Air Travel

This is What it's Like to Crash-Land Into the Hudson River

Following the weekend's scary yet ultimately uplifting news of another plane crashing into the Hudson without killing anyone, we revisited the infamous Flight 1549 crash. Maryann Bruce, a passenger on the plane that Captain "Sully" Sullenberger successfully ditched in the river back in 2009, told ... More >>

The Best Celebrity To Follow On Twitter

It's the week of our "Best of NYC" issue, for which I wrote a featured nightlife interview, plus plenty of items, including best door person, nicest drag queen, and best after-theater hangout. But let me add one: The Best Celeb To Follow On Twitter is...

What's With All The Airplane Loonies?

I used to only worry about simple things like turbulence, engine failure, terrorism, a bird flying into the engine, or the plane dropping 30,000 feet. But nowadays you gotta worry about the crew! They're all loonies!

Can Airplane Food Improve?

Airplane food is usually pretty bland and gross, but is that the fault of airlines or our taste buds?

My Five Worst Flights Of All Time

I hate flying even when it's smooth -- the combination of terror and tedium really wears me down. But when it ain't smooth, my nerves jangle so loud they drown out Alec Baldwin playing games on his cell phone in the next row. While I inhale a whip-it to relax, let me tell you my five worst flights ... More >>

Alec Baldwin's Airplane Fiasco Gets Taiwanese Animation

​There were a few inevitable things that happened after Alec Baldwin got kicked off an American Airlines flight for playing Words with Friends. First, he angrily tweeted about it. Then came the ultimate in celebrity introspection, the deletion of his Twitter account followed by a Huffington P ... More >>

Snowstorm Pounds Northeast; White House Plans for Troop Presence in Middle East; 30 OWS Arrests in Oregon

​Millions of people lost power and at least three deaths were reported as a result of yesterday's snowstorm along the east coast. States in the Northeast were hit the hardest and CNN reports parts of New Jersey were buried in as much as 15.5 inches of snow. Airline cancellations stranded passe ... More >>

The Blue Flower

SAFE LANDING

The Bereseker Residents present The Lapsburgh Layover

US Airways, Anti-Saggy-Pants Airline, Allows Man to Fly in Women's Panties

​Last week, much ado was made over University of New Mexico football player Deshon Marman, 20, who was kicked off a US Airways flight for wearing saggy pajama pants and booked on suspicion of trespassing, battery and resisting arrest (he has not been charged). Now there's a photo circulating ... More >>

Delta Upholding the Banning of Jews, Religious Items From Flights to Saudi Arabia?

​American Jews, Israelis and anyone with religious paraphernalia may be kept off Delta flights traveling to Saudi Arabia from the United States under the rules of a new Delta SkyTeam partnership, USA Today reports. Delta's deal with Saudi Arabian Airlines, announced in January, requires the Am ... More >>

Grimsvotn Volcano Eruption Forces Barack Obama to Leave Ireland Early

​An Icelandic volcano called Grimsvotn (so much easier to say than that other Icelandic volcano) about 120 miles east of Reykjavik has been erupting since Saturday, with ash now approaching Scotland and Ireland, where Barack Obama and co. are visiting. This means they'll leave Ireland tonight, ... More >>

Asshole Pilot Landed Plane on New York Beach Because He Felt Like It

Jason Maloney (NY Post/Alex Rud) ​​Jason Maloney, the 24-year-old pilot who landed his small plane in Queens on Monday night, sounds like a pain in the ass. Today, the New York Times reports that Maloney chose to land his single-engine Piper Warrior on Rockaway Beach because he really likes ... More >>

David Burke Serves His Cheesecake Lollipops at 35,000 Feet

Room for improvement.​David Burke is no longer content to keep his empire bound to this earthly realm: starting this month, the chef will be designing in-flight meals for Lufthansa

Parents Do Not Find "Kid in the Overhead Compartment" Joke Funny, Not One Little Bit

This baby seems okay with it. [via frohrn/flickr ]​Say you're a flight attendant. Say there's a kid, and his dad, and they're on your plane playing a fun little game of peek-a-boo. And so you try to help out, putting the kid in the overhead compartment, because that's what you do, put things i ... More >>

Watch Discovery's Launch From the Air [Video]

This is pretty cool: some passengers flying out of Orlando got to watch the space shuttle Discovery's last launch from mid-air. And apparently drinks were on the house, unless that flight attendant is just kidding, which would be douchey. [via Mashable] [@_rosiegray]

iPads Gain Popularity as POS; United Serves Healthiest Airline Food

​The iPad is an increasingly popular tool restaurants employ as as part of their point-of-sale systems. [Nation's Restaurant News] Kroger has recalled several brands of pet food in 19 states, because of possible aflatoxin contamination, which can cause sluggishness and diarrhea. [Bloomberg] ... More >>

Fright or Flight Response

Why are Mexicanairlines so fearless?

