REPUBLICANS Mic Dropped: Debate commission admits 'issues' with Trump’s audio Published September 30, 2016 FoxNews.com

The Commission on Presidential Debates admitted Friday there were indeed issues with Donald Trump’s audio at Monday’s debate – four days after the Republican nominee complained about sound issues inside the venue and was mocked for it by Hillary Clinton.

“Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump's audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall,” the CPD said in a short statement Friday afternoon. 

While Trump already has taken a drubbing from political analysts for aspects of his performance Monday, the unusual -- and belated -- statement from the commission boosts his claim that he was having microphone problems. 

"I was a little bit upset that the microphone in the room wasn’t working," Trump told reporters Monday night.

The next day, he continued to bring up the sound issues.

"My microphone in the room, they couldn’t hear me," Trump said on Fox and Friends. "I wonder if it was set up that way,” he added. “It was terrible."

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Trump said there had been no issue with the microphone before the debate, and suggested a more sinister motive at play.

“I don’t want to believe in conspiracy theories of course, but it was much lower than hers and it was crackling,” he said.

Clinton mocked the complaints at the time.

“Anybody who complains about the microphone is not having a good night,” she told reporters Tuesday.

Some in the Trump campaign also have suggested the audio problems are why Trump’s microphone picked up on his breathing so acutely. During the early part of the debate, he was mocked on social media for what sounded like sniffling. Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean even questioned whether it was a sign he's a "coke user" (for which Dean was also ridiculed).

However, the CPD’s short statement only referred to issues inside the hall, and not how it came across on television.

Trump mentioned the issue again late Friday, telling a crowd in Michigan: "When you have 100 million people watching, what do you do, stop the show? It was bad, I wonder why."

Clinton campaign Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri tweeted in response to the CPD announcement that the mic wasn't Trump's problem.

Mic Dropped: Debate commission admits 'issues' with Trump’s audio

DEMOCRATS It's Alive: FBI files reveal how Clinton server was created in K Street lab Catherine Herridge By Catherine Herridge, Pamela K. Browne Published September 30, 2016 FoxNews.com

If Hillary Clinton’s ‘homebrew’ server ever got the Mary Shelley treatment, IT specialist Bryan Pagliano would make a fine Dr. Frankenstein – FBI documents reveal new details about how he painstakingly created the machine over a series of months while working in a room along Washington’s storied K Street.

According to files released last Friday evening, Pagliano worked to design and build the now-infamous server inside a room once used as part of Clinton’s campaign headquarters. On the street known as Washington’s power corridor, Pagliano even used computer remnants from Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential bid, where he had worked as an IT specialist.

The story of how the server came into existence became clearer thanks to witness interviews known as 302s. Though they were highly redacted, the bureau files include new details Pagliano revealed in a June 24 interview with the FBI.

In that interview, Pagliano said it was longtime Clinton Foundation aide Justin Cooper who asked him to build the server “in the fall of 2008” and that Pagliano completed the work in early 2009. (Pages 155, 163)

After the server’s completion in the makeshift lab on K Street, Pagliano stated that he “rented a minivan and drove to Chappaqua New York to install the email server in the Clinton residence.” 

Pagliano and Cooper were separately interviewed by the FBI five times during the bureau’s investigation into Clinton’s use of private server and private email for government business while secretary of state. According to the reviewed documents, Pagliano was interviewed first on Dec. 22, 2015 and again six months later on June 21, 2016.  

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Cooper was interviewed three times -- once in 2015 and twice in 2016 -- and appeared before Congress. Pagliano was one of five people who received limited immunity from the Justice Department, has taken the Fifth and refused to testify before Congress. 

In his interviews with the FBI, Pagliano said that “he could not recall any existing computer systems at the Chappaqua residence other than the Apple server described previously to the FBI.” 

Widely published reports including one in the New York Times indicated that Clinton was informally announced as Obama’s choice of secretary of state on Nov. 22, 2008, with her formal nomination on Dec. 1. After working in her 2008 presidential campaign, Pagliano joined Clinton in the State Department as an employee and IT specialist, but he also continued to work on the homebrew server he built.

Pagliano, though, insisted to the FBI that he “believed the email server he was building would be used for private email exchange with Bill Clinton aides.” 

