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Strangeness At Altitude (Planes, Aircraft & Balloons)

AnonyJ

AnonyJ

Captainess Sensible
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I thought I'd inaugurate this thread as a home for plane/aircraft/high-flying oddness and strange stories in the news.

I'm kicking off with a emergency landing made today on the main A40 road near Cheltenham as reported on https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-66468326

A light aircraft has made a forced landing on a main commuter road in Gloucestershire after a suspected engine failure.
Emergency services are at the scene on the A40 Golden Valley close to the village of Churchdown, near Cheltenham.
Gloucestershire Police are in attendance and confirmed the plane came down shortly before 18:00 BST.
A spokesperson for the force said: "No-one was injured and it is understood that no other vehicles were involved."
It is understood people got out of the aircraft and made it to safety....

Somehow the pilot managed to land on the central reservation of the dual carriageway at the tail end of rush hour!

For some reason the embedded Twitter media player is not appearing but a video is at the link :)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1689688596544909317
 
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Two crew flying a Mig-23 aircraft in an air show in Michigan, USA, eject safely before their craft crashes in an explosion near an apartment building with (thankfully) no injuries reported, caught on video!

From: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66469620

Two people aboard a Soviet-era warplane ejected to safety just before it crashed and "burst into a raging fireball" during a Michigan air show, officials said.
The pilot and passenger sitting tandem in the MiG-23 jet were operating the plane as part of the Thunder Over Michigan air show on Sunday.
Parachutes carried them safely to the ground, where they were then sent to the hospital out of precaution.
There have been no reported injuries.
The crash occurred shortly after 16:00 ET (21:00 BST) on Sunday in Belleville, Michigan, during the Yankee Air Museum's Thunder over Michigan air show, according to a Wayne County Airport Authority statement.....

 
Mystery surrounds the failure of air traffic control systems affecting UK airports - no definitive reason has yet been found although some news reports cite a possible data entry error by French Air Traffic Services.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66644369

...The air traffic control issue that led to widespread disruption to UK air travel was not caused by a cyber-attack, the UK government has said.
More than a quarter of all UK flights were axed on Monday after a fault with National Air Traffic Services.
Delays and cancellations are continuing on Tuesday, as passengers scramble to get on flights.
The PM's official spokesperson said the incident will be investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority.
"The information we have is that there was not a cyber-attack," they added...
 
This was on American news and according to UK airplane control, a French plane enter a nonsensical flight plan that instead of being rejected, it crashed the system.

The French did it.

Is this really logical as a explanations ?
 
charliebrown said:
This was on American news and according to UK airplane control, a French plane enter a nonsensical flight plan that instead of being rejected, it crashed the system.

The French did it.

Is this really logical as a explanations ?
Click to expand...
There's a certain logic to it, but it has the implication that the French are using some very poor software that doesn't do any validation of a data entry, or handle an incorrect data entry in an intelligent manner. It might be a pretty old system that needs updating.
 
AnonyJ said:
Two crew flying a Mig-23 aircraft in an air show in Michigan, USA, eject safely before their craft crashes in an explosion near an apartment building with (thankfully) no injuries reported, caught on video!

From: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66469620

Two people aboard a Soviet-era warplane ejected to safety just before it crashed and "burst into a raging fireball" during a Michigan air show, officials said.
The pilot and passenger sitting tandem in the MiG-23 jet were operating the plane as part of the Thunder Over Michigan air show on Sunday.
Parachutes carried them safely to the ground, where they were then sent to the hospital out of precaution.
There have been no reported injuries.
The crash occurred shortly after 16:00 ET (21:00 BST) on Sunday in Belleville, Michigan, during the Yankee Air Museum's Thunder over Michigan air show, according to a Wayne County Airport Authority statement.....
Click to expand...

Preliminary Investigation Report For MiG-23UB Crash In Michigan​

https://theaviationist.com/2023/08/25/ntsb-report-mig23-crash/

maximus otter
 
DJ Dan Pearce, AKA DJ Eats Everything(!) plays a 45 minute set hundreds of feet up between Bath and Bristol in a hot air balloon.

_131104157_img_3298.jpg.webp

[photo credit: Eats Everything]

From: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/eats-everything-djs-hot-air-201401203.html

"...Eats Everything, whose real name is Dan Pearce, performed for 45-minutes up in the air to mark the release of his new single.
The Bristol-based DJ and music producer is known for playing in unusual places, including an ice cream van, a chip shop, a gondola and a bakery.
He said: "I think I may just have outdone myself with a hot balloon ride."
The DJ was approached by The Hot Air Balloon Company who asked if he wanted to try DJing in one of their balloons.
Mr Pearce said it was an opportunity to do something a bit different because the track is "not such a club banger" as his other releases..."
 
