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Our Pick of the Clicks

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

Oh, no, are they rebooting Lost? Google Maps users were spooked this week by a mysterious satellite image of a commercial airliner that appears to be just...hanging out, far from any flight path, in the forests of North Queensland.

Thank goodness for autopilot: Two Ethiopian Airlines pilots have been suspended after both falling asleep at the controls of their plane (the flight landed safely, but this ties into wider concerns industry-wide about 'pilot fatigue').

Over over-tourism? One photographer has been taking snaps of some of the world's most crowded traveller hot-spots for Instagram selfies.

We're already packed: And the Sardinian government is currently offering a £12,700 home-buying / home-repair grant to travellers who want to come out and live in the island's under-populated rural municipalities.

Yeah, we could live here.

Celebrating Bessie Coleman

All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.

This week, the USA has been celebrating the 100-year anniversary since the first public flight undertaken by Bessie Coleman, the first black pilot in history to hold an international licence (and, as someone with both African-American and Native-American ancestry, the first woman of either heritage to become a licenced pilot in the US).

Coleman was born in 1892, to a family of farmers in Texas; less than 30 years after the US abolition of slavery, it was a time and a place where opportunities were incredibly slim for an ambitious and intelligent young black woman. When she reached adulthood, she used her savings from laundry work to pay for a term at Langston University in Oklahoma - but then quickly ran out of funds after just a term.

At the age of 22, Coleman travelled north to Chicago to try and find more opportunities for employment. And it was there, while working at a beauty salon, she began to hear the astonishing stories of fighter pilots abroad during World War I - and she was inspired.

At least one other African-American flying pioneer and adventurer, Eugene Bullard, had served as a fighter pilot and a war hero for France, while Marie Marvingt, who would go on to spreadhead the invention of air ambulances, had served during the war as history’s first female combat pilot.

In the segregated USA, however, prospective black pilots were still being refused entry to flight schools (and Bullard himself had been turned down from flying alongside his fellow countrymen). Coleman knew that to become a pilot, she'd need to head to Europe. She began furiously studying French during her nights off.

By 1920 and with the help of a Chicago community fund, Coleman had raised enough money to travel to Paris, where she was accepted by a aviation school.

After two years of training under ace European fliers, she returned home to the US to rapidly find fame as a stunt pilot under the name of 'Queen Bess' or 'Brave Bessie', carrying out courageous and dangerous tricks, daredevil manoeuvres and parachute jumps to the delight of crowds.

Bessie’s ambitions were bigger, though; a committed activist against racism, she hoped to use her fame to save up enough money to buy her own plane and ultimately open her own flying school for black pilots in the USA. She worked to use her fame for good, refusing to perform at segregated venues at every opportunity.

“The air,” she said, “is the only place to be free from prejudices.”

Her hopes and ambitions were tragically cut short when she was thrown from a faulty aircraft in 1926, during a test flight - a wrench had been left in the engine, jamming the controls. She died at the age of 34.

Every year since Bessie’s death, African-American fliers - including the legendary Tuskegee Airmen of WWII - have flown over her grave to drop flowers in tribute to an incredible pilot and a true 20th-century aviation pioneer.

To raise awareness of her life and achievements, this week American Airlines hosted Bessie's great-niece, Gigi Coleman, on board a flight from Dallas to Phoenix run by an all-black and female crew.

In the words of the flight's captain, Beth Powell, "Today, I'm beyond thrilled to be a part of the crew where we are inspiring young girls of color to see the various roles that women play in every aspect to make this flight possible."

Thanks for reading!