Woke Harleys, Fastest Roller Coasters And Bricked Space Ships In This Week's Beyond Cars Roundup

NASA is contemplating bringing astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams home from the International Space Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon and flying the Boeing Starliner back empty. There’s just one problem: Boeing removed the Starliner’s autonomous undocking feature from its software. The aerospace manufacturer wants to push a software update to the spacecraft in orbit, but NASA fears it could do more damage. - Ryan Erik King Read More

Air Canada canceled a long-haul flight two weeks after an incident between one of its flight attendants and a passenger. The flight from Casablanca, Morocco to Montreal departed the gate but never reached the runway. The flight attendant seemingly had a meltdown and forced the plane to return to the terminal after a woman asked for a blanket because the cabin was too cold. - Ryan Erik King Read More

For the most part, car enthusiasts like going fast. I mean, I know I do, but a lot of the time those speeds are frowned upon by “the law” and “other motorists” and “common sense.” Because of that, we’ve got to find our high-speed thrills elsewhere. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

American politics have been a fucking minefield for years, but far right weirdos are smashing their foot on the accelerator lately and creating a conservative ouroboros in the process. Greasy haired music video director-turned-culture-warrior Robby Starbuck called for his 500,000 followers to boycott Harley-Davidson in July for being woke, and seemingly took credit for the company’s stock declining 3 percent over five years. This guy’s weird screed against H-D has spiraled across conservative media in the last three weeks, finally making it to the big time, Fox News. - Bradley Brownell Read More

Jet engines are relatively simple in their basic design, but advancements in gas turbine engine technology have mostly done away with the cool-looking bucket-type reverse thrust systems. These thrust mechanisms used to be on most jet engines, but thanks to newer, more efficient engine designs they are no longer commonly used in commercial jets, though some private jets with smaller and cheaper engines still use them. Two halves of the “bucket” hydraulically transition from shielding the exterior of the turbine engine to clamping together behind the turbine, which redirects the jet wash and slows the forward motion of the plane once it has landed. - Logan Carter Read More

Apple founder Steve Jobs may be turning in his grave this week after the $130 million superyacht he commissioned came crashing into another multi-million-dollar yacht. The Venus ship was reportedly at anchor when strong winds blew it into another nine-figure ship. - Owen Bellwood Read More

JD Vance is a weird guy. For pretty much his entire professional life he has been clout-chasing to get to the next level. Now, he’s doing just that, but with Kamala Harris’ plane. You see, the Ohio Senator and Vice Presidential hopeful decided to walk up to Air Force Two — the Boeing C-32 currently used by Kamala Harris — and just pretended it was his for a photo op. No, I’m not kidding. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Presidential hopeful, brainworm survivor and dead bear relocator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a weird guy. His campaign has remained sort of in the spotlight because of his name and because of the strange shit he does and says. Well, after this week’s dead bear in Central Park incident, we’ve got a new weird RFK Jr. fact that is very fitting: the man collects roadkill. - Andy Kalmowitz Read More

Testing your limits on track can make you a safer rider on the street.

The family of Paul-Henri Nargeolet filed a wrongful death lawsuit against OceanGate for gross negligence. Nargeolet, a French explorer, was often referred to as “Mr. Titanic” for visiting the infamous sunken ocean liner over 35 times and his expertise with the ship. He was one of the five people killed when the OceanGate submersible Titan catastrophically imploded last year. - Ryan Erik King Read More