Frontier Airlines announced this week that they will be increasing the fee for checking antlers. Antlers. Gone are the days of moving your prized trophies for a measly $75. Now, if you want to bring your antlers back home with you, it’s going to cost you a full $100.

This news has triggered a full “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” for me. Not a “What were they thinking” type of moment, but a “Where have I been” moment. I consider myself relatively well connected with the industry, and I’ve never heard of airlines even allowing antlers in checked baggage. I suppose it does make sense, considering Frontier’s hub is considered a sort of a Mecca for hunters.

But the genius (or dumb luck) in this is that Frontier was able to boost their brand recognition, all while dealing out bad news. If anyone is going to mention fees for antlers, you’d expect it to be Frontier. That “Whole Different Animal” slogan makes sense now, doesn’t it. Great for strengthening their brand. The other stroke of genius (again, or dumb luck) is that Frontier doled out a whole laundry list of extra fees, none of which created much buzz. In additional to the 33% hike in antler-handling fees, came a 25% increase in fees for unaccompanied minors to $50, a $25 charge for a second checked bag, a termination of the half-priced infant seat policy, and an end to booking pets in the cabin.

With all of this bad news, what did the public focus on?  The same thing I did:  “Frontier carries antlers?”  If I’m a hunter, and I wanted to ensure protection of my prize from my hunting trip, the extra $25 is nothing, and Frontier just raised to the top of my list of airlines since I know they can take them.  Kudos to the Frontier PR team for turning bad news into free advertising (whether they meant to or not).

Now, how much do you think they charge extra to haul these antlers around?

Which brings us to Yves Rossy.  The crazy/courageous pilot who has developed and demonstrated his own jet pack.  So is this guy crazy or courageous?

Looks like the Dash-8 fiascos in Europe have brought out even the creative gaming programers. There is a Danish website that has created a game poking fun at the Dash-8 gear collapses. Can you land a Dash-8 with lame gear? It isn’t in english, but the controls are self-explainatory.

True to Danish humor, even a perfect landing results in a gear collapse. I guess the point is supposed to be “God” pilots can’t even land the Dash-8 without bending it.

Dash ‘n’ Crash

If I were a passenger on that aircraft, I would have been furious that the crew continued to Dayton. The runways are shorter in Dayton than in Atlanta, nobody knew if there was any other damage to the aircraft when tire blew in Atlanta, and at high cruise speeds any small damage can become catastrophic. I would not be suprised to hear the FAA become involved with this crew who decided to leave an airport with some of the longest strips of pavement in the country, and fly 500 miles to declare an emergency and land on a much shorter runway.

After the tragedy of the Concorde, pilots should be well aware of the possibility of catastrophic damage from runway debris on takeoff, including your own tire.

Andrei Lyssov found his way into the wheel well of a 737 for an 800 mile flight from Perm, Siberia to Moscow. Amazingly when the aircraft landed, the boy was still alive. Officials in Moscow said his clothes were frozen to his body, and added “the fact the boy was from Siberia and was conditioned to extremely cold temperatures may have helped him to survive.” 800 miles, -50 degrees celcius or Farhenheit (not even that matters when its that cold), and virtually unbreathable air due to lack of pressurization.

So just how comfortable is riding below coach class? I found a picture of the wheel well of a 737, which doesn’t seem to show much room for more than one 11 year-old kid. The amazing thing is that even if you find a way to get into the wheel well, how do you know the space you’re occupying isn’t planned to be occupied by the thousand pound landing gear? Now that there has been a successful stowaway in such drastic conditions, expect Ryanair to start selling tickets in the wheel well. At the very least, you’ll see advertisements for stowaways. Never a lost chance to earn more revenue!