If you’re looking to get loaded, light up, and throw down, can’t you just find a local bar or something? I mean, do you really have to take it to the skies? Apparently, if you’re Christina Szele, you do:

“An unruly JetBlue passenger from Queens who lit up a cigarette mid-flight Tuesday forced the 145-passenger flight to be diverted after she became violent and uncooperative when asked to stop smoking…” (from wcbstv.com)

The Queens native was arrested for assault and is being held in Denver. There are questions surrounding the number of drinks the passenger had consumed before the incident. Some say one, some say three, and some say the airline is “covering up” the number of drinks flight attendants served the passenger.

It’s still unknown if passengers on the JetBlue flight were able watch the events unfold on the news on their in-flight TVs.

Ever wonder what those fancy types up in first class are watching on their personal entertainment systems during long haul flights while you’re forced to re-do the crossword puzzle for the third time or watch some Val Kilmer movie from the mid-80s on a screen that’s half blocked by the seats of the 12 rows in front of you?

Well, truth is, you might not be missing much. Take a look at our first class travel blog to see how the other half is living (movie wise, anyway), and old Val might not look so bad.

Disclaimer: This post is NOT appropriate for the kids…

In the time we’ve been covering the airline industry, we’ve seen our share of strange flights and bizarre occurrences.

There have been drunk passengers, drunk flight attendants, miniskirts, and ladies who dubbed themselves “too pretty to fly.”

But NONE of that prepared us for THIS story that ran on Sky Talk today.

Keep reading to see what can happen while sleeping on a plane…

Virgin Atlantic is going to make a very special test flight next month: the tanks of one of their 747s will be filled with biofuel.

Supposedly, this is the first commercial airline to ever do this. According to the shy and retiring Richard Branson, this demonstration “will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint.”

Fine. But I notice that this “test flight” will have no passengers on board. Hmmm.

[Liked this story? Then check out “The Virgin Empire”]

About 36-years ago, a man known as D.B. Cooper parachuted out of a plane over Washington state, and was never heard from again.

But the FBI would still like to hear from him, if he’s alive (though most think he died in the jump); Cooper made off with $200,000 in ransom money. (BTW, Cooper was a pseudonym: the suspect actually went by DAN Cooper, but a reporter misheard and reported it as “D.B. Cooper”).

Anyway, the Feds need our help; said one agent, “maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.” I can see it now: millions of Americans coming forward to implicate their “odd uncles”.

The missus is giving up on Steve Fossett. No, we’re not being snide. And we don’t blame Peggy Fossett, either. She’s asked a court to have her adventure-loving spouse of 38-years declared dead.

Fossett, you will remember, took off in a small plane in early September; just for a short flight, he said, over the rugged Sierra Nevadas.

And no one’s seen him since.

What would you do if you saw one of the engines of the plane you were on plummet through the sky towards the ground below?

Perhaps you would turn to a fellow passenger to see if you were imagining things:

Where is Samuel L. Jackson when you need him?

In a bizarre B-movie moment, a young Saudi man was detained at Cairo Airport after it was discovered he was trying to carry a bag full of live reptiles onto the plane. Yep, a bag full of live reptiles. Among the reptilian horde discovered by horrified security officers were 250 baby crocodiles, various chameleons, and just to make Samuel L. proud, a slithering Cobra eager to escape.

Why would someone try to bring live reptiles onto a plane, you ask? Well, according to the man, they were needed at Saudi University for scientific experiments. Officials have other ideas, saying that this is the largest Nile crocodile smuggling attempt in aviation history. Either way, the reptiles were turned over to the zoo, and the young man was sent on his way. No news yet as to how Hollywood execs are planning to capitalize.