On Oct. 15,1955, a Lockheed T-33 jet trainer, with two Air Force pilots onboard, went missing.

The plane was presumed “lost at sea” all these years – and it was – but not very far. According to CNN, members of an aviation wreckage search group called UB88.org, found it in the bottom of the Santa Monica Bay, just west of Los Angeles.

The searchers did not say if the pilots were still in this wreckage, but apparently their families have been notified, so at least they know – cold comfort that that may be.

Actually, the divers were looking for a different aircraft altogether – a WWII plane that went down in 1944.

But apparently it’s not surprising that they bumped into another missing plane; officials say there are about 2,500 aviation crash sites in and around California – many of them still waiting to be discovered.

It is, after all, a big state.

We’re not going to debate the merits of that director’s arrest here – there are plenty of other sites that are doing that. Instead, we will talk venues: like that airport in Zurich (ZRH).

After all, airports have been serving up Hollywood arrestees (and others) since forever. Some memorable busts over the years featured these celebrities – followed by a brief synopsis of the allegations against them:

• Paul McCartney, in Tokyo (NRT), 1980 – marijuana
• Christian Slater, in New York (JFK), 1994 — firearm
• Axl Rose, in Phoenix (PHX), 1998 – disorderly conduct
• Dionne Warwick, in Miami (MIA), 2002 — marijuana
• Richard Simmons, in Phoenix (PHX), 2004 – slapping a man in the face

And there’s Snoop Dogg. In 2006 – he was arrested in London (LHR) and John Wayne in Orange County, Calif. (SNA) and Bob Hope in Burbank (BUR) – on a variety of charges.

That’s what our President did this week – he and the missus parked in the Waldorf Astoria‘s Presidential Suite, and you can too. Assuming you have $7K.

What’s it like? Well every president since Herbert Hoover has stayed there, as well as plenty of other international Big Cheeses, like Khrushchev, de Gaulle, and possibly Rick Seaney.

It has four bedrooms, a rocking chair once owned by JFK and a writing desk that was Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s.

If you happen to be president of the U.S., they’ll even hand-monogram the towels for you, upon your visit. That alone is enough to makes me consider campaigning.

Too steep? Well, bunk with a friend — but at least you can afford the airfare – if you use FareCompare’s deal finder for flights to New York.

Thanks, Gadling!

Just read a killer article by Brendan Ross for Wired.

For those that don’t know, Brian is on assignment for Wired, flying all over on his JetBlue “All You Can Jet” pass and blogging about it. He seems to be having a pretty good time – or was.

Then sat next to “Shauna”.

Clearly, Shauna (fake name) was full of surprises. One of the first things she did was, inquire if Brendan was allegoric to dogs, as she proceeded to pull a pop-eyed little mutt out of her purse.

Then she insisted that Brendan entertain her for the whole trip (the TV wasn’t working); she also announced her bathroom visits to one and all (“I have to PEE!”); she also discussed her former career as a Hooters waitress.

My only objection to the article is that Brendan never asked me if I required an alias.

You probably heard about this: Scott Weiland of the reconstituted Stone Temple Pilots was flying from LA to Miami last week (no private jet – it was an American Airlines flight) when, he had a seizure.

His folks have tried to downplay it, but it was serious enough for American to make an unscheduled stop in Dallas and have the frontman taken to a hospital.

But he proved his resilience – yet again – when he was back performing 24 hours later.

All the reports noted that Weiland has “a history of seizures”. Ah.

Imagine you’re Gisele Bundchen -you’re a cool and beautiful person married to a famous quarterback and you’re several months pregnant. What do you do?

You take helicopter lessons. At least that’s what the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass. tells us. She’s taking lessons out at Marshfield Airport, south of Boston. And naturally, she’s terrific – or so says the guy who runs the helicopter company: “She’s excellent. She’s one of the best pilots we’ve ever seen.”

Of course she is. But then, she’s Gisele Bundchen – Supermodel.

Arghhh.

This was going to be a post playing off last night’s Emmys – you know, “You missed the Emmys, so why not fly to the 2010 Oscars” (March 7, 2010) — that type of thing.