When I read the title of the thread, I thought it meant people freaking out while the plane was in flight. I guess there's a thread for that....
 
AnonyJ said:
I have a goodly selection of such headwear! Shall I choose the Dweeb Trilby, Pedant's Panama or Student Sombrero... :)
Click to expand...

I tend to go with the Nitpickers Titfer.
 
Man arrives at Los Angeles International Airport minus a passport, visa, ticket or reservation. He can't remember how or why he got there!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ne...d-can-t-remember-how-he-got-there/ar-AA1lny6m

"...Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, a Russian-Israeli dual national, departed Copenhagen on a Scandinavian Airlines flight and landed at Los Angeles International Airport on 4 November without any identification or a boarding pass, according to court documents.

In a further twist, officers at a customs and border check in California discovered he wasn’t listed on the passenger manifest for the flight from Denmark – or any other flights into the States.

The report into the incident states that “most” of the flight crew noticed Mr Ochigava because he “wandered around the plane and kept changing his seat”. He also asked for two meals during each meal service, and “at one point attempted to eat the chocolate that belonged to members of the cabin crew”.

Crew members did not see his boarding pass and noted that the seat he first took during boarding was supposed to be an unoccupied seat.

“Some members of the crew conducted head counts for their specific sections, but only to make sure that the aircraft was balanced for take-off and landing. They did not tally the numbers up,” the report stated. How the passenger was able to make it from Denmark to the US is being investigated by the FBI, with an agent confirming that the suspect – who has been charged with stowing away on an aircraft – is being held in custody, reports Fox News.

The agent who filed the complaint, Caroline Walling, wrote that Mr Ochigava claimed “he had not been sleeping for three days and did not understand what was going on.”

He “stated he might have had a plane ticket to come to the United States but he was not sure”, and “did not remember how he got on the plane in Copenhagen”.

He also was unable to recall how he got through security at the Danish airport, she added..."
 
Mythopoeika said:
Oh dear, it's another 'Man from Taured'.
Click to expand...

Oooh oh oh can I write another article?

The chap does have a similarly complex name to the MFT!

Mr Ochigava has been charged with 'stowing away' - although it sounds as if he did it in plain full view!

From: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/stowaway-flight-suspected-russian-copenhagen-lax/index.html

" A man has been indicted for being a stowaway on a flight from Copenhagen, Denmark, to LAX on November 4, according to court documents obtained by CNN.

Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, believed to be a Russian citizen, has been charged with being a “Stowaway on Aircraft.”
According the complaint, Ochigava arrived at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport and “gave false and misleading information about his travel to the United States, including initially telling CBP that he left his passport on the airplane,” according to the complaint.

CBP officers were unable to find Ochigava’s name on the flight manifest for the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight or any other international incoming flight, according to the complaint, which says Ochigava didn’t have a passport or visa to enter the United States.

Ochigava pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in the US District Court Central District of California on December 5, according to court documents. He is being housed in federal prison at MCD Los Angeles, according to inmate records..."
 
An unscheduled landing in south Yorkshire! He managed to land on a tent-like structure storing road grit salt and avoided serious injury.

https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/31/paraglider-a-lucky-escape-lands-roof-parachute-failure-20563730

"A paraglider in his sixties had a lucky escape after his parachute failed and he was forced to make an emergency landing on a ‘springy’ Sheffield roof.

The man had taken off in Derbyshire and made the makeshift landing in Sheffield, more 20 miles away.

He had managed to land on a ‘soft and flexible roof structure’, which cushioned his fall, YorkshireLive reports. ..."
 
A load of hot air?

42 Balloons: New musical follows man who flew over LA in a garden chair.​

​


Larry Walters (left) and Alan King on the ABC TV special America's Funniest Foul-Ups in 1984

"Lawnchair" Larry Walters (left) with TV host Alan King on America's Funniest Foul-Ups in 1984

In 1982, a truck driver made headlines when he tied 42 helium balloons to a garden chair and flew over part of Los Angeles. A new stage musical reclaims him as a hero, although questions remain over his story's tragic ending.

In the aftermath of his unconventional voyage, Larry Walters assured the American public he wasn't actually a crackpot who had risked life and limb with a hare-brained scheme that was dreamed up on a whim.

Larry ended up soaring much higher than expected, losing a pair of glasses overboard as he shot up to 16,000ft (4,880m). Two commercial aircraft reported sightings to air traffic control.

After shooting out seven balloons, he accidentally dropped the gun before the remaining balloons started to deflate and he landed unharmed after about 45 minutes.

