Is The Sky Falling?

Tuesday of this week, September 23, a fellow (name unknown) died in a plane crash just a few feet from my pick up truck. Very sad!

• It was 1:30 in the afternoon and it was a beautiful day. The sun was shinning and seemed to be showing off a bit in the afternoon. A cool breeze blew off and on and kept away the humidity. The AC in the truck was off and the window was down to capture some of the day.

• Lunch at 5 Guys was very good and I was full and beginning to have my after lunch sinking spell. I found gasoline at QT for $3.97 so the truck was full as well.

• Without warning a large piece of formed sheet metal came sliding out into the street in front of me while at the same time, there was some unidentified movement to my left front. I swerved to the right to avoid the large metal object which I determined to be the hood off a car.

• I have heard so often on Law and Order, people say, "it all happened so fast," and they could not realize what was happening. It all happened so fast, it was impossible to tell what was really happening. I looked to my left side and saw what I had imagined to be an automobile or something shredded with a little spiral of light smoke headed up.

• That car had to be flying to get that torn up that badly. No one was around the car even thought other cars were passing me headed in the opposite direction. I quickly pulled off the road in front of a white board fence in front of a church. As I ran across the street, I realized it was not a car, but a small plane. When I reached the plane, the whisp of smoke had stopped.

• Yelling, "can you hear me?" No one answered. I yelled out several times, but I knew that there was no one that could be inside the plane and be alive so I started walking around the yard into which the plane had fallen to see if I could see anyone who might have been thrown clear.

• I called 911 and the operator said they had received a call from PDK airport that a plane was down but they didn't know exactly where. I described the location and then broke the connection. I called WSB Radio to tell them to announce it because the Chamblee Dunwoody Road was going to require closing between I 285 and Peachtree Industrial Blvd., A long way and no place to exit.

• By that time, one other car had stopped and the driver had come up to the scene. Both of us began to look at the pile of scrap metal to see if we could see any movement. There was none, but we did discover a person compacted inside the ball of rubble with an arm and hand sticking out of what had been the cabin door.

• By then, the police began to arrive in packs along with three fire trucks. I left!

• The afternoon, while still beautiful, had a sadness. I couldn't help but think about the family who would not have a brother or father or grandfather or son come home Tuesday night. A blue bag sitting beside the wreckage that seemed to not be damaged.
  
• I learned later in the afternoon that the plane was from Jacksonville, Fla., some women's clinic and then I added to the imagination that he may have been airlifting an organ to someone in Wisconsin who would also be disappointed.

CONCLUSION: I do not know anymore than described about the pilot, but I am still sad about it. He had just filled up the gas tanks and it was dripping from inside the ball of metal and filling the air with that smell that is hard to forget. I have sent up many prayers for the soul of the pilot and his family and the people waiting on the other end for him.

Many prayers have been offered for this unfortunate man that he was a Christian and he knew that God was his savior. I pray that he is in Heaven worshipping and praising his God.

Frankie says to be careful, but be ready.