Alabama Fans Crash Plane, Go to Game

[rpadula]

Not sure if I should've posted this in the sports section or not...

When I visit schools outside the South, I'm always amused at how much people think they care about college football. They couldn't possibly comprehend how much people care about college football in Alabama. Here's an example from the news team at WSFA. Four guys got into a Cessna in Mobile Saturday to fly to Tuscaloosa to attend the Ole Miss game. Over my mom's hometown of Selma, both engines failed. The pilot and co-pilot saw a road cutting through a cotton field below and maneuvered for an emergency landing. The wings hit trees on the way down, but the plane and everyone inside survived the impact. So what did the men do after narrowly escaping death? First, they prayed. Then, when most would have arranged a pickup for their extremely expensive wrecked vehicle, found a ride home and thanked their lucky stars to be alive, they left their plane in the middle of a cotton field and hitched a ride to Montgomery, where they rented a car and drove to Bryant-Denny Stadium to watch Alabama steamroll Ole Miss. No, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 fans, you don't care as much as these people. You never will.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ower-rankings-week-5/index.html#ixzz28FTKg4aW
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Lose both engines? Somebody's gonna have some 'splainin' to do!
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[waltm]

The plane is trashed and now owned by the insurance company. I'd have done the same thing. Heck! I'd have probably thrown a party along the way (but all of my planes are over-insured).

 

[hindsight2020]

Further proof that most people look at private aviation as means to get somewhere and not a purist pursuit. I'm a graduate of said university and Alabama fans are very devoted. I never took to the cultural insularism endemic to Alabama and the south s obsessive fascination with another flavor of beer and circuses, but I will concede things like this don't surprise me one bit.

I wonder how the get there itis of making it to a football game played into the adm of these super heroes. Dual engine failure. Hmmm.

 

[ClimbnSink]

Manly men. No crying over running out of gas.

 

[Steve Foley]

From the FAA website:

******************************************************************************** ** Notice created 10/3/2012 Notice 7 ** ******************************************************************************** IDENTIFICATION Regis#: 1537T Make/Model: C421 Description: 421, Golden Eagle, Executive Commuter Date: 09/29/2012 Time: 1854 Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N Damage: Unknown LOCATION City: SELMA State: AL Country: US DESCRIPTION AIRCRAFT FORCE LANDED ON A DIRT ROAD, NEAR SELMA, AL INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0 # Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Pass: 2 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: OTHER DATA Activity: Unknown Phase: Landing Operation: OTHER FAA FSDO: BIRMINGHAM, AL (SO09) Entry date: 10/01/2012

 

[Morne]

At universities where LEARNING MATTERS we expect our graduates to be adequately proficient at math to not run out of gas.

There's rabid and then there's stupid. Were I from that school I wouldn't brag on this point...

 

[nddons]

At universities where LEARNING MATTERS we expect our graduates to be adequately proficient at math to not run out of gas.

There's rabid and then there's stupid. Were I from that school I wouldn't brag on this point...

Yea, it's pretty tough watching SEC football in 80 degree Wx. What rabid fans.

Try coming up to Big 10 territory in late November or December, with windchills of -20F. That would be rabid.

 

[airguy]

Yea, it's pretty tough watching SEC football in 80 degree Wx. What rabid fans.

Try coming up to Big 10 territory in late November or December, with windchills of -20F. That would be rabid.

Nope - that's still stupid.

 

[timwinters]

Call me Deacon Blue

 

[hindsight2020]

I've gone to football games once or twice. I don't pursue any of these activities at all other than enough to say I am somewhat aware of what people are talking about but I must admit I cannot understand the obsession with sports fans? I do wish to understand the psychology though.

Is it a specific kind of people that are drawn to the activity of being a spectator? Is it a social need for acceptance? I admit I have never felt engaged by the idea of watching something versus actually doing something. Perhaps that explains my inability to understand the motivation of sports fans to go to such extreme behavior in order to spectate. Perhaps there are some cultural elements at play (didn't grow up as a child observing adults obsess over sports. Ergo Johnny grows up apathetic toward sport watching).

All in all j just can't get over how extreme the behavior of crashing an aircraft and considering it so tertiary to not get in the way of attending an entertainment venue seems to me. In my world that behavior is irrational. I would like to understand what I'm missing that makes others consider said behavior normal and expected and watching a football game so primal to their lives.