The ORIGINAL Strange But True Aviation News

The tiny face of terrorism or an oops moment?  An 18-month-old girl and her family were removed by a Transportation Security Administration screener from a JetBlue flight out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after the child’s name allegedly showed up on the no-fly list, reports Forbes. It turns out the airline called TSA about the family, which is of Middle East descent,  and the child was mistakenly on the no-fly list.

Caught in a conspiracy.  Three TSA screeners at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were arrested and charged with conspiring to smuggle more than $500,000 worth of heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico City, reports CBS News. They were caught after their text messages looking for the missing bag was intercepted by federal agents.

I’ve got a loaded bear in my hand and I’m NOT afraid to use it!  A father expressed surprise when TSA screeners at Rhode Island’s T. F. Green International Airport discovered gun parts hidden in three of his 4-year-old son’s stuffed animals, reports CNN.  Screeners found the mainframe of a .40-caliber firearm, a magazine with two .40-caliber rounds, a firing pin and a slide, CNN added. The weapons were confiscated and the pair was allowed to travel.

She wasn’t so pumped…A 16-year-old teenager is accusing the TSA of breaking her $10,000 insulin after she says she was coerced into using a body scanner at Denver International Airport, reports ABC7 News.  The pump manufacturer said that the device’s software was damaged by the x-rays emitted by the body scanner.

I wonder if the ark of the covenant is also in that storage room?  TSA found itself under assault by House Republicans after congressional investigators discovered $184 million worth of unused screening equipment gathering dust in a Dallas warehouse, reports Politico. The warehouse currently holds nearly 6,000 pieces of equipment, with 85 percent of it sitting for at least six months.

Good question, Bloomberg: who does screen the screeners?  House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a long-time critic of TSA, is questioning the agency on how it is doing background checks on its employees in the wake of a spate of arrests for accepting bribes from smugglers, reports Bloomberg.  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has had his own run-ins with the agency, is calling for TSA to be eliminated.

That flight will cost $20 million.  95 passengers on an Air Canada flight who endured a 120-meter plunge after a sleepy pilot woke up to an invisible threat are now suing the airline for $20 million, reports the CBC. The pilot also thought the planet Venus was another plane.

What was wrong with this picture?  The UK’s Prince Andrew found himself facing criticism after he landed his private jet into a slum area in India, reports the Daily Mail.  The royal reportedly refused to fly commercial, instead racking up a bill for $135,000 for his flights.

We’ll end the week with a YouTube video that features Delta Air Lines staffers who created a flashmob dance at London Heathrow’s Terminal 4 in aid of Cancer Research UK.  Enjoy!

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