Congestion Pricing Works, RyanAir Wants A 2 Drink Maximum And The Weirdest Stuff Caught By The TSA In This Week's Beyond Cars Roundup

Firefighting aircraft have been key in California’s battle against the wildfires raging in Los Angeles over the past week. An array of aerial firefighters have dropped thousands of gallons of red fire retardant liquid on LA in recent days, but have you ever wondered what all that liquid might do to a car? - Owen Bellwood Read More

Usually, when you get held up going through security at the airport, it’s because some dingus wants to fight about whether or not toothpaste counts as a liquid, or the guy in front of you decided to carry $50 in assorted coins in his pockets. Every now and then, though, the Transportation Security Administration actually does catch someone with something they really shouldn’t have, and we’re not talking about the occasional Swiss Army knife. With 2024 finally over, what’s the coolest stuff the TSA caught this year? - Collin Woodard Read More

Ryanair is no one’s favorite airline, so it makes sense that its passengers turn to alcohol to make the experience bearable. After a single disruptive passenger cost the airline over $15,000 in flight diversion costs, however, Ryanair is asking the EU for a limit: Two drinks per passenger, max. - Amber DaSilva Read More

Following in the footsteps of other major international cities, New York City’s congestion pricing officially went into effect about a week ago. Now, if you insist on driving into certain parts of the city instead of using alternative forms of transportation, you have to pay $9. New Jersey is, of course, furious, but how’s this whole thing working out for regular New Yorkers? Pretty darn well, actually, with traffic already lower and buses moving faster according to the New York Times. - Collin Woodard Read More

It makes perfect sense for a private space company to down its rockets over the ocean. However, it can still sometimes get in the way of human activity on and over the water. Falling debris from SpaceX rockets delayed Qantas flights over the Indian Ocean this month. Australia’s flag carrier was given little warning that its flight paths would be showered in space junk. - Ryan Erik King Read More

A regular fire truck that fights blazes in the U.S. is about 30 feet long and weighs around 20 tons. That’s massive, no doubt, but it’s dwarfed by firetrucks that patrol your local airport. In some cases, they weigh more than double that. Those two are both put to shame by the world’s biggest firetruck, however, which entered service in the 1970s and was designed to fight deadly fires on military bases. - Owen Bellwood Read More

A Boeing 737 Max was forced to make an emergency landing back at Chicago O’Hare Airport on January 13 shortly after takeoff because of damage it sustained on the runway. The issue? It was damaged during takeoff when the United Airlines plane hit a coyote on the runway. - Owen Bellwood Read More

Since its revival efforts and re-joining the North American market in mid-2015, the Royal Enfield brand has grown leaps and bounds by focusing on building good stuff and expanding its product lines. In 2015 the company’s products weren’t anywhere as polished as they are today, and it still managed to shift just over 300,000 units. In 2024, less than ten years later, Enfield sold an impressive 944,000 machines (up 4.7 percent from 2023). These figures make RE the seventh-largest motorcycle brand in the world by sales, driven largely by double-digit percentage growth in the North American and Latin American markets. - Bradley Brownell Read More

The seventh launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket ended in disaster yesterday after the craft exploded less than nine minutes into the flight, scattering debris above the Caribbean. The Federal Aviation Administration delayed and diverted flights as a result of the explosion so that planes weren’t caught up by the falling rocket debris. - Owen Bellwood Read More

When people talk about the “New York accent,” they really ought to be more specific. There’s the near-midwestern voice of Western New York, the New England-tinged sound of the Capital Region, and the various cultural influences that make up the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens And Staten accents. We’ve also got Long Island — sorry, Lawn Guy Land — which can now be heard on the island’s crosswalk signs. - Amber DaSilva Read More