You remember the “laptoppers” – those two Northwest pilots that flew to Wisconsin, when they should have stopped a little earlier, like say, at their scheduled destination in Minnesota? They said they were too busy on their laptops (an excuse that cost them their pilot’s licenses).

Anyway, there weren’t the only ones out to lunch – the head of the FAA says the air traffic controllers are supposed to notify NORAD, the military air defense command, when they’re out of radio contact for ten minutes. How long did they wait? One hour and 9 minutes.

Nope, nothing happened – this time. But as has been mentioned elsewhere (like everywhere), a whole lot changed back on that Tuesday morning in September, 8 years ago…so, guys, just do your jobs, okay? Because you never know…

EARLIER: Unless you avoided TV and basically every online news site yesterday, you’re aware of the “Balloon Boy” escapade. However, you may not know that Balloon Boy (or the Balloon Boy-less balloon involved) had a fairly substantial effect on air traffic over Denver:

“Flights had to be diverted due to the risk of colliding with the balloon and at the time what was believed to be a 6 year old passenger. Due to the balloon and helicopter traffic the FAA created a safety bubble around the rescue operation and steered aircraft to either side.” (from the Examiner)

As of now, it doesn’t look like the FAA is going to come down on Balloon Boy or his family, as the whole affair seems to be an accident. However, the Examiner (and others) are quick to point out that if it turns out the event was a pre-planned stunt of some kind, the FAA could punish the family of Balloon Boy.

Maybe you saw this: Guy Laliberte, the rich fellow who founded (and owns most of) Cirque de Soleil, went into space to Wednesday aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

Cost of his ticket: $35 million.

Fortunately for Mr. Laliberte, he is worth about $2.5 billion. Boy, those flexible folks who make the cirque soar can really pull it in, can’t they?

Now, where’s my check book?

Whoa.

A Boston TV stations is reporting that the FBI has questioned two flight attendants (and maybe more) who were on an American Airlines flight yesterday – the flight where ?a “bomb threat” note was found in one of the aircraft’s lavatories.

Here’s the kicker: again, per Boston’s 7News, those same flight attendants (a man and a woman) were also questioned about a similar incident that occurred two weeks ago.

In both cases, nothing was found – but the incidents resulted in tedious delays for the passengers.

I’m kind of hoping it’s not the crew. I mean, if it is, well…how creepy is that?

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!

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.

Just read a “reporter’s notebook” item in the LA Times that made journalism sound — for a moment, anyway — fun again.

It seems LAX – the nation’s third busiest airport – is now using a $600,000 simulator to help train air traffic controllers.

It sounds pretty cool: it’s got computer screens with planes on them, and you can program the simulator to make the planes do anything – taxi, land, crash – or just follow realistic patterns, but it’s up to the trainee to get all safely on the ground.

Apparently, reporter Dan Weikel and other scribes and newsies on hand who worked the simulator did a pretty good job – as they say, “safety was never compromised”. I guess reporting has changed since I left – I wouldn’t have trusted us with anything more than pen and paper.

Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Freddie Gonzales, but he was news back in 1989.

That’s when Freddie, a convicted armed robber, and a colleague (okay, cell mate) escaped from prison in a helicopter that had been hijacked by his wife.

Of course, they were later caught and everyone went back to prison (the missus, too) – but you’d be surprised how many people go the escape-from-prison-by-helicopter route. Wiki has tons of examples – including my favorite, a Miami prison break that failed because too many guys hopped aboard and the overloaded helicopter crashed in the yard. Oops!

There have been a few movies on the subject, most notably I suppose, 1975’s “Breakout” with Charles Bronson. Can’t go wrong with Chuck.

Meanwhile, Freddie Gonzales is a pretty lucky guy – he’s out of prison and he’s only 41 years old (his wife is out now, too, but I don’t know if they’re still together). However, Mr. Escapee must still undergo another ten years of “intensive supervision.”

Crime – it does not pay.

You remember the “Miracle on the Hudson” – a splashy landing precipitated by Canada geese that got sucked into the aircraft’s engines.

Now, the geese must go.

Federal and local agencies begin a fairly aggressive goose-removal policy next week that will result in the demise of some 2,000 of the birds from scores of parks – all within five miles of New York airports.

Some critics say, why bother? One expert is quoted in a New York Times report as saying that 2,000 is a tiny fraction of the number of geese in the area – and that little will be accomplished without a long-term wild fowl management plan. Others say – it’s a good start.

Meanwhile, the geese — we are told –will be “humanely” euthanized.

This is kind of nice to report (well, the reporting was done by the New York Times, but you know what I mean): the survivors of that US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson in one piece, courtesy of Capt. Sully, are getting some of their their things back.

Now, of course, some of the stuff is pretty water-logged. And a lot of paper money appears to be missing, but – people are getting back some things that are in amazingly good shape, including clothes, laptops, jewelry, car keys and other stuff. I sure hope Capt. Sullenberger gets back that library book that he left on the plane.

The passengers are also getting an offer from the airline of $10,000 – if they promise not to sue. Some are not signing – at least for the moment.

What would you do?

