Put this at the top of the list of “Surprises That Make Flight Attendants Cranky”.

This surprise took place on a Delta flight from LA to Atlanta. The flight attendants noticed that a restroom was occupied as the plane coming in for a landing.

So they prudently wait for the plane to touch down, then opened up the restroom door, and…there’s a dead body inside.

Presumably, it was the body of a passenger. No cause of death, and no identity has been announced, so far.

UPDATE: Authorities say the 61 year old woman (and yes, she was a passenger) died of a pre-existing heart condition. Sad.

A naked man was running around an American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles Saturday, when Naked Man thought it would be a good idea to open an emergency door in mid-flight (by the way, that can’t be done).

A soccer team on the same plane, the New England Revolution, thought that was a bad idea, and restrained him.

Plane landed (unplanned) in Oklahoma City so Naked Man could go to a crisis center for “observation”. Soccer team went on to win World Cup. Well, not really. But they’re aces in my book.

A change-of-command ceremony was temporarily disrupted when a wayward civilian sky diver crash-landed in the midst of a military band.

Those military musicians really got slammed: the sky diver, who was going about 50 mph, left one soldier with a broken jaw, another with a fractured an ankle, and assorted other injuries.

And two sousaphones were destroyed.

After the casualties were taken away, the band — and I don’t know how they did this — continued to play — sans sousaphones.

A Ft. Riley spokesman had this explanation: “We soldiered on.”

Well…of course.

An Arizona State professor has gotten a grant from the Air Force to study turbulence.

Grant is worth $716,000, and Prof. Alex Mahalov will try to save lives with it.

No snide comments on this post. I mean, the life he saves could be my own.

How many times have you sat on a plane and actually paid close attention to the flight attendants as they give their safety demonstration? It’s even easier to ignore when they eliminate the live performance and show the whole spiel on video.

Well, Delta Air Lines wants your attention…or at least the attention of those who find sassy, striking redheads appealing. As Wired reports, the star of Delta’s latest safety video is keeping eyes on the screen and garnering comparison to a certain Ms. Jolie, “the flight attendant has earned the nickname ‘Deltalina,’ in reference to everyone’s favorite Tomb Raider.”

I don’t know if this makes up for the long waits and rising ticket prices, but all of a sudden I do find myself very concerned about how the oxygen mask works and whether or not my seat cushion can be used as a flotation device. Check out Wired for a look at the video.