In addition, it was during his second interview with the FBI in June, that Pagliano suddenly “recalled being given a list of user names and passwords that Cooper asked to be transferred from Cooper’s Apple server to Pagliano’s system.” (Page 164)

The 302 continued, “Pagliano did not recall transferring an account for Hillary Clinton and does not know how her account was installed on the server he built.” 

Justin Cooper did not work for the State Department but stated in his March 2016 interview that he registered the domain, clintonemail.com, because he handled financial issues for the Clintons.  Cooper continues to works for Clinton Foundation entities which include Teneo. 

Despite handing out limited immunity deals to five people including Pagliano, FBI Director James Comey has stated that Clinton’s actions with her email practices were “extremely careless” -- but not criminal. As a presidential candidate once again, Hillary Clinton continues to refer to the server and her use of private email as “a mistake.”

Strikingly, Cooper also said in his March interview that Hillary Clinton “had Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF’s) in both her New York residence as well as her residence in the District of Columbia (DC).”

In his last interview with the FBI in June, Cooper suddenly remembered there were also two identical iMac computers inside what were supposed to be tightly secured rooms used to review classified materials. The interview states, “Cooper recalled a personally-owned iMac computer in the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) of both the Washington, DC and Chappaqua, NY residences of Hillary Clinton.”

Cooper added he did not have the combination to open the SCIF and admitted: “The SCIF doors at both residences were not always secured.” This on its face is a direct violation of security protocol. 

Cooper added further insight into close aide Huma Abedin’s access to the SCIFs by stating “Abedin was frequently there but did not know if Abedin could access the SCIF when it was secured.”

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine “Fox Files” and later, “War Stories.”

It's Alive: FBI files reveal how Clinton server was created in K Street lab

Man Comforted NJ Train Victim During Death

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 Man Comforted NJ Train Victim During Death Rahman Perkins comforted New Jersey Transit train crash victim Fabiola Bittar de Kroon as she died.

POLITICS Pentagon chief urges Southeast Asia security cooperation KO OLINA, Hawaii (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Friday opened talks in Hawaii with his counterparts from 10 Southeast Asian nations, even as U.S. relations with the Philippines, a longtime American ally, grew shakier.

September 30, 2016

Carter said in opening comments to the meeting at a seaside resort on the island of Oahu that he wants to encourage more regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific on key issues like maritime security and combatting terrorism.

As part of a broader Obama administration push to "rebalance" its security interests by paying greater attention to Asia and the Pacific after 15 years focused mainly on the Middle East, Carter is pitching the idea of an Asian security "network."

"The network will help us uphold important principles like resolving disputes peacefully; ensuring countries can make their own choices free from foreign coercion and intimidation; and preserving the freedom of overflight and navigation guaranteed by international law," he said.

A more immediate issue not mentioned by Carter in his formal remarks is a steep deterioration in relations with the Philippines. When Carter visited the Philippines in April, he praised the strength of the partnership. Earlier this week in San Diego he called U.S.-Philippine defense relations "ironclad."

That seeming closeness took a sharp downturn when Rodrigo Duterte was elected president in June. In early September, President Barack Obama canceled a meeting with Duterte after the Philippine leader publicly called him a "son of a bitch." Later, Duterte said he regretted the comment.

Earlier this week, Duterte said joint military exercises of Filipino and American troops scheduled for next week will be the last such drills, although his foreign secretary quickly said the decision was not final. Duterte said the Philippines will maintain its military alliance with the United States because they share a 65-year-old mutual defense treaty.

And on Friday, Duterte raised the rhetoric over his bloody anti-crime war to a new level, comparing it to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be "happy to slaughter" 3 million addicts. Aides to Carter said he likely would seek clarification in Hawaii from his Philippine counterpart, Delfin Lorenzana, regarding the future of U.S.-Philippine military exercises. Lorenzana is well-known to U.S. officials after serving for more than a decade at the Philippine Embassy in Washington prior to taking the defense portfolio after Duterte was elected.

US Police: Autopsies done for sisters found dead in Seychelles VICTORIA, Seychelles (AP) — Two American sisters found dead in their tropical island villa while vacationing in Seychelles died of excess fluid in their lungs, according to police in the African archipelago nation.

