Islip Airport on New York's Long Island lived up to its name Thursday when a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 bound for Tampa skidded off the taxiway, prompting the crew to tell the air traffic control tower, “We just made your day very exciting,” according to the Aviation Herald.

There were no injuries. Passengers deplaned on to the taxiway.

The FAA reported the aircraft failed to negotiate a turn and exited the taxiway, ending up with the nose gear in the grass.

The Aviation Herald said that it usually does not cover minor ground incidents, but couldn’t resist, due to the crew’s description of the incident to the tower.

A few readers couldn’t resist the opportunity to make puns on pun the airport’s name, with one reader posting a comment saying, “iSlip - Did they take the hint from Apple?”

— Kate Rice
 

Santa One, the reindeer-powered sleigh Santa Claus uses to deliver presents to good children around the world, has been cleared for its worldwide Christmas Eve flight, the Federal Aviation Administration announced today.

Santa One will be faster, quieter and more efficient this year with the help of NextGen technologies being rolled out by the FAA.

One of the biggest benefits from NextGen is that it helps Santa deliver those presents with improved safety, accuracy and reliability to children who are good for goodness’ sake,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Like other pilots, one of Santa’s greatest logistical challenges is navigating the congested airspace above major cities. The FAA is hard at work simplifying air routes around these busy areas through an effort known as the Metroplex initiative. This initiative is based on what the FAA calls Performance-Based Navigation (PBN), a key component of NextGen.

PBN will enable Santa to fly Santa One using radar or satellite coverage, or by utilizing Santa One’s onboard flight management system. PBN will allow Santa to fly shorter, more direct routes, reducing flight time and carrot consumption by Rudolph and the other reindeer.

“Our air traffic controllers, inspectors and technicians have been working overtime with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves to make sure his flight plan is in order and Santa One is working properly,” said Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “We want to make sure Santa has a safe flight around the world, and that the children receive their presents.”

A special team of Santa’s elves has already outfitted the Santa One sleigh with the sophisticated equipment to take advantage of these new routes while also enabling air traffic controllers, and even Mrs. Claus, to know where he is at all times. This is good news for all children, since the improved efficiency will give Santa more time to deliver presents.

This year, Santa will fly from a cruising altitude of 50,000 feet down to rooftops using a satellite-based procedure called an Optimized Profile Descent.

In the past, Santa had to rely on ground-based procedures to descend slowly from one altitude to the next,much like going down a staircase. The Optimized Profile Descent allows Santa to slide gleefully through the air as if riding down the banister, just as some children do on Christmas morning, descending smoothly and gracefully without having to throttle back on Rudolph and the other reindeer.

You can track Santa’s flight on Christmas Eve here.

— Kate Rice
 

Mayan apocalypse or Mayan hype?

The Mayan prophecy that the world will (might, may, could, perhaps) end on Dec. 21 already has left its mark on plenty of travelers and their upcoming travel plans.

The Skyscanner fare-finder site reports that many of its customers have taken a sudden interest in purchasing one-way tickets to places rumored to be safe havens from flames, fires, infernos, super black holes or tsunamis sweeping the globe on that fateful doomsday.

Current destinations of choice for these souls who would prefer not to die include several villages near a mountain in the French Pyrenees that supposedly houses an alien spaceship that will be the sole means of escape after the destruction.

Local authorities are blocking access to the mountain peak from Dec. 19 to 23, except for the 200 hardy village residents who don't believe a word of this hogwash.

A 15th-century Turkish village named Sirince (the word means "pleasant") is another preferred site, probably because it is located near absolutely nothing.

One-way ticket searches and purchases for flights arriving within a week of the 12/21 doomsday date to the south of France and Turkey have shot skyward, according to Skyscanner.

Mexico, too, barely has room at its inns, but for a different reason. There, the apocalypse prophecy has turned into an excuse for one gigantic hoopla and celebration of the Mayan culture. "Let the party begin" is the order of the day.

Some visitors are whipping out their yoga tights and mats to promote the date as the start of a new era of enlightenment.

Hotels near Chichen Itza have been sold out for months, as have incense and firewood for sacred fire ceremonies at various Mayan ruins up and down the Yucatan.

The three hotels in the Condo Hotels group in Playa del Carmen are really covering their bases. Their Doomsday promotion offers the night of Dec. 21 for free for guests booking a three-night stay. Of course, if the dire predictions do come true, Condo Hotels will compensate guests with a double-your-money-back refund. The fact that no one will be around to collect the refunds is a moot point.

A website in Russia posted suggestions for a special "just in case" kit, containing essentials such as matches, a knife to deal with zombies, chocolates, a notepad for jotting down memoirs, a liter of water and a small bottle of anise liqueur, a favorite drink of the Mayan people.

Meanwhile, there are two men in China busy building diesel-powered arcs that reportedly could survive the world-ending flood that's predicted in one scenario.

In Chile, a poll showed that about 25% of the population of 17.3 million intend to skip work on Dec. 21 under some pretext or another.

Leave it to Super Clubs' Hedonism II to turn up the heat on shedding inhibitions on 12/21. To kick off the beginning of the end of the world, the resort plans a Black and White Starlight party, where attendees will have one last chance to show off their sexiest outfits.

That will be followed by Rock Star Night, where guests can party like it's the last night of their lives — or not.
 

— Gay Nagle Myers