Unruly passenger opens United plane’s emergency exit, slides down wing

Flight 2478 from San Diego touched down at O’Hare International Airport about 4:30 a.m. and was taxiing to the gate when the man pulled the door off and stepped onto the wing, the airline told The Post.

“Our ground crew stopped the individual outside of the aircraft, and the person is now with law enforcement. The plane then arrived at the gate and all passengers deplaned safely,” a United rep said in an email.

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World's Largest Plane Pulls Off Its Latest Flight Test.

The biggest airplane ever built just flew over the Mojave desert for its fifth test flight, inching closer to fulfilling its role of carrying and releasing hypersonic vehicles.

Private aerospace company Stratolaunch tested the carrier aircraft on Wednesday and is currently analyzing the data gathered during the test flight, according to a company press release. It’s the fifth flight of the gigantic vehicle since tests started three years ago.

Roc, named after the giant bird in ancient Middle Eastern mythology, flew for a total of 4 hours and 58 minutes, reaching an altitude of 22,500 feet (6,858 meters). For this flight, the team behind the airplane tested out a new pylon on the plane’s center wing that’s designed to carry hypersonic vehicles into the air (hypersonic refers to vehicles or missiles capable of traveling faster than Mach 5). The pylon, which measures 14 feet (4.3 meters) in length, should eventually carry the company’s reusable hypersonic test aircraft, known as Talon-A.

Stratolaunch was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who died a year before Roc took off for the first time in 2019. When Stratolaunch was first established, the company’s initial goal was to fly the very large plane to a high altitude from where it would launch the Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket into space (similar to how Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo currently works). Following Allen’s death, however, Stratolaunch switched its focus to developing, deploying, and flying hypersonic vehicles instead, setting low Earth orbit aside....

Cheers.

TMZ releases video of car crash involving Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones

Video from a car’s dashboard shows a gray sedan traveling through a green light. The gray sedan appears to attempt to make a left turn from the right lane, and a dark sedan, which Jones was inside, T-boned the vehicle.

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No one was killed, but the bus driver isn't good.

At least 15 students injured, their driver pinned in North Carolina school bus crash.

Some can be lucky.

Pilot down, passenger takes over with 'no idea how to fly'.

Cheers.

Someone Stuffed a Honda Passport in a U-Haul With a Single Ratchet Strap

A state trooper stopped the driver when they saw the truck driving along State Route 97, just north of Okanogan, with an SUV hanging out of the back. Attempting to keep the Passport in the truck was nothing but a thick ratchet strap, which ultimately kept the rear tires from touching the ground and the SUV from falling out of the back and becoming an enormous safety hazard for other motorists.

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Full marks to the air traffic controller for his ability to talk a total novice onto the ground safely. He must be a shining star of an instructor.
I do hope the authorities manage to track the passenger and give him a suitable award. A winning team born of necessity :-)

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Should've had 3 shredded wheat
...and Bassetts for dessert as it really does take allsorts to make a world (sadly).

Well that serves the pair of the right, grounded.

Pilots who unsuccessfully attempted first-ever 'plane swap' have licenses revoked by FAA.

Cheers.

Will they try for a third time?
IBM's autonomous Mayflower ship breaks down in second transatlantic attempt

Human-free seafaring isn't going swimmingly

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Even professionals can get it wrong.

Ferreri driver Charles Leclerc crashes Nicki Lauda’s $1.7m car at Monaco.

Cheers.

Derailment leads to deadly crash. :-(

Train driver dies and dozens injured in crash near Barcelona.

Now's the time to get serious about crash test dummies.

Women almost twice as likely to be trapped in crashed vehicle, study finds

Women are almost twice as likely as men to become trapped in a motor vehicle after a crash and they also sustain different patterns of injury, data suggests.

The research – the first large UK study to compare sex differences in injury patterns and the likelihood of becoming trapped after a collision – could help vehicle manufacturers improve car design and safety features to reduce rates of injury in both sexes. It also strengthens calls for the inclusion of more biologically accurate crash test dummies in simulations of vehicle collisions, to investigate their impact on women.

edit] And your Tesla can be hacked and unlocked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdU4ksOc2w

Texas teen driver who survived viral tornado moment joins TxDOT seat belt campaign

He credits his seat belt for saving his life in the moment and will participate in a Texas Department of Transportation “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

He spoke at a TxDOT media event Monday at the Texas Capitol.

“It was a couple days after that I realized that thank God I wore my seat belt that day because if not, the accident could have been more tragic,” Leon said. “I probably wouldn’t be here at this moment without my seat belt. But thankfully, I wore it and I’m here.”

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There should be more to come on this.

Canadian Pacific freight train carrying potash derails in Alberta, no injuries reported.

If you're going to do something, you might as well go for maximum impact.

The crash occurred about 6am in northbound lanes near the Juliette Street off ramp on the motorway at Greenslopes.
....
There were delays until about 11am, when police said the roadway had been completely cleared.

Six people taken to hospital after 12-car pile-up on Pacific Motorway at Greenslopes

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Grant
Darwin NT

Stag Party on barge not a good idea.

All too regular an event during the summer months.
Stag/hen parties, graduation celebrations, family holidays, private boats, working boats etc. have all done this over the years. It only takes a few moments of inattention and the boat lands on the upper gate cill, tips up and very rapidly fills with water. Fortunately most such events just render possessions and people being soaked plus a ruined holiday.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Victims in Dallas County wrong-way crash included teacher, 1 and 2-year-old children

Wilmer TX police say at 11:44 p.m. the driver going northbound in the southbound lanes of I-45 ultimately crashed into 28-year-old ***, a husband and father of a baby girl. 

Wilmer police say they received a call from Ferris TX police about the driver only two minutes before the crash.

The 33-year-old woman who was driving the wrong way, also died in the crash, along with two children with her: 2-year-old *** and 1-year-old ***. The child appeared to be unrestrained at the time of the crash.

Gonzales said that the driver's headlights were on, but Wilmer police say witnesses told them that just before the crash her headlights were off.

Nepal plane missing with 22 people on board.

A plane operated by a private airline in Nepal went missing on Sunday with 22 people on board, airline and government officials told Reuters.

The small plane was flying from the tourist town of Pokhara, some 200 km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu, to Jomsom, about 80 km to the northwest, they said. It is operated by Tara Air which mainly flies Canadian-built Twin Otter planes.

An airline official said the plane was carrying four Indians and two other foreigners, though their nationality was not known.

Nepal, home to the world's highest mountain, does have a record of accidents on its extensive domestic air network, with changeable weather and airstrips in difficult mountain locations.

From air to water.

Boats collide on Georgia river, 2 dead, 3 missing.

Two people have died and three others are missing after two motorboats collided Saturday on a river in coastal Georgia at the start of the long holiday weekend, authorities said.

At least four other passengers suffered minor injuries and one other person was reported airlifted by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter for medical attention. The condition of that person wasn't immediately disclosed.

Authorities told The Savannah Morning News that one of the boats was carrying six people and the other had three aboard when they collided around 10:30 am on the Wilmington River.

A Chatham Emergency Services spokesperson who released details of the collision said a search was underway Saturday afternoon for the missing. Chatham County Police Department officials closed a stretch of the river to investigate and search for the missing. The names of those involved were not immediately made public and specifics of the crash and search operation were not disclosed.

The incident is the second involving a boat and serious injuries on the Wilmington River this month. A local businessman was killed May 5 when a boat he was aboard struck an unlit channel marker near the Savannah Yacht Club and he was struck on the head by an unknown object, authorities said.

Saturday was the start of the three-day Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest of the year for recreational boaters.

More to come on both incidents.