Pilot dies midflight over Atlantic, plane lands OK

You'd think this would happen more often. After all, people drop dead for all sorts of reasons every day, anywhere.

A Continental Airlines captain died during a trans-Atlantic flight Thursday, prompting the co-pilot and a second pilot aboard the jet to take over the controls, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

The airline said he "apparently" died of natural causes.

The plane, a Boeing 777-200 carrying 247 passengers, took off from Brussels Airport in Belgium at around 10:06 a.m. local time (4:06 a.m. EDT).

The crew on board of flight 61 included an additional relief pilot who took the place of the deceased pilot to assist the co-pilot during the remainder of the flight, BNO reported.

"The flight continued safely with two pilots at the controls," said Kelly Cripe, a spokeswoman for Continental Airlines.

The deceased pilot was 60-years-old, from Newark and had more than 32 years of service with the airline. His name was not immediately released.

The aircraft safely landed at 11:49 a.m. EDT after it received "priority handling" at the airport. It was escorted by emergency vehicles to the gate.

The flight was scheduled for slightly more than eight hours, which under federal law requires the airline to hire a third pilot for the flight who monitors the controls while either the captain or co-pilot take rests during the cruise portion of the flight. The second co-pilot was available to step in after the captain was stricken, Continental said in a statement.

Simon Shapiro of Brooklyn, N.Y., was one of the first passengers off the jet in New Jersey, AP reported. He said he was seated in first class and didn't know anything unusual was going on in the cockpit.

"I knew nothing until I saw all the cops" at Newark International, Shapiro said. "The first time I'm hearing it is from your mouth," he told a reporter, noting "there were announcements, no panic, no nothing" aboard the flight.

Martha Love of Stewartsville, N.J., said she was sitting in first class during the flight. She said the crew broadcast a request for doctors, and more than a half-dozen doctors approached the front of the plane, but the pilot's death was not announced.

The passengers did not realize how serious the situation was until they saw fire trucks lining up as the plane landed on the runway, Love said.

After decades of requiring pilots to retire when they reached age 60, Congress changed the law on Dec. 13, 2007, to allow pilots to fly up to age 65, AP reported. Airline pilots must receive a medical check every six months by an FAA-approved physician.

Source: BNO, The Associated Press
Copyright © 2009

Teen wakes up to too many stars tattoo on face

Right: A distraught Kimberley Vlaeminck speaks on her mobile phone at home in Belgium today - the 56 tattoos still healing across her face. (EPA/Daily Mail)

WTF was she--or he--thinking?

Kimberley Vlaeminck said she fell asleep while tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz (god help me with these names) tattooed her face with 56 stars. She says she wanted three modest stars tattooed near her eye but awoke to "a nightmare."

"I woke up when he was starting to tattoo my nose... I counted 56 stars, it is frightening," she said.

Starface says she fell asleep during the procedure, that is, while getting 56 stars tattoed ON HER FACE.

Now, my friends, with all due respect to this girl, anyone who has had a frantic needle drill ink into the skin knows that there's no fucking way one can fall asleep during such a procedure, especially when it's being done on the face where nerve endings and bone galore, which in tattoo world translates to a holly-fuck-this-hurts-like-hell experience you're not soon to forget.

Toumaniantz denies Starface's claim that he misunderstood what she wanted. He alleges she was awake while he was working on her face and happy with the results until her father and boyfriend saw the stars. (The look on their faces must have been good enough for a MasterCard "priceless" ad and worth the tattoo, if you ask me.)

"She was awake and looked in the mirror several times as the procedure was being done," said Toumaniantz, who works at Tattoo Box in Kortrijk. "She agreed, but when her father saw it, the trouble started," he told a Belgian newspaper.

Her boyfriend reportedly dumped her, and that's when the shit hit the fan.

Now, she's suing him for £10,000 (about $16,400) after she paid £55 ($90) for "the graffiti that has ruined my life," claiming Toumanaintz, who speaks Romani, misunderstood her French and English.

"I explicitly said in my native tongue, French, and also in a little bit of English when he looked confused, that I wanted three little stars only near my left eye," she said.

"They are saying things now like I doped her or hypnotized her. What rubbish!...She asked for 56 stars and that’s what she got," he said.

Left: Rouslan Toumaniantz, who runs the tattoo parlour, says Kimberley asked for 56 stars. (Daily Mail)

A witness who was present and was questioned by police confirmed his story, "but be that as it may, Kimberley is unhappy and it is not my wish to have an unsatisfied client," Toumaniantz said. "There is a way to remove the tattoos with the help of a laser. I accept to pay for half the cost."

The surgery to remove the stars would cost £8,500 ($14,000), but even the most advanced laser techniques would leave deep white marks all across Kimberley's face--which means she would go from Starface to Scarface.

The tattoo artist, who's covered with tattoos and piercings from head to toe, said he doesn't regret the incident. "To tell you the truth, this has given me some publicity."

Kimberley says she wants to keep the stars on her forehead but have the rest removed. Hmm...

"It is terrible for me," she said. "I cannot go out on to the street, I am so embarrassed. I just look horrible."

Jules Clocher, a Belgian psychologist, said: "The trauma this girl must be feeling is indescribable. She feels like a circus freak--and no wonder, because she looks like one."

LOL!

Toumanaintz said that from now on he will get written consent from clients before he begins tattooing. I'm surprised he has been working without these up until now, though one cannot compare Belgium to the United States of Lawsuits.

SO--Is she lying about wanting three vs. 56 stars because of her family's reaction? Keep in mind she's a teenager, and it's a proven fact that teenagers lie whenever their lips move.

Yet, why would she ask for 56 stars as he claims she did? How would that number be significant to an 18-year-old girl? It's not like she's celebrating 56 years of marriage or was born on the 56th day of any month or in the 56th month of a Neptunian year. Maybe she meant to memorialized the 56 score she got on a Math test, but somehow I doubt it. Or perhaps she's had a boyfriend for 56 days, but by the next day it would've been 57. Same with the number of times she might have gotten laid. Could she (or anyone) be that stupid?

But, then again, why would a tattoo artist--and owner of his own parlor--draw the Milky Way on her face if all she wanted was a ternary stellar system? Was he high or on some sort of tattooing automatic pilot? He was definitely seeing stars...

And the being asleep part...was she so low on energy, benzos, opiates or who the fuck knows what that she could not communicate what she wanted done to her face and even fall asleep while she was being marked for life?

We'll probably never know for sure.

Frankly, I don't see this girl asking for 56 stars, but I also don't see this dude risking his business by doing something like this. She was stupid for (a) allowing someone with whom there was a language barrier to tattoo her, and (b) asking for a tattoo on her face. But she's 18 years old and, therefore, inexperienced.

This was a misunderstanding, if you ask me. So my vote goes for them split the tattoo removal cost in half and end of story...for him, at least.

Sources: BBC, UK's Daily Mail, Lemon Drop
Copyright © 2009