Weekend Beyond Cars Roundup March 02, 2024

A TikToker bid $2 on an eBay catamaran and won the auction despite not knowing if it was legit, but when they checked on Google Earth and saw the boat floating in a harbor, they moved forward with becoming boat owners. Obviously a $2 boat is going to need some work, so the new owner made a dedicated TikTok account to document what it would take to get this two buck boat seaworthy enough to make the trip from the San Francisco Bay area where the boat was docked to down to Los Angeles. - Logan Carter Read More

Putting your phone in airplane mode when boarding a flight feels like common sense. You wouldn’t be crazy for thinking your phone signal could interfere with an airplane’s navigation systems, potentially causing a disaster. However, the necessity of airplane mode is largely a myth, and there’s another reason airlines are asking you to turn your phone off. - Maxwell Zeff Read More

If I was going to try and steal a vehicle, I’d at least make sure I knew how to control it before I made the dastardly attempt. That doesn’t appear to have been a consideration for one Florida man that tried to make off with a light aircraft this week, as they managed to crash the craft into a lamppost before even making it to the runway. - Owen Bellwood Read More

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you get stuck in the airport overnight. It sucks, but whether it’s a long layover, weather delays or just a canceled flight, it does happen. You’re probably not going to be comfortable, but at least you’re inside, relatively warm and have access to food, water and bathrooms. According to SFGATE, though, one family trying to get home from Hawai’i found themselves forced to spend the night outside the airport after their flight was canceled. - Collin Woodard Read More

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed its investigation into the second Starship test flight, which SpaceX performed on November 18, 2023. With the inquiry concluded, SpaceX is now on track to advance its program, pending the necessary fixes. - George Dvorsky Read More

The weather here in the midwest is warm enough in February to be something that definitely keeps me up at night. In order to help keep some of those thoughts from overrunning my brain and sending me into a doom spiral, I opened the garage door, grabbed my gear, and swung a leg over my trusty BMW R1100 GS yesterday for the first time since late September. Pressing the start button was an instantly familiar sensation, but the expected thrum of flat twin exhaust pushing through an aftermarket Italian can never came. I’ve forsaken my good two-wheeled pal, let them down. In return, it is making me sit in my own thoughts. - Bradley Brownell Read More

Edgewater, Maryland couple Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brendel went missing from their island-hopping catamaran Simplicity last week. They were last seen on Sunday, February 18, moored in the Caribbean nation of Granada. The yacht was stolen by a trio of fugitives, who had escaped from a Granadan jail holding cell, where they were being held on joint charges of violent robbery, while one was charged with indecent assault and rape. The trio used the Simplicity to flee Granada north to St. Vincent, where they were recaptured. Hendry and Brendel have not yet been found. - Bradley Brownell Read More

So, as it turns out, Boeing’s safety culture is as not good as we all expected it to be. A new report from federal safety experts found some major issues with its culture that include a “disconnect” between senior management and other employees. It was also described as both “inadequate” and “confusing.” That is not what you want to hear about the folks who build the metal cans we fly around in. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Humans are, let’s say, not good at picking up after ourselves. We leave trash behind essentially everywhere we go, including space. Back in 1978 NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler proposed a scenario in which low Earth orbit space pollution becomes so prevalent that collisions between objects could create a cascading spiral of more space debris causing more collisions until there is just a giant cloud of junk separating us from the vastness of the unknown. If we don’t do something about our space junk problem now, there’s a chance that any space activities could be difficult, if not impossible, for several generations. One prevalent solution to this issues is frickin’ space lasers. - Bradley Brownell Read More

February 29 is a weird day. It comes around once every four years, bringing with it questions about if we should be paid extra for the day, if it’s good or bad luck to get engaged on the sacred day and guesses as to whether fancy watches will keep up with the extra day. In New Zealand, however, they had bigger issues: Leap Day totally messed up the country’s gas stations. - Owen Bellwood Read More