Plane Crazy

Be honest: When you saw the headline about the plane hitting the high-rise in Manhattan, you flinched - just a little. Not the way the folks out in New York City flinched, but I know I winced. New York Yankee Cory Lidle slammed the small plane he was flying into a fifty-story skyscraper Wednesday, killing the pitcher and a second person in a crash that rained flaming debris onto the sidewalks and briefly raised fears of another terrorist attack.
New York Yankees and small planes don't have a terrific track record. Thurman Munson, Yankee catcher, crashed the plane he was flying in 1979. Add Roberto Clemente to that list and the American League is still ahead two to one.
I'm not a fan of little planes. My father died after the one he was riding in caught a power line and flipped just short of the runway. That was some years before September 11, 2001, and it was in rural Colorado - not downtown Manhattan. Not that it matters, really. Even a single engine prop plane makes a pretty nasty mess when they fall from the sky - from any height. Add more coincidence to this story with the anecdote about my father's boss and another co-worker who missed the end of another runway when my dad was still new to the company. Both men died. The sad irony was that he was initially upset about the fact that he was being left behind. Jim Croce. Buddy Holly. John Denver. Singers don't do very well in aircraft with less than twenty seats either.
How eerie is it really? Not that much. Sad, but not that strange. If man were meant to fly, he'd fly business class. Or something like that.
"On a large enough time line, the survival rate for everyone will drop to zero." - Chuck Palahniuk, "Fight Club"