September 30, 2016

Annie Marie Korkki, 37, and Robin Marie Korkki, 42, were found motionless in the bed of their villa last week by hotel staff at the Maia resort on Mahe, Seychelles' main island. Police spokesperson Jean Toussaint told local media that the women were seen drinking and were helped to their room by hotel personnel the night before they were found dead.

Autopsies conducted Wednesday determined the Minnesota natives died from acute pulmonary edema, or having fluid in their lungs, according to a police report obtained by Minnesota television station KARE. Cerebral edema, or fluid in the brain, was also cited in Annie Korkki's death.

The report also said no visible signs of injuries were found. Police said the autopsies were conducted by a forensic pathologist in the neighboring Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. The investigation is ongoing and toxicology tests are pending, police said.

Many things can cause acute pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, said Dr. Patrick Lank, a Northwestern Medicine assistant professor of emergency medicine in Chicago. Emergency rooms commonly see it in drug overdoses and alcohol poisoning, he said, but it might also come from a viral infection.

"Two people at the same time is odd," Lank said. "It suggests more of a toxicologic or environmental cause, or a potential infection if they're traveling together." An itinerary found at the Maia hotel indicated the sisters had been touring Africa since Sept. 1, and that they had visited Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar before arriving in Seychelles on Sept. 16. Annie Korkki lived in Denver, while Robin Korkki lived in Chicago.

Their brother, Chris Korkki of Lakeville, Minnesota, told The Associated Press on Thursday that his sisters were adventurous women who wanted to experience life to the fullest. "They were frequent travelers both domestically and internationally," he said. "They were kind and generous and compassionate, and were wonderful people that had a positive impact on a huge number of people."

He didn't immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment Friday. A spokesman for Seychelles police was unavailable for comment Friday. The Maia hotel released a statement confirming the sisters were found by a hotel employee who tried to wake them. The statement said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends."

POLITICS The Latest: NAACP leader praises release of shooting videos EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a police shooting of an unarmed black man in a San Diego suburb (all times local): 3:15 p.m. The head of the San Diego NAACP is applauding the public release of videos showing a police officer police shooting an unarmed black man.

September 30, 2016

NAACP president Andre Branch joined El Cajon police and public officials Friday at a news conference on the release of the videos of Tuesday's shooting of Alfred Olango. Branch says full disclosure to the public builds trust and demonstrates respect.

He spoke shortly before the videos were shown. Branch and other black leaders in the area had urged the release of the video footage after authorities initially released only a single still image earlier in the week they said showed Olango in a "shooting stance" during the confrontation with officers.

Police Chief Jeff Davis says Olango's family was invited to watch the video footage before it was made public but declined the invitation. Davis says he does not know why.

3 p.m.

Police have released two videos showing the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by an officer in a San Diego suburb.

The videos show the officer almost immediately fired when the man suddenly raised both hands in what has been described as a shooting stance.

Another officer who just walked up fired a stun gun.

El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis says the decision to release the videos Friday came after small but increasingly violent protests.

12:55 p.m.

Police say they will release videos of the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by an officer in a San Diego suburb.

The release expected later Friday comes after protesters and the family of the dead man demanded to see the full cellphone video from which a single frame had been released showing the man in what was described as a "shooting stance."

They claimed the image had been "cherry-picked" to support the police version of the shooting.

A police statement said the video and an unspecified surveillance video will be distributed at a 2 p.m. PDT briefing at the El Cajon Police Department.

10:50 a.m.

Pastors have led dozens of people in a prayer for healing in a San Diego suburb following days of angry and sometimes violent protests over the police killing of an unarmed black man.

Ministers on Friday said they are hurting over the death of Ugandan refugee Alfred Olango and called for unity outside El Cajon police headquarters.

Police say Olango was fatally shot after he quickly drew an object from his pocket and pointed it at an officer in a "shooting stance." Police were responding to a report of a mentally unstable man.

Clergy emphasized that diversity is a strength in the community where thousands of refugees make their home. Minsters who attended had immigrated from Jordan, Vietnam and Iraq.

One minister speaking in Arabic called for peace.