In other words, how to be one of those geeks on the bleachers looking on at all the red carpet entrances outside the Kodak Theater – but – the deadline to nab those seats just ended!

Here’s the plan for Oscars 2011: go to the Academy Awards official website starting next summer – and look for an announcement about registering for the bleacher seats lottery (this year, registration was from 9/14 thru 9/20). Sometime in October, you’ll be told if you’ve won a seat.

If you do win, you can’t sell those seats, and you’re required to give out your social security number (and possibly undergo a background check) but otherwise, you’re golden.

Next time you’re in San Francisco International, check out one of the three new “Climate Passport” kiosks there.

Know what you do with them? You stick your credit card in, and it’ll calculate a fee that will offset the emissions of your flight – it’ll then deduct that amount from your card. Is that genius or what? Even more genius-y – you don’t have to pay this fee. That’s right – it’s voluntary!

But if you did want to pay, the fee for a flight from SFO to JFK would run you about $23 -money that would be used for reforestation projects.

If this sounds like something you’d like to do, go for it. The airport has already shelled out close to $200K on these kiosks, and would probably like to know their work hasn’t been in vain.

It’s always fun seeing the words “drunken socialite” in print, and thanks to the New York Daily News, we can.

Witnesses in a court proceeding say Clare Irby, “a descendant of the Guinness brewing family” got a little frisky on a flight from Bangalore, India to London on Kingfisher Airlines (a five star airline, naturally). She allegedly got extra-friendly with a male passenger – in between bouts of screaming at flight attendants and ignoring her two year old child.

And at least some of the passengers started complaining about the PDAP’s (Public Displays of Affection on Planes).

The most shocking thing? Not the alleged thong-baring, but the fact that Socialite Irby – who admitted to being tipsy – was not lapping up stout. She was drinking red wine – and I’m sure there’s a Guinness or two rolling over in the Old Sod as we speak.

And…speaking of Guinness – did you know the Dublin-based brewery is celebrating its 250^th anniversary this year? Raise a glass – and keep your undies out of sight.

The DEA has arrested a bunch of people who were allegedly involved in an extracurricular for-profit business – smuggling drugs from Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland.

The entrepreneurial entourage included 8 American Airlines employees, who worked in Miami and San Juan.

Listen, we know times are tough, but sheesh – crime is never the answer. Well, okay, sometimes it seems like crime pays, but really – it doesn’t.

AA’s Tim Wagner said, “We hope the actions of a few employees don’t reflect negatively on the tens of thousands of ethical American Airlines employees who work hard to serve the public daily.”

I’m with you there, Tim.

Hard to believe it’s been eight years since a group of murderers hijacked all those planes and killed all those people.

Eight years. Incredible. And yet — time does its work. The sharp searing horror is starting to fade. And the millions who have been born since then will never have our memories – and never quite understand how many hearts were broken that day.

I hate it — but I know the time will come when this shattering day will seem as remote and dusty as Lincoln’s assassination – just another historical fact to be memorized by bored-out-of-their-minds school children.

But today – we remember.

Yes, Mom, we will be home for the holidays! And you can thank (or blame) Rick Seaney for that.

He’s put together a very cool guide – with charts and everything – to get us home without breaking the bank. I advise one and all to check it out here.

You cook the turkey – and we will set the table.

Can’t wait.

Pamela Anderson as a TSA officer?

Yes, that’s in the new TV commercial by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) – and that’s not all. Look for plenty of washboard abs, zipper pulling and naked couples.

Tons of visual overload in this one – only, it’s not playing in airports as PETA envisioned -no one will run it. Or is that what they had in mind all along? Making it a viral sensation instead?

If you must see the ad, I’m sure you can find it, but don’t look for it here. I like to think of this as a family values blog, the main value being, don’t do naked stuff for the cameras.

How high does Miyuki Hatoyama fly? High enough to get to Venus. Or so she says.

Actually, she wrote that in a book some 20 years ago, titled “Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered”. In it, she tells us that Venus is a “very beautiful place and it was really green.”

If you’re wondering how she got there, it was via UFO.