Larry's initial fame may not have lasted much longer than his flight, but his exploits have continued to hold an unlikely fascination for four decades.

Larry's death came at the age of 44 in 1993, 11 years after his flight.

At the time, his mother told US media that he shot himself in the heart after hiking to his favourite spot in the Angeles National Forest. It was widely accepted to have been a suicide. That's the storyline in the show.

New evidence?​

However, his mother now believes that there were suspicious circumstances. There were drug smugglers in the area, and Larry was found with the gun in his right hand, whereas he was left-handed, she said.

In the same article, Larry's sister dismissed the suggestion of foul play.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68811305
 
Floyd said:
However, his mother now believes that there were suspicious circumstances. There were drug smugglers in the area, and Larry was found with the gun in his right hand, whereas he was left-handed, she said.

In the same article, Larry's sister dismissed the suggestion of foul play.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68811305
Click to expand...
I should think it would be quite difficult to shoot oneself in the heart with the left hand.
 
Floyd said:
Larry's death came at the age of 44 in 1993, 11 years after his flight.

At the time, his mother told US media that he shot himself in the heart after hiking to his favourite spot in the Angeles National Forest. It was widely accepted to have been a suicide. That's the storyline in the show.

New evidence?​

However, his mother now believes that there were suspicious circumstances. There were drug smugglers in the area, and Larry was found with the gun in his right hand, whereas he was left-handed, she said.

In the same article, Larry's sister dismissed the suggestion of foul play.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68811305
Click to expand...

“…the attention didn’t bring enduring happiness. Walters and his girlfriend of 15 years, who had helped him pay for his adventure, ended their relationship. His speaking career fizzled, and he worked only sporadically as a security guard. He sought solace by reading the Bible and walking in the San Gabriel Mountains, where he worked as a volunteer for the U.S. Forest Service. “It seemed like Larry came to the mountains because he was disappointed with the way his life was going,” says his friend Joyce Rios, a fellow volunteer ranger.

On Oct. 6, unable to deal with the world he had briefly delighted, Walters, 44, hiked to a favorite spot in the Angeles National Forest and ended his life with a single bullet through the heart.

Although Walters did not write a suicide note, he had left a Bible with several passages marked at Dunham’s house in Mission Viejo, just before his death. Among them was John 16:32: “Indeed the hour is coming…each to his own, and will leave me alone. And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20180702122112/https://people.com/archive/crash-landing-vol-40-no-24/

maximus otter
 
'Drug smugglers in the area' sounds like the kind of deus ex machina that gets dusted off fairly regularly in the context of violent death / unexplained motive. It's not impossible, of course - but it's too easy a catch all to be taken at face value without some sort of supporting evidence.

As to the difficulty of shooting yourself in the heart: I suppose it would depend on the firearm used, but I reckon a handgun - certainly a short barrelled one - would do fine used in the regular way; you can, of course, shoot yourself in the heart from an angle - the barrel would not need to be perpendicular to the area of the heart. It may also be that you simply reverse the handgun and use the thumb to pull the trigger - awkward, I dare say, but that might do the job.
 
Spookdaddy said:
'Drug smugglers in the area' sounds like the kind of deus ex machina that gets dusted off fairly regularly in the context of violent death / unexplained motive.
Click to expand...

l’d bet it’s just his mum not wanting his death to be associated with the stigma of suicide.

People want untimely deaths to be meaningful or mysterious or significant. 99.9% of the time they aren’t.

maximus otter
 
Also, strikes me that the Cosmic Joker missed a trick here:

After shooting out seven balloons, he accidentally dropped the gun before the remaining balloons started to deflate and he landed unharmed after about 45 minutes.
Click to expand...

Family question official story that man mowing lawn was killed after being hit on head by firearm dropped by truck driver strapped to helium balloon powered lawn chair flying at 16 000 feet. A spokesman stated: "I mean seriously, come on guys - there were drug dealers in the area, and this is the best that they can come up with?"

A missed opportunity I feel.
 
escargot said:
You'd probably need to use both hands.
Click to expand...

It’s a trivial matter - in practical terms - to shoot oneself in the heart with a handgun.

I’ve just demonstrated the concept myself using a long-barrelled CO2 air pistol. (Unloaded, uncocked, finger off the trigger. l know what I’m doing…) The most difficult part of the process was taking the photo, as l made the depiction authentic by using my non-dominant hand to hold the pistol:

IMG_1690.jpeg


The matter would have been even simpler had Walters used a shorter-barrelled handgun, e.g. a 4” or even 2” revolver.

maximus otter
 
Regardless of what happened, the world needs more Lawnchair Larry's I reckon.

Mind you, looking at the Darwin awards, maybe not.
 
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