Air Transport

No year's round-up can be complete without a look at the stranger stories that have occured in 2008. Here is a top ten list of the quirkier stories from this year:

1. Ryanair Male Calendar Model shocker

Okay so it wasn't that much of a shock to see Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary dressed in a blue leotard parading himself as the first ever male Ryanair calendar model, but from someone who was present, believe me, it wasn't pretty!

2. Frog stuck in aircraft window

Where did it come from? How did it get in there? More importantly, how did it get out?

3. Emirate's A380 Cabin too quiet for pilots

It's not often that increased technological efficiency and noise reduction is complained about by the aviation industry, but if it involves our dear old pilots and sleep deficiency then beware!

As a result of the A380's engines producing less noise, the pilots while resting in their cabin can now hear every toilet flush and crying baby from the economy classes.

4. Ilyushin IL76 nearly runs out of runway

Classic Australian commentry + Sluggish Ilyushin IL76 (that barely gets off the runway) = Classic YouTube video

5. Cowgate:  Who wins out of a cow and a Tiger Moth?

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The ultimate battle between cow and machine concluded with the cow winning, when it survived a direct hit from a low-flying de Havilland Tiger Moth.

6. Two Southwest Passengers "too pretty to fly"

Two passengers board a Southwest aircraft, one argued about a bottle of water while the other complained about the bathroom facilities, resulting in both women being asked to leave the aircraft. Both come to the same conclusion that it was because they are young and pretty.

"No-one on the flight looked like us" said modest Sarah Williams as she waited for another flight.

7. Cabin attendant aided Air Canada Boeing 767-300 landing after co-pilot incapacitated

An Air Canada cabin attendant aided the landing of a Boeing 767-300 aircraft after the co-pilot suffered  a "subtle incapacitation", or as The Times called it (in no way attempting to be sensationalist), a  "mental breakdown".

8. Bookmakers odds on the next airline to collapse

Every review of 2008 has to mention in some way or other the world's perilous financial situation, and this one is no different. But rather than be pessimistic, we thought we would mention the resourcefulness of the bookmakers, who capitalised on this doom to make some much needed cash by betting on the next airlines to collapse.

9. This is your pilot: 'I'm not qualified to land the plane'

Around twenty minutes outside of Paris, a Flybe flight from Cardiff had to back when the pilot announced that he wasn't qualified enough to land in the foggy conditions. Ground control were asking for a level 2 pilot to land and he was only a level 5, meaning that the aircraft had to turn and head back to Cardiff International airport.

10. Virgin Galactic reject $1 million offer to make first "sex-in-space" movie

To coin a well known phrase, "space is the final frontier"...well it is for sex anyway. Virgin Galactic politely declined the opportunity to take the sex industry into the stratosphere when they rejected $1 million for the first "sex in space" movie.