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TIL in 1996 a plane carrying 163 passengers was hijacked, the pilot, Leul Abate, who had been in two previous hijackings, made the only true water landing of a widebody airliner with survivors, whilst the first officer, Yonas Mekuria, was fighting with the hijackers. Also, the landing is on tape.

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4akX TIL that knots as a unit of measuring speed came ships throwing overboard a line with a board attached and counting how many knots passed through their fingers in 30 seconds.
mx0Bp TIL of the German word "Backpfeifengesicht", which roughly translates to "a face that cries out for a fist in it"
QN4Na TIL Jerry Van Dyke (Dick's brother) was offered the role of Gilligan on Gilligan's Island but turned it down, believing that the show would never be successful. He chose instead to play the lead in My Mother the Car, which is frequently cited as one of the worst television shows of all time.
nll7 TIL in 1954 a teenaged Elvis Presley played his first and only show at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. He was subsequently kicked out of the venue by management because they didn’t like how he was playing country music. He vowed never to return.
gMVmW TIL In the early comics, Aquaman went to college to learn about fish, where he gives himself the clever alias "Mr. waterman" only to out himself as Aquaman to the swim coach.