The Time a Drunk Pilot Landed On a Manhattan Street, The '50s were a altered time. A time of poodle skirts and beat hops. A time of bedrock and cycle and malt shops. A time, apparently, if a man could acreage a even in a attenuated artery in Manhattan and airing abroad with annihilation but a $100 fine.
It was September 30, 1956, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, a.k.a. Tommy Fitz, had been out bubbler with friends. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, apparently afterwards adequate a few developed beverages, Fitzpatrick bet his buddies he could get to New Jersey and aback in just 15 minutes. Impossible, you say? So did his buddies. But Fitzpatrick had a hidden advantage: His pilot’s license. Afterwards dematerialization into the night, he alternate to 191st Artery and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights, aerodynamics a single-engine even he had “borrowed” from the Teterboro School of Aeronautics in New Jersey. If originally questioned, Fitz told badge he had engine agitation and had to accomplish an emergency landing. Though he was originally confined with bond set at $5,000, the antic concluded up accepting off with just a $100 fine.
Once would accept been abundant for a lot of people. But Tommy Fitz was not a lot of people. Two years later, the pilot was account his tale, but his “unidentified bubbler friend” banned to accept him. Once again, Fitzpatrick disappeared, alone to acknowledgment a abbreviate while after in a plane. This time he anchored it at 187th Artery and Amsterdam Avenue. Badge accustomed Fitzpatrick’s signature move and were able to apprehend him quickly; this time, he spent six months in jail. “It’s the awful drink,” Fitz after admitted.
It was September 30, 1956, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, a.k.a. Tommy Fitz, had been out bubbler with friends. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, apparently afterwards adequate a few developed beverages, Fitzpatrick bet his buddies he could get to New Jersey and aback in just 15 minutes. Impossible, you say? So did his buddies. But Fitzpatrick had a hidden advantage: His pilot’s license. Afterwards dematerialization into the night, he alternate to 191st Artery and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights, aerodynamics a single-engine even he had “borrowed” from the Teterboro School of Aeronautics in New Jersey. If originally questioned, Fitz told badge he had engine agitation and had to accomplish an emergency landing. Though he was originally confined with bond set at $5,000, the antic concluded up accepting off with just a $100 fine.
Once would accept been abundant for a lot of people. But Tommy Fitz was not a lot of people. Two years later, the pilot was account his tale, but his “unidentified bubbler friend” banned to accept him. Once again, Fitzpatrick disappeared, alone to acknowledgment a abbreviate while after in a plane. This time he anchored it at 187th Artery and Amsterdam Avenue. Badge accustomed Fitzpatrick’s signature move and were able to apprehend him quickly; this time, he spent six months in jail. “It’s the awful drink,” Fitz after admitted.
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment