Here Are The Best Transportation Stories Of The Week Ending December 02, 2023
Here we present our weekly Jalopnik series that recaps the latest in beyond cars. We’ve showcased our most read offerings as well as some you may have missed.
Tesla’s Cybertruck Has Finally Arrived
Jeff Bezos’ Superyacht Is So Massive It Had To Be Docked Next To Oil Tankers In Florida
Image: Dutch Yachting YouTube
Jeff Bezos is insanely rich. So much so that his superyacht is bigger than other rich people’s superyachts, which is pretty wild if you think about it. Bezos’ recently completed ship, the Koru, is currently docked down in Florida where its massive size made it a bit difficult to dock. Read More
Airline Crashes Two Planes On Same Runway Hours Apart
Tanzanian airline Unity Air Zanzibar had a rough rough flight operations on Tuesday. The small domestic carrier had one of its planes crash while landing at an airstrip serving a national park. Then, another Unity Air propeller-driven aircraft crashed on the same runway six hours later and struck a nearby building. Both planes experienced landing gear failures and skidded off the runway. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Read More
Planned Three-Year Cruise Canceled At The Last Minute Because The Company Couldn’t Afford To Buy A Ship
Image: GreenOak (Shutterstock)
A cruise that was set to sail around the world for three years has been abruptly canceled at the last minute. The reason? The company behind the cruise couldn’t afford to buy a ship in time, as CNN reports. Read More
Pilot Sentenced For Decapitating Skydiver Who Just Jumped Out Of His Plane
Photo: Wang He (Getty Images)
A French pilot was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after he decapitated a skydiver who had just jumped out of his plane with a wing, according to The BBC. The Montauban criminal court gave the pilot a one year suspended prison sentence for the July 2018 accidental beheading of 40-year-old Nicolas Glay. Read More
This Weird Boat Lets You Walk Underwater Without Getting Wet
Image: Damen Shipyards
Every once in a while a weird little ship will catch my eye, and I have to tell you good people about it. A couple of years ago it was the RP FLIP, and today it’s the Diving Bell Ship Carl Straat and the newer Archimedes. There is a giant boom off the back of these ships that can lower an entire pressurized room to the bottom of a river. The room uses high air pressure to push all of the water out so a three-or-four person crew can hang out down there for a few hours. It’s mostly used to retrieve precious cargo from the bottom of the river without messy divers and cranes. Read More
Cut Through A-Pillars Like Butter With This Gun-Powder-Fired ‘Jaws Of Life’ Tool
Screenshot: Save Tool
First responders know that every second matters when it comes to extracting an injured person from a crashed car. Currently, most municipalities train their firefighters, EMTs, and police on a hydraulic cutting and spreading tool known colloquially as the ‘jaws of life.’ These require an on-scene generator to run the hydraulic rams, which requires setup time and even then doesn’t cut as quickly as you might think. Let’s get back to basics and go the Save Tool way, using black powder blanks to fire a pair of massive cutting jaws. It’s faster, plus it looks cool as shit, man. Read More
A 623-Foot Freighter Is Currently Stuck In The Detroit River
Screenshot: WDIV / YouTube
A 623-foot freighter ran aground in Detroit, Michigan, Monday morning. The United States Coast Guard has confirmed that bulk carrier Barbro G is currently stuck in the Detroit River between Belle Isle and the city’s downtown. Efforts are currently underway to free the enormous vessel. This is the second time a freighter has run aground near Belle Isle this year. Read More
Virgin Atlantic’s Sustainably Fueled Transatlantic Flight Comes With Some Big Caveats
Photo: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto (Getty Images)
Virgin Atlantic is set to operate the first transatlantic flight to be powered entirely on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tomorrow. The New York to London flight has been years in the making and will offer a glimpse into the future of passenger airlines. The milestone service has also brought attention to the hurdles that commercial aviation faces to reaching truly zero-emissions operations, like having large enough SAF supplies for an entire airline fleet to use. Read More
United Arab Emirates Planned To Make Shady Oil Deals At UN Climate Talks
Photo: Simon Dawson (Getty Images)
World leaders are scheduled to meet this week for a summit on climate change that’s being hosted by one of the top oil-producing nations, the United Arab Emirates. Leaked documents now show the UAE was planning to use its role as host of COP28 to make side deals that run afoul of the summit’s goal to reduce carbon emissions, according to the BBC. Read More
