Tommy Fitzpatrick

srn121

Well-Known Member
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/TommyFitz-Cessna140s-NYC.htm

You can read the full true story on the website above. I searched this forum and wasn't able to find that the story had been posted here before, but I'm sure at least a few of you have already heard it.

Double Dare and the Art of Drunken Flying…​

Thomas Fitzpatrick and Flying Cessnas Downtown​

Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York​

September 30, 1956 and October 4, 1958​

On the evening of Saturday, September 29, 1956, in a corner bar on 191st Street called Joe's, the husky 26-year-old was attending a bachelor party… As the night turning into the early morning of the 30th, the indulgence in alcoholic drink and merriment continued unabated.

And then someone bet Fitzpatrick that he couldn’t travel from New Jersey to New York City in 15 minutes.

Fitzpatrick accepted the challenge and disappeared into the night.

A Canyon of Brick and Steel…

A short time later, a small red and white Cessna 140 maneuvered it 32-feet wingspan flew down between rows of tenement houses and made a smooth landing on the 60-foot wide St. Nicholas Avenue near 191st Street. With Fitzpatrick at the control, he then taxied up the darkened street to the tavern and shut down the engine shortly before the bar’s 3 am “last call,” where he enjoyed another beer.

Then the police showed up.

Initially, he told police that he borrowed the plane from its owner and had unexpected engine trouble. He regaled his “recollections” of what transpired to police, claiming he drove over from New Jersey that evening for a party, dropped by the tavern in an old neighborhood where he once lived, and then drove back across the Hudson River to the airport at Teterboro. He then "borrowed" a plane and buzzed back to the tavern. “I just had an urge to fly," said Fitzpatrick.

But that story quickly unraveled as experts studied the plane’s motor and saw no issues, so the police arrested Fitzpatrick.

TEFitzpatrick-1956-overother.jpg
Simply Amazing…

Sgt. Harold Behrens, of the Police Aviation Bureau, said the landing was a 100,000-to-one shot—in fact, "almost impossible” while the New York Times called the flight a "feat of aeronautics" and “a fine landing."
 
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