on a riverbank years later.4 months ago
HistoryMind-BlowingIn 1990, the cockpit windshield of British Airways Flight 5390 blew out at 17,400 feet. The captain was sucked halfway out of the aircraft. A flight attendant grabbed his legs and held on for 20 minutes while the co-pilot made an emergency landing. Everyone survived. The cause? 84 of 90 windshield bolts were the wrong size.3 months ago
EntertainmentFunnyIn 1987, American Airlines sold a lifetime unlimited first-class pass for $250,000. Steven Rothstein bought one. He flew over 10,000 flights. Breakfast in London, dinner in Tokyo. He even booked a fake passenger named "Bag Rothstein" to keep the adjacent seat empty. American Airlines estimates he cost them over $21 million before they revoked his pass — and handed him the termination letter at the gate.3 months ago
EntertainmentFunnyUC Davis engineer David Phillips spotted a Healthy Choice promotion offering airline miles for pudding barcodes. He bought 12,150 cups for $3,140, earned 1.25 million frequent flyer miles, donated all the pudding to the Salvation Army, and claimed an $815 tax deduction. Adam Sandler's Punch-Drunk Love was based on him.2173 months ago