POLITICS 5 soldiers killed in attack on Mexican army convoy MEXICO CITY (AP) — The sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman were likely behind a brazen ambush on a military convoy using grenades and high-powered guns that left five soldiers dead and 10 wounded on Friday, officials said.

(1 of 7) Forensic workers cover the body of a soldier who was killed when a military convoy was ambushed with grenades and high-powered guns, killing five soldiers in the city of Culiacan, Mexico, Friday, Sept. 30, 2016. Local military commander Gen. Alfonso Duarte said it is very probable that the attack was carried out by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

September 30, 2016

The attack in Mexico's northern Sinaloa state left two military vehicles completely burned out and dead soldiers scattered across a highway. It was apparently launched to free a wounded drug suspect being transported in an ambulance guarded by the convoy.

"Up this point we are not certain about this group, but it is very probable that it was the sons of Chapo," said local military commander Gen. Alfonso Duarte. The pre-dawn ambush was the worst attack on military personnel since 2015, when drug cartel gunmen in the state of Jalisco shot down an army helicopter with a rocket launcher, killing 10 people.

Friday's attack on the outskirts of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, was unusual for the Sinaloa cartel, which Guzman headed until he was re-arrested in January. Some believe his sons are now running the gang and have changed the rules of engagement long practiced by the father, who kept a low profile until last year. However others say "El Chapo's" longtime partner Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is in control.

The fierceness of the attack suggested that whoever was travelling in the ambulance escorted by the convoy was a high-ranking member of the cartel, or a person of interest to the gang. "These groups acted with cowardice, in a premeditated manner, and the carried out the attack with weapons, with grenades," while the soldiers had only automatic weapons, said Duarte.

Duarte said the attack was launched to free the suspect, who he identified as Julio Oscar Ortiz Vega, though he acknowledged the name might be a pseudonym. Duarte said the wounded man had been picked up by soldiers following a gun fight in Badiraguato, Guzman's hometown. Duarte said that Guzman's brother, known by his nickname as "El Guano," has been fighting a turf battle against the Beltran Leyva cartel in the area "to control the means of drug production," which include opium poppy fields.

The Defense Department said in a statement that an army patrol had been attacked in Badiraguato and returned fire; the wounded man was taken into custody when the rest of the attackers fled. Because local hospitals couldn't give him the care he needed, an army patrol was taking him to Culiacan when it came under attack. The attackers took the ambulance and the wounded suspect before fleeing. Among those wounded in the convoy were the ambulance driver and one soldier who suffered severe injuries.

Meanwhile, authorities in Jalisco said Thursday they have found a total of nine bodies near a lake popular with tourists. Jalisco state Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer said the bodies of eight men and one woman have not yet been identified, in part because of the rural nature of the area and the lack of witnesses.

The bodies have been found over the last few days in a river that leads out of the eastern end of Lake Chapala, near the border with the state of Michoacan. In 2013, 64 bodies were found in mass graves in area nearby.

That is the opposite end of the lake from the town of Chapala, popular among tourists and American retirees.

US Mother sues airline for flying 5-year-old son to wrong city NEW YORK (AP) — A woman has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue Airways for mixing up her 5-year-old son with another boy and flying him to the wrong city. Maribel Martinez charged in the lawsuit that she suffered "great emotional distress, extreme fear, horror, mental shock, mental anguish and psychological trauma" when she went to meet her son's Aug. 17 flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport and he wasn't on it.

(1 of 3) Raphael and Maribel Martinez comfort their son Andy after a press conference at their lawyer's office, Friday Sept. 30, 2016, in New York. Maribel Martinez has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue Airways for mixing up Andy with another boy and flying him to the wrong city.

September 30, 2016

The little boy, Andy Martinez, had been mistakenly put on a flight to Boston's Logan Airport instead of the flight to Kennedy. According to the court papers, JetBlue staffers at Logan escorted Andy to a woman he had never seen before and told him he was being reunited with his mother. Meanwhile, a boy who was supposed to be on the flight to Boston had been put on Andy's New York-bound flight and was presented to Martinez.

