Well, here we are in Fort Lauderdale on vacation. We arrived at our hotel Wednesday February 27 about 02:00. The plane arrived at midnight. And today March 4, is Sandra's nth birthday (n=an even number that shall not be named). We are going out for a lobster supper at The Capital Grille on East Sunrise Blvd. Reservation at 18:00 to celebrate!
We have taken many long walks, 10km (6.2 mi) or so once or twice a day. Lots of sun. our Deauville Hotel has a pool and is very comfortable to sit and snooze or read.
On Friday March 1 we witnessed a plane crash. Only the pilot was killed which was a miracle. Shortly before 12 noon we were sitting reading by the pool. We heard a small plane approaching. It was a bright yellow Piper PA25, similar to the single-passenger crop dusters we see on the prairies. I saw it pass low and slow nearly overhead, wobbling as though it was near a drop-out-of-the-sky aerodynamic stall. It banked left into the wind, towing a banner, and cleared the power lines. I saw the pilot, with his cockpit windows pulled back, trying to control the aircraft. I don't know why he did not increase to full power. As a pilot I keep wondering what really happened. Anyway, about four seconds later there was a tremendous bang and then a deadly silence. The plane had stuck the concrete wall of a condo building around the 16th floor level and the wreckage then fell to the pool deck, which was under construction. It was an absolute miracle that no-one else was injured and there was no fire. The pilot was 28-years old, building hours to get his commercial license.
I keep wonder why!! I think he was having mechanical problems because the engine was not opened to full throttle to full power. To me it seemed he was only at about 25% power when he passed overhead. If he knew he was going down and was having engine trouble, then may be he was a hero because he did everything he could to clear the power lines. If he had turned the other direction, downwind, his airspeed was so low that he would have stalled and dropped out of the sky on top of beach sunbathers.
On the other hand maybe it was suicide and he was purposely choosing his target so as to not kill anyone else. Otherwise why did he hit the concrete (not a window) in the middle of a 50-foot (17-metre) wide building rather than flying around it. Now we will never know. Some say that his banner snagged on something and that caused the problem. No-one really knows.
We are here in Fort Lauderdale until this Friday March 8. Then we fly to Toronto, and on to Ottawa on Saturday. We will stay at our friend Victoria's condo, and visit Shauna and the three boys in Ottawa. On Wednesday the 13th we wend our way back west. Sandra arrives home to Inuvik on Friday the 15th. I make a detour to Regina to visit Anne who is home from Viet Nam, and to Saskatoon to visit Lynn and Derrick as well as Don Shenton, and maybe an old high school buddy, another Don S. I don't get back to Inuvik until March 21.
Well there you are. That will do for today. At 4:30 we will leave the hotel for our three mile walk to the restaurant.