Flight Attendant Forced to Show Prosthetic Breast During Patdown; TSA Horror Stories Keep Coming

Cathy Bossi​We could probably start an entire blog about the recent wave of outrageous airport security stories as the holidays approach. For those keeping score at home, we have so far: mood-setting freedom fighter John Tyner, the "Atom Bomb" tattoo guy, the screaming 3-year-old, soldiers wit ... More >>

TSA vs. Everyone Else: Full-Body Scanners, Radiation, and Heated Pat Downs

​ "Hello, my name is so-and-so, and I will be seeing you naked today."  While the TSA gives a slightly different diatribe prior to performing a full-body scan in airports that now span New York City, their aesthetic is the same: they will be managing a powerful X-ray machine and yes, the ... More >>

Surprise! New York Area Airports Still Suck

​In a groundbreaking new report [pdf], the U.S. Department of Transportation's Inspector General has discovered that flight delays at John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports remain terrible and make New Yorkers -- and, indirectly, people throughout the rest of the country (yes, we're t ... More >>

Singapore Airlines Launches a Cookbook; White Castle Debuts Garlic Cheese Sliders

​In this era of gross or no airplane food, Singapore airlines has launched a cookbook. Above & Beyond, A Collection of Recipes from the Singapore Airlines Culinary Panel features recipes from such chefs as Gordon Ramsay and Alfred Portale. [FOXNews] Jennifer Rubell is a conceptual food artist ... More >>

New York Airports to See Your Naked Body Soon

New Workout Plan​The much-discussed full-body airport security scanners are indeed coming to New York City. Officials took the opportunity to announce the implementation on a summer Friday afternoon, possibly hoping no one will notice. Oh, but they'll notice all right -- they'll notice when th ... More >>

Eyjafjallajokull Continues to Piss Off Everybody Except Icelanders

​Remember that movie Joe Versus the Volcano? It wasn't very good, but it featured a young(er) Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan before her lips got all Howard-the-Duck, and it was about a guy who thinks he's dying and offers to jump into a live volcano to appease the volcano gods. And even though that mo ... More >>

Meet Your Morning Links

​Happy Thursday to all! Here's your news roundup for today. • We broke records yesterday; heat records, that is: At 1:57 p.m. Central Park hit 92 degrees, breaking the record of 89 degrees set April 7 in 1929. Fortunately, these days we can get away with a bit less clothing (people were wea ... More >>

Man With Straw in Ass Storms Gay Bar Scene

​Things get a little dullish at the boites sometimes, so on Tuesday night, at an East Village place called Urge, I was thrilled to spot a guy sitting at the bar with his butt crack brazenly sticking out like a business card.

Good News: More New York Jobs! Bad News: They Pay $16-$20K

This morning's Times story on an airline pilot who was busted down from captain to first officer so ExpressJet Airlines could pay him less draws a connection between his sad case and a "steep decline" in total weekly pay for production workers. The numbers are a little abstruse there. But another Ti ... More >>

AWKWARD!

Jude and Sienna keep their distance on Broadway

Child, 5, Rescued from Crashed Yemeni Flight; 150 Feared Lost

A Yemeni airliner with 142 passengers and 11 crew crashed into the Indian Ocean near its destination, the island nation of Comoros, early this morning. Rescuers have retrieved alive a 5-year-old boy from the site, but so far none of the others have been saved, though some bodies have been recovered. ... More >>

LATIN QUARTERS

Stage works from all of the Americas

Adoration Close in Form to Egoyan's Early Work

Senators Join Tabloid in War On Birds

This weekend the New York Post called for a goose holocaust to prevent another jetliner from being brought down by birds in the engines as US Airways Flight 1549 was last week. We knew politicians couldn't be too far behind so absurd a curve, and sure enough, today state senators Eric Adams and Hir ... More >>

US Airways Crash? How About a Great Feat of Aviation

photo allegedly sent by rescued passenger via twitter If what we're hearing in preliminary reports is true, the pilot of a US Airways flight that left La Guardia bound for Charlotte this afternoon found himself in a terrifying situation: the plane ran smack into a flock of geese, which apparently ... More >>

Transportation Alternatives: Mayor Backs Bridge Tolls and (Surprise!) Airport Slot Auctions

Court Strikes Down NY's Airline Passenger Bill of Rights

Mystery Surrounds Gotbaum Airport Death

Moussaoui's Guilt: Less Profound Than the FBI's Own Negligence?

Al Qaeda's L.A. Plot? Yawn. . .

The really scary news? Airport security is still so bad

Flying Blind

Kerry and 9-11

Jersey Girls support him, but a pre-attack warning could haunt him

Fear of Flying

Why did Ashcroft stop flying commercial only weeks before 9-11?

Nation

Buying Trouble

Your grocery list could spark a terror probe

Dallas Dildo Defiance

Airline Safety Remains Slack

America's Air Defense in Question

Air Controllers Recount a Hijack

Terrorism: Up Close And Personal

Nashville Scene founding publisher Albie Del Favero finds himself an eyewitness to the worst terrorist attack in history

Rubber-Stamping Flight 800

The Crash Investigation Lands, and the Controversy Soars

All the Rage

The new aggression and its Hidden Meaning

All in the Family

When blood and marriage bind lobbyists and politicians