It took three hours for JetBlue to sort out what had happened and put the mother and son on the phone with each other, the lawsuit charges. Both boys had flown out of Cibao International Airport in the Dominican Republic. The boy who was flown to New York instead of Boston has not been publicly identified.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Martinez's attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, said she also hopes to shine a light on JetBlue's practices and prevent such a mix-up from happening again. JetBlue Airways Corp., which is based in New York, doesn't comment on pending litigation, a spokesman said.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 Tulsa Officer in Court for Shooting of Black Man Tulsa officer Betty Shelby did not say anything at her first court appearance Friday. She is charged with first-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting...

Tulsa Officer in Court for Shooting of Black Man

US North Dakota tavern takes trademark as North American center BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Crediting "barstool science," a small-town tavern in central North Dakota is laying claim as the center of North America after snatching the title from a nearby city that allowed its trademark to lapse.

(1 of 1) A twenty one foot tall obelisk marks the spot the town of Rugby says is the Geographic center of North America, in Rugby N.D. The town built the obelisk in 1932 and has trademarked the title. Hanson's Bar in Robinson is now touting its continental bull's-eye status after snatching the title from the nearby city of Rugby that allowed its trademark to lapse.

September 30, 2016

Hanson's Bar in Robinson — a town of fewer than 40 people — is now touting its continental bull's-eye status, dismissing Rugby's decades-long claim as the continental nucleus. And people in Rugby, a town of about 2,900 about 85 miles north, are miffed.

"It's upsetting," said Dale Niewoehner, Rugby's former mayor and the city's unofficial historian. "We spent a lot of time, money and energy marketing this distinction." Niewoehner said Rugby officials found out this week the town had lost its trademark phrase "Geographical Center of North America" to the bar in Robinson.

Bill Bender, mayor of Robinson and one of a dozen owners of the bar, said patrons always have been suspect of Rugby's claim. Through research, Bender and others discovered that Rugby's trademark expired about 20 years ago. Patrons raised $350 to buy the trademark and sent it off to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The paperwork came in the mail a few weeks ago, after a yearlong wait, he said.

The debate over North America's geographical center began almost 90 years ago when a respected federal mathematician stuck a pin in a cardboard map of the continent and recorded the coordinates of where it balanced on his finger, said David Doyle, a former chief geodetic surveyor with the National Geodetic Survey.

Doyle said the 1928 stickpin balancing calculation put the geographic center in North Dakota's Pierce County, about 16 miles southwest of Rugby, 5 miles north of Orrin, and 6 miles west of Balta. Both of those towns also have claimed to be the continent's center but never trademarked the phrase.

Zealous leaders in Rugby saw the commercial potential and began promoting the town as the geographic center of North America, and in 1932 built a 21-foot-tall rock obelisk marking the supposed spot. The town enforced its trademark for years, even threatening a legal action in the 1980s when Pierre, South Dakota, tried to stake a claim.

Niewoehner said the city dropped the ball by allowing the trademark to lapse. He said city officials are mulling what action, if any, can be taken. Bender and his fellow tavern owners believe they can back up their claim. Through "barstool science," they have concluded that global warming has melted the polar ice cap, moving the land mass south until North America's centermost spot lies about in the center of their 45-foot-long bar.

"We're pretty confident if you come in and have a beer you'll see we can very well make the case," he said.

AIRLINES 'Real Housewives' star Kandi Burruss claims she was kicked off Hawaiian Airlines flight Published September 30, 2016 FoxNews.com

 (AP File Photo)

Is Kandi Burruss still flying above the drama?

Not on Hawaiian Airlines, according to a recent Instagram post from the Real Housewives of Atlanta star.

On Thursday, Burruss claimed that she and husband Todd Tucker were kicked off a Hawaiian flight “for no reason.”

"This was so crazy & random!" the singer-songwriter posted Thursday night with a video of the plane at the gate. "We were sitting in our seat & the gate ticketer came on & asked to see my ticket because it wasn't showing up in their system. I gave him my ticket but it had our baggage claim checks on the back. He never brought it back & the plane started rolling off. I asked the flight attendant where was my ticket & told him I needed the baggage claim ticket just in case my bags didn't make the flight."

Burruss says things went from bad to worse when a flight attendant left, then came back after allegedly speaking with the pilot.

