Note: These are not real pilots. Or are they?

By now, we've all heard about the Northwest Plane That Flew Too Far. But we haven't quite heard the full story on what caused these two fools pilots to stop paying attention during the landing. Until today.

Initially, the pilots said they were distracted by a "heated discussion over airline policy and lost track of their location." But it turns out that the pilots were not even handling the right controls.

The FAA has recently suspended the pilots--First Officer Richard Cole and Captain Timothy Cheney--because they copped to being on their laptops during the crucial moment. They still maintain they were discussing new crew schedules. But yes, their laptops. Laptops in the cockpit. Pilots diddling about on their computers while they were supposed to be landing a plane. Why not pull out your Blackberry and start playing Brickbreaker, for crissakes?

Not surprisingly, there will probably be a crackdown of laptops use by pilots in the future. Peter Greenberg even surmised that this sort of tomfoolery in the cockpit could lead to a flat-out ban of electronics for pilots. ]]> juliana 2009-10-28T16:14:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/1/7205/95172

The Major League Baseball season is almost half over, and fans are already flocking to St. Louis to take in this year’s All-Star Game at Busch Stadium. Since we’ll be following the pennant races before long, we thought it was only natural to start looking forward to the 2010 season. That’s because outdoor baseball will return to Minnesota for the first time since 1981, as the Metrodome closes and Target Field opens.

Last month, the final beam was put in place on the Minnesota Twins’ new home, and the project is on schedule and under budget. Now if it can stay that way, we’ll be in cheap seats in the Budweiser Roof Deck in no time. ]]> kjb 2009-07-01T08:47:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/27/125833/277

Heading to Minneapolis anytime soon? Leave your Axe body spray at home; it's not like the flight attendants have fallen into your lap yet, anyways. You see, Minnesota isn't too happy that Axe's hyper-sexual advertising campaigns have been working so well, causing kids to drench themselves in the potent scents and offend sensitive nostrils.

Apparently the overuse of Axe is so widespread in the City of Minneapolis School District, that they've called for a ban on the stuff.

You'd think that with all this hubbub, flying into Minneapolis airspace would involve descending through a fog layer of aerosol Axe spray, but instead it's simply a case of teachers trying to encourage teenage boys to shower more often. Says StyleList: "One concern prompting suburbia to sound the alarms is the idea that Axe Body Spray is somehow enabling teens to adopt poor hygiene habits."]]> JetSetCD 2009-03-27T13:53:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/9/114925/5832

Just as Jetblue announced that they'll be dropping their "desert run" between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City on April 30, which is coincidentally the #1 city in America for downloading online porn, Southwest has turned our frown upside down with a new route from Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Infiltrating Northwest's Twin Cities hub is a major coup for Southwest, who will be flying from MSP to Chicago's Midway Airport and taking no prisoners along the way. Today marks the first day of the service, and we've been following the @SouthwestAir Twitter through the morning as the the first passengers receive free backrubs and Southwest CEO Gary Kelley makes the rounds.

Competition is very fierce in the under-served Midwest routes, especially when it comes to secondary airports like Midway. According to USA Today's Today in the Sky blog, "airfares between the Twin Cities and Chicago, which had been as low as $100 round-trip, started to rise as soon as AirTran exited." Add to this Southwest's notoriously low fares, and we could be witnessing the sown seeds of a Northwest and Southwest fare war. Hopefully this means we will soon reap $100 flights once again.

Related Stories
· Southwest Enters Minneapolis/St. Paul "fortress hub" [Today In the Sky]
· New Routes Coverage [Jaunted]

[Southwest at MSP check-in photo via Southwest's Twitter]]]> JetSetCD 2009-03-09T13:19:30-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/2/26/9419/07938

Heading to the Twin Cities tonight? Don't forget your mukluks: Minneapolis-St. Paul is expecting six-plus inches of snow today, with the storm starting this morning. And freezing rain and sleet for the side dishes!

Delta in its capacity as new owner of Northwest's major business at MSP is waiving all change fees if you had planned to fly in today. We recommend not being re-routed through Chicago (dense fog advisory!) or the Dakotas (same storm), but anywhere else should be fine. And hey, Delta, way to be proactive.

Related Stories:
· Valentine's Day Winter Storm Creating Travel Mess [Jaunted]
· Winter Storm Shutters Las Vegas Airport [Jaunted]
· Flight Delays coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: smohundro]]]> egw 2009-02-26T11:34:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/29/13151/1976

Now that we know who will join McCain at the big convention, it's time to party all the time with the Republicans in Minnesota.

The SaintPaulitan has released a map of bars that will be temporarily throwing open their doors till 4AM in honor of conventioneers, but do you really want to meet some guy or gal crying into their beer because they hearted Huckabee? ]]> egw 2008-08-29T14:30:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/27/15583/9057

The Walker Art Center now has two mini-golf courses, and we couldn't come up with a better description than the curators did:

In the mockumentary film "This Is Spinal Tap," bassist Derek Smalls suggests that the difference between miniature golf and regular golf is the size of the ball. While the ball remains the same, virtually everything else about mini golf grows--at least on the course of Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf.

For $8 you can play through one of the seven-hole courses, which were designed by local artists. What should you expect? You'll find a pachinko-style hole, a "Water Hazard" hole, pictured, that employs empty bottles as obstacles and even the "Big Kahuna," a sort of frozen-in-place wave. The fun continues until September 7.

Related Stories:
· Walker on the Green: Artist-Designed Mini Golf [Jaunted]
· Highbrow Mini Golf and Public Art [PSFK]
· Golf coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Aaron Landry]]]> pbb 2008-06-27T16:30:06-05:00 44.967668 -93.289280 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/