As the first new feature of the upcoming semester’s Vox, we’d like to turn the admonishing finger of the fourth estate towards certain Georgetown figures who have been thrust into the news for less-than-admirable reasons.

Online political gossip mag Wonkette has recently found itself in the midst of an extensive scandal after writer Jack Stuef (COL ’10) posted an anti-Sarah Palin screed focusing heavily on her disabled three-year old son, Trig. (Note: the post has since been removed and replaced by an apology notice from the editors.)

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Have you ever watched something on television and said to yourself, “I want to try that”?

If that show happens to be “Flying Wild Alaska” and the thing you want to try is an emergency landing of a plane, Vox would highly recommend not doing it. Unfortunately, Georgetown University Medical Center student Jason Maloney seems to disagree with that advice.

When flying near Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY, on Monday evening, one of Maloney’s passengers became ill. Rather than having them become sick on the plane and waiting to land at their destination, Maloney made a request to the air traffic controller to land on the beach.

After being told that a beach landing could only be made in an emergency, Maloney can be heard on the air traffic recording saying, “You know, tower, my engine might be running a little, teensy, teensy bit rough. A little teensy bit rough.”

After Maloney declared an emergency and stated that he would be landing on the beach, the air traffic controller sent police emergency crews to the site where the plane landed. A passenger was throwing up near the plane as the police arrived.

Maloney, who made a successful emergency landing, seemed to still not understand how unorthodox his behavior was.

“What’s the big deal?,” he told the police. “It happens all the time in Alaska.”

Image: The New York Times