Harlem Shake on a Plane Sparks FAA Investigation (VIDEO)

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CNN:  The FAA is looking into a 31-second video taken on a February 15 Frontier Airliners flight.

On that flight, 18 Colorado College students, on their way to an ultimate Frisbee tournament in San Diego, staged a Harlem shake as the plane soared over the Rocky Mountains.

The students said they had the approval of the flight crew, who let them use the plane’s public address system to tell other passengers about their intentions.

“We wanted to make sure that we followed every regulation and that nothing went wrong, and that it was OK with (the airplane crew),” said team member Matt Zelin. “We just figured being on a plane, you know, you need to make sure everything is safe, and we just talked to flight attendants and they were excited.”

After the plane landed, they posted the video online, and it went viral.

“And so it went from kind of this, kind of joking around idea among the team to something that was reality, and then it was on YouTube and there were hundreds of thousands of views and now we’re talking to you guys,” Zelin said.

The seat belt sign was off during the videotaping, which took less than a minute, team members said.

HUFFPO:  ABC Denver affiliate KMGH confirmed the investigation with the FAA, which initially started the inquiry after viewing the video on YouTube.

Frontier Airlines spokeswoman Kate O’Malley added to KMGH that “[a]ll safety measures were followed and the seat belt sign was off” at the time the video was filmed.

INQUISITR:  And thus the Harlem Shake caught the attention of the FAA — when a clip of passengers Harlem Shake-ing to the iconic song aboard Frontier Airlines Flight 157 garnered more than 600,00 views, and we assume, federal authorities among them.

To their possible credit, the FAA may not be out to harsh your Harlem Shake buzz — former agents explain how while the Harlem Shake on a plane is certainly cute and looks like harmless fun, it’s still a bit risky for reasons that they get the big bucks to recognize.

Steve Wallace, former director of the FAA’s Office of Accident Investigation, expressed adorably genuine remorse when opining that the Harlem Shake is not a great idea in-flight, saying to CNN:

“I hate to be a bureaucratic kill-joy … I think there is a safety issue here. Turbulence injuries are the most common type of injuries, and they are virtually eliminated when people are in their seat belts.”

Wallace also posited the situation could be used as a “ruse for terrorists,” and that flight security could be complicated by Harlem Shake clips in the future. The retired FAA investigator noted it would be “confusing for an air marshal.”

2013-03-01 13:17:31

Source: http://republicanredefined.com/2013/03/01/harlem-shake-on-a-plane-sparks-faa-investigation-video/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harlem-shake-on-a-plane-sparks-faa-investigation-video