She continues, “then the next thing I know this lady comes on the plane & said she needed Todd & I to get off the plane because we caused some sort of commotion... Really????" the reality star continues. "I barely said a word to that flight attendant. Everybody sitting around us was like what are they talking about! This s**t is crazy."

In the Instagram video, Burruss advises “never ride Hawaiian Airlines.” She also alleges that the pilot wanted Tucker and Burruss gone because they “caused some kind of commotion,” but contends that she was quiet throughout the ordeal.

FoxNews.com has reached out to Hawaiian Airlines for comment.

Of course, the “Atlanta” Housewife isn’t the only celebrity who’s been kicked off a flight. In July, basketball star Lamar Odom was reportedly kicked off a Delta flightafter vomiting on the aircraft. 

LONGEVITY 5 bizarre accidents that people survived against all odds stat.png By Leah Samuel Published September 30, 2016

 (iStock)

Sometimes against all odds and in defiance of science, people manage to withstand experiences that really should have killed them.

Take these five stories, for example, of people getting impaled, crushed, and literally blown up — and surviving to tell the tale.

A stick through the brain

Getting impaled through the brain is usually deadly because the brain controls all sorts of things we don’t think about — breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure, for one. Yet in 1848, railroad worker Phineas Gage survived getting impaled by a 3.5-foot, 13-pound rod he was using to pack a hole with explosives.

As the 25-year-old turned to greet coworkers, an explosion in the hole shot the heavy iron rod through Gage’s jaw, brain, and skull, like this. Like a javelin, the rod landed several yards away. Unlike a javelin, it was carrying a bit of brain with it. Gage lived for another 12 years, saddled with a drooping eyelid, seizures, and dramatic emotional and cognitive problems. He remains a subject of medical fascination to this day.

Forced through a small hole 

Moving at high speed through a hole that’s far smaller than your body can result in stripped skin, dislocated joints, broken bones, and crushed or punctured organs. That’s what happened to welder Matthew Lowe in 2008, when his overalls got caught in a factory machine that transports metal parts.

He felt his skin rip and heard his arm snap as the mechanism yanked him through a 5-inch opening, dragging him along the conveyor. The machine spat him out, screaming, from the other end with a broken back, pelvis, hips, and ribs, and a ruptured stomach and bowel. Six operations and many metal pins later, the 25-year-old Lowe was back to work at the factory, hoping to get off the factory floor by training as a supervisor.

Falling onto an air hose

Allowing air into the body any way but through respiratory system can kill. A pocket of air, or embolus, can enter the bloodstream and travel quickly to the brain, quickly causing death. But factory worker Steven McCormack of New Zealand survived an accident in 2011 in which he fell, butt first, onto the nozzle of an air hose.

He screamed as his skin separated from underlying fat and muscle while high-pressure air filled much of the available space, expanding his body to nearly twice its normal size. At the hospital, the inflated man found that doctors couldn’t do much, so they waited while he deflated — loudly.

McCormack went home with medications and an unbelievable story to tell. How did he survive? Nozzle placement — it punctured his buttock but didn’t hit any major blood vessels.

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Caught in an up-up-updraft

When 35-year-old paraglider Ewa Wisnierska went for a practice glide in 2007 as storm clouds gathered above her, the result was an unscheduled flight across the Australian countryside in little more than the clothes she was wearing.

High winds whisked her up at 70 feet per second to just over 30,000 feet above ground and pushed her, frozen and bruised by hail reportedly the size of tennis balls, some 40 miles from where she started. Wisnierska fell unconscious during the flight, but came to after a while and steered herself out of the sky and onto a farm. Her main injury? Frostbite.

Dropped out of the sky

We humans have an uneasy relationship with gravity. We count on and appreciate it for helping us stay grounded, and for keeping objects where we left them. But we also have to be concerned about falling, whether off a chair, down the stairs, or, in the case of New Zealander Michael Holmes, from the sky.

After leaping from a plane in 2009, the skydiving instructor ended up with both his main parachute and the backup chute disabled. Falling at a reported rate of 70 miles per hour, he should have died from internal injuries. Instead, the lucky leaper landed on a blackberry bush, sustaining only a broken ankle and a collapsed lung.