By the way, Miyuki’s husband, Yukio Hatoyama, once had a nickname, based on his appearance (something to do with his eyes) – he was known as, “the alien”.

I guess I’d have to say that’s a very strange thing that I’ve just encountered.

Saw this on Channel 2 out of Chicago…

A 6 foot, 350 pound man is not happy with Southwest Airlines. Apparently the airline allowed Emery Orto to fly from Midway to Las Vegas, no problem, but stopped him as he was boarding the flight home and asked, “Can you put the armrests down when seated?”

He said he could, but Southwest ultimately grounded him anyway. Orto called this “humiliating” (but apparently it was not so humiliating that he passed up a chance to go on TV).

His main complaint: Southwest never “tested” him on the “putting-the-armrests-down” trick, but there’s more to the “passenger of size” rule at Southwest and other airlines – a policy that’s been around for years. Orto seemed to suggest that he wasn’t familiar with it – and in his defense, he was allowed to fly to Las Vegas.

Southwest told Ch. 2 that was a “mistake”. But they also said, the real issue with Orto was “anger” – that he was arguing with an “elevated voice” in a belligerent tone, and that other passengers weren’t comfortable flying with Orto after watching him lose his temper.

Orto meanwhile is talking about his “pain and suffering” and we all know where that’s going. Meanwhile, maybe the airlines better just suck it up and come out with specific height/weight/size charts – and no more guessing games.

It takes 3 wranglers. That’s according to the Kansas City, Mo. Aviation Dept.

The horses in question, by the way, are rodeo horses – and they flew to Spain yesterday. They will be stars of the Rodeo Europe Tour 2009 in Madrid, which is held Sept. 18-19.

The animals were flown by Instone Air Services of Durango, Colorado in case any of you need to transport rodeo nags – and I’m guessing there was plenty of room, since the plane in question was a 747.

Why’d they fly out of Kansas City? Good location, I guess – and they’re used to this kind of thing. As the press release says,

“In the past KCI Airport has handled a charter of 119 pregnant Holstein heifers to Fukuoka, Japan, a shipment of ostriches, an alligator and other animals.“

Not altogether, I trust. I’d be a little concerned about the shy and retiring alligator in the presence of those vicious Holsteins.

Well, that’s what they’re doing at Worcester Regional Airport in Massachusetts.

The “almost empty terminal building” is being transformed into a set for a movie with the working title “Wichita”. Apparently, the Kansas facility was no good because it’s all cluttered up with things like planes and passengers.

Stars include Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and the Worcester Telegram helpfully provides information on becoming an extra in the film.

As always, my favorite part of the article was the comments section, which included this blow torch:

“Now the movie moguls know the big secret that all Worcester county residents have known for years. Worcester is a gold mine for empty. Empty promises , empty leadership, empty train stations, empty outlet malls, empty airport…and taxpayers with empty wallets.” -Anonymous Worcesterian

Fish, fowl or fun-loving humans, we are all Somebody’s creatures – so the death of 4,000 tropical fish is not to be taken lightly (especially since they were worth about half a million dollars).

Cause of death: unclear. But the 15 hours it took to clear customs in brutal summer heat at the Black Sea resort of Sochi ought to tell you something, I suppose.

The picturesque piscinies (what — you never made up a word?) were heading toward Sochi Discovery World — Russia’s largest oceanarium – when tragedy struck. And it was a tragedy to the oceanarium’s director who called it an “atrocity unseen anywhere else in the world.”

Think I’ll beg to differ on that one…

Loved the headline on this AP story – “Government Struggles to Find Answer to Pilot Fatigue”.

It goes on to say that the problem seems to be increasing – and not a whole lot is being done (but the government is working on it!).

The article mentions the story about two pilots heading traveling from Honolulu to Hilo – who overshot their airport by some 15 miles or so. Turns out they’d been napping, because they were tired (and one of the pilots had an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea – that gives you confidence, huh?).

What did I like about the headline? The Capt. Obviousness of it. If pilots need more sleep, let them have it – even if that means you have to hire more of them – even if it means airfares go (gasp) up. Our lives are at stake here, no kidding.