Actually, it was 50-years ago yesterday since the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, 22, the Big Bopper, 28, and Richie Valens, 17 (plus the poor pilot who nobody remembers – for the record, he was 21 year old Roger Peterson).

All of which was memorialized by Don McLean in “American Pie”.

Which reminds me: Blender magazine has a list of the 10 worst rock & roll plane crashes – see it here.

Such a waste – or, as Blender put it: “What is it about famous musicians that makes them believe it’d be a swell idea to charter a small, unreliable aircraft through inclement weather?“

I dunno, but we still miss you, Buddy. All you guys.

The heroic captain who gently crash-landed that US Airways plane in the Hudson yesterday – insuring the survival of all – went to a fine university.

What the heck, figured I’d mention it – since I previously noted that the infamous “runaway pilot” dude attended the very same school.

And as long as we’re on this Purdue/celebrity/aviation kick, I will note that another alum is Neil Armstrong (“that’s one small step…”).

What will those precocious Purduvians get up to next?

You have to love it: stunt pilot, rich guy, family man, and “affable charmer” – oh, yeah, and also alleged defrauder – my goodness, but Marcus Schrenker is in a spot of trouble.

I think jumping out of his plane and then letting it crash was his first mistake – or was that his 51^st?

Too bad – Schrenker went to a fine university. Plus, he used to be a cheerleader. Hey, so was Samuel L. Jackson – and George W. Bush!

You heard about that Continental jet that slid off the runway in Denver a few days before Christmas then caught on fire – well, the lawyers are now involved.

Two women who were passengers on the plane have filed suit in a district court in Houston – alleging that the pilots were negligent and/or there were mechanical problems. Continental’s retort: wait just a second, the federal investigators haven’t even figured out what caused the crash yet.

Here’s what I found most interesting: according to a story in the Houston Chronicle, the two women told their lawyer that “they were unsatisfied with the way Continental treated them after the crash.” Yes, one of the women did receive money from the airline to compensate her for her lost belongings, but according to the lawyer, “Continental sent an employee to supervise her shopping”.

That lawyer says, there will be more lawsuits. Quelle surprise.

The venerable International Herald Tribune reports that “troubles in the budget airline industry could send ripple effects through second-home markets around the world”.

Second homes. Hah! We’re too busy keeping foreclosure at bay on the first one.

The article cites the example of Ryanair canceling its direct flights to the Moroccan city of Fez, which as a result, apparently, then saw property sales plummet by 80%.

As always, I like to look on the bright side: it sure sounds like you can now find great deals on vacation homes in Fez – and I’d say it’d be worth it, if only for the opportunity to boast, “Yes, I live in Fez.”

News reports are now saying that a computer glitch may be the reason why a Qantas jet suddenly took a dive in mid-flight.

One of the passengers said the plane went straight down, and it lasted for 10 or 12 seconds – an eternity, if you’re the one experiencing this hell. One man, Jim Ford of Perth, was pretty sure he was about to die:

“It was horrendous, absolutely gruesome, terrible, the worst experience of my life.” – Jim Ford, Qantas passenger

Whatever the cause of this incident, it was bad: 51 passengers and crew were injured – some with broken bones and even spinal injuries.

I guess there really IS no place like home.

A Northeastern University study of cell phone users concluded that most people don’t travel much.

In fact, somebody crunched the numbers and found out that 83% of those in this study stayed mostly within a 37-mile wide circle, from home.

“There’s no place like home” (click those heels together) “…no place like home…”

Disciples of the Marquis de Sade, this one’s for you.

It seems a woman preparing to board a plane in Lubbock last month set off the metal detector because of her nipple rings (or piercings; you know, metal stuck through flesh).

The TSA folks said, take ‘em off. Well, she tried, but apparently they were “unremovable”. So a TSA agent helpfully handed her a pair of pliers. That did the trick!

She wants an apology (oh, and she also hired attorney Gloria Allred– watch out, TSA!) Meantime, the woman eventually got through the metal detectors (which FAILED to detect her navel ring).

Tip O’ the Day: be sure your nipple rings are removable; also, listen to your mother and never to get ‘em in the first place (what about a tattoo, Ma?).

Creepy story from CNN. A teenage boy is under arrest; he told the cops he planned to hijack a commercial jet, and crash it into a “Hannah Montana” concert in Lafayette, Louisiana (apparently, the kid is from there).

Would sound kinda funny, or at least like something out of a teen-angst-novel, if the kid hadn’t been carrying handcuffs, duct tape and a rope.

What is going on? Sign of the times? The odd nutcake? Did anybody not notice that the kid was acting a little weird? I’m depressed…

Oh, that Matt. What, you’re Stephen King now? Always trying to get us riled up with something (and it works; we read drudgereport.com religiously).

And, yes, he’s right, the weather for Thanksgiving travel is not looking so hot in certain parts of the country but them’s the breaks.

If you had done everything my boss over at FareCompare has been telling you to do for the past 6-months, you wouldn’t have any worries. Well, you wouldn’t have so many. Besides, Mr. Drudge…turkey doesn’t spoil that quickly.

Folks show up late, a day, couple days, big deal. Leftovers. Mmmm.