A pilot for Turkey’s Anadolujet was fired after he allowed a 15-year-old to sit in his seat while the plane was flying from Ankara to Erzurum (and while the pilot went to the bathroom).  The co-pilot had control of the aircraft, but the teenager did have access to the controls.  In 1994 an Aeroflot plane crashed over Siberia when the pilot allowed his son to sit in a similar location and accidentally switched off the auto-pilot.

This came in at no.5 on the list of 10 Strangest Airline Stories of 2008 posted by Jared Blank on the online travel review-blog.

Read the full post for more hilarious stories.

Max from the Thirty Thousand Feet Blog found this great idea for airplane food, the GoPicnic company- GoPicnic has introduced an entirely new kind of meal: one that combines great tasting high quality food featuring natural & organic ingredients, with the convenience and safety of shelf stability, making the meals perfect to eat anytime, anywhere.

Every GoPicnic meal is ready to eat right from the box, just grab a drink and enjoy one of our delicious, nutritious meals today. GoPicnic meals come in many varieties, including full meals, kids meals, and quick snackboxes. They offer Kosher Meals and Vegetarian Meals and even     Gluten-Free Meals.

We don’t need to compromise on disgusting airline food any more.

The CAPblog is congratulating members of the Civil Air Patrol on the occasion of their 67th anniversary.

The Civil Air Patrol -CAP is the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force. The Civil Air Patrol was created on December 1, 1941 by Administrative Order 9, issued by Fiorello H. LaGuardia in his capacity as Director of the Office of Civilian Defense with Major General John F. Curry as the first National Commander. During World War II, CAP was seen as a way to use America’s civilian aviation resources to aid the war effort instead of grounding them. The organization assumed many missions including anti-submarine patrol and warfare, border patrols, and courier services. CAP pilots sighted 173 enemy U-boats and sank two.

After the end of World War II CAP became the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force, and its incorporating charter declared that it would never again be involved in direct combat activities, but would be of a benevolent nature.

courtesy of cba_inc

Fisher Towers, located about 20 miles northeast of Moab in southeastern Utah, is one of the most scenic landscapes along the Colorado River. Administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Fisher Towers Recreation Site is a popular destination for hikers and rock climbers. A moderate 2.2-mile hiking trail takes you along the base of the towers and spires to a scenic overlook of Professor Valley and the Colorado River.

Fisher Towers contains layers of sedimentary rock in various shades of red-brown, red-purple, and maroon. The colors are a result of varying amounts of hematite.

OB from the Life, Work, and Hanggliding-blog spent the weekend at the Fisher Towers.

Like much of the desert, the Fisher Towers area is usually filled with complete silence. Silence so still it’s quite loud in your ears. It’s a silence that’s rarely experienced anymore. We get used to the drone of the refrigerator, the low grade hum of the hot water heater. Even a home in the middle of nowhere isn’t silent.

The only survivor among eight people on a plane that crashed on a remote British Columbia island told rescuers he was able to climb out just before the wreckage exploded in flames. The man told rescuers it took him several hours to make his way down a creek bed to the beach.An official of Pacific Coastal Airlines said there was no record of a distress call from the pilot before the plane crashed.

According to Aviatrix this had happened before,

Yesterday morning I almost skipped over this article in my news aggregator, thinking that either Google’s spider or a Montana radio station had dredged up some old news. I blogged about the accident, because I’d been on one of the company’s airplanes at the time it happened.

Read more about it in his post not again.