Maybe Airplanes Weren't Such A Great Invention After All
"On a street of brownstones in Park Slope, Brooklyn—a run-down neighborhood politely described at the time as being “in transition”—one plane, a state-of-the-art jetliner, gouged long-lasting scars. The tail slammed down in an intersection. White-hot engines, smoldering cargo and badly burned bodies fell nearby. A stream of jet fuel touched off a fire that grew to seven alarms and destroyed 10 buildings and a church. Two men selling Christmas trees on a corner and a man shoveling snow were killed."
—If you live in New York, and have, for the past nine years, watched every airplane that passes overhead with a bit of secret dread, waiting for a sudden change in direction, a violent dive, ready to sound the alarm (and why wouldn't you do this?), you might not want to read this account of when two planes crashed in mid-air over Park Slope. But I do/have/did. And I'm looking forward to the rest of the Times' weeklong series on the disaster that happened 50 years ago this Thursday.
Shoveling snow is dangerous!
So what's your password, Dave? Mine is NYCherette4eva
In a former life, I was involved in strategy consulting and one client was a Federal organization very close to Dulles Airport in Virginia.
One day my boss and I were walking outside during a break from client sessions when we saw a 747 thunder over our heads. My boss shook his head and said, "It'll never work."
(And crap, occasionally it doesn't.)
It's interesting that the Times is using this as a device for comparing then and now, when they could probably do the same with the neighborhood affected by November 2001 plane crash (in Queens, I think) that killed quite a few more people.
The Rockaways. But "50 yrs ago.." is a convenient peg.
…and who in Park Slope doesn't read the Times?
Hey, I was there! In the rockaways! On 11/11/01, when the plane crashed. It landed about 10 blocks from my apartment – woke me up and shook the house like crazy. Ask if you want to know more!