Man Racks Up A $47,000 Doc Bill On A Cruise And Musk Wants Boeing To Rush The New Air Force One In This Week's Beyond Cars Roundup

An American Airlines regional jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter at about 9:00 p.m. Wednesday night, reportedly killing all 64 people in the plane and the three soldiers in the helicopter. Authorities are still in the process of searching for the bodies of the deceased, but it’s already being called the deadliest commercial plane crash since 2001. So it sure as hell isn’t a great time to hear that Trump eliminated the Aviation Security Advisory Committee and ran off the guy in charge, as well as the fact that the Federal Aviation Administration says air traffic control was understaffed at the time of the crash. - Collin Woodard Read More

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but a comped BLT would never lead directly to bankruptcy. A Minnesota man now owes $47,000 in medical debt after receiving treatment for the flu while on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. He had won a free cruise and purchased travel insurance from the cruise for up to $20,000 in medical expenses. However, the insurer refused to cover the visit to the ship’s medical center. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Back in the 1950s, Honda struck gold with the Super Cub — a compact, lightweight scooter built to take anyone anywhere for any reason. It appealed to non-motorcyclists, it beat walking, and to this day it’s the best-selling motor vehicle in the world. Honda’s been chasing that high ever since, constantly making bikes for people who don’t know how to ride, and its latest attempt is this: A low-seat cruiser with manageable entry-level power that doesn’t even need you to learn a clutch. - Amber DaSilva Read More

Tesla CEO and Trump’s number one lil’ guy, Elon Musk, wants to know why it’s taking Boeing so long to convert two 747s into the next Air Force One jets. He stopped by operations for his competitor earlier this week to see what’s what. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

KTM is in dire financial straits right now. The company is billions of dollars in debt with an expensive race program chewing through funds and hundreds of thousands of unsold bikes piled up without buyers. This is what’s known in the business world as “bad,” but it’s been unclear up to this point just how bad. Now, though, we’re getting a clearer view: Actual legal documents demanding funding are coming through, and they’re looking bad for the motorcycle maker. - Amber DaSilva Read More

The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona is one of the most iconic races in all of motorsport. The venue itself – with its banked turns, long straightaways and festive infield all add to its mystique. One of the most iconic parts of the race, however, isn’t the Bus Stop or Internation Horseshoe. It’s the Ferris wheel in the middle of the infield. It makes Daytona instantly recognizable to just about everyone. It also got me thinking: how much would you have to spend to stay on the wheel for the entire 24-hour race? - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Los Angeles is famous for many things, like its beautiful beaches, its zeitgeist-establishing media industry, and its notoriously mediocre public transportation resources. While LA’s light rail network is mediocre, its bus system is relatively comprehensive, though buses are still subject to another thing LA is famous for: traffic. One way the second-largest city in the United States mitigates the impact of miserable traffic jams on its buses is by allowing them to use carpool lanes and express lanes on otherwise congested freeways. Forcing a city bus to merge across several lanes of rush-hour traffic to enter and exit these centrally located lanes would be a nightmare, so the city established dedicated bus stations in the center median of the 110 freeway. This bus system is called the Harbor Transitway. - Logan Carter Read More

Planes and precipitation typically don’t mix well, leading to frustrating delays and violent turbulence. However, the roles can be reversed every so often. A flight landing in Denver, Colorado last Saturday night provoked light snowfall just by flying through cloud cover on its approach to the runway. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Last time I bought a motorcycle sight unseen, it wasn’t fantastic. In fact it was the single sketchiest motorcycle ride of my life, thanks to that bike’s myriad problems — dead bearings, old tires, a shot battery, and plenty more. So, to replace that GS, I decided to do exactly the same thing: Buy another motorcycle sight unseen and ride it back home, only this time I did it in sub-freezing temperatures. Two hours, from north-central Jersey. At sunset. Look, no one ever said I was smart. - Amber DaSilva Read More

An Airbus A350 was struck by lightning while sitting on the runway in the midst of an intense storm in São Paulo on Friday. Passengers waiting to board the flight stood and watched as the enormous bolt of electricity hit the tail of the British Airways plane before it was ready to depart. - Owen Bellwood Read More