THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408260298
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 54 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: Ron Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Driving to work on the bypass through Nags Head a couple of mornings ago, I suddenly realized how mortal we all are, even when disaster seems the most remote of all possibilities.
What prompted the realization was recalling the story about the plane that had landed atop a car on the highway not far from where I was placidly motoring.
And I thought of how scared I would be if out of the blue, without warning, a plane dropped on my car.
My heart would probably stop. It is hard to envision the sight of an airplane crashing down on a car, bouncing a couple of times and then careening to a stop along the road.
I don't think I could have handled the shocking event with the aplomb of Margaret Bradley of Kill Devil Hills, who was able to discuss the crash rather casually a couple of days later.
But what a frightening way to end a vacation it was for the visiting family of five from Virginia who were taking an aerial tour of the Outer Banks when the engine of the plane died and they glided to a landing on Bradley's white Oldsmobile.
Miraculously, nobody was hurt in that incident on a busy highway on a Saturday afternoon.
It could have been a major disaster, if cars had started crashing into each other as they often do without such a weird prompting on the bypass that usually is bumper-to-bumper in traffic on summer Saturdays.
But the motorist, the pilot and the five passengers escaped without a scratch.
That wasn't the case in three other incidents in the past two weeks on the Outer Banks that claimed the lives of vacationers here to have a good time.
And their deaths are tragic reminders that just as there was a snake in Eden, there are dangers in the good life on the Outer Banks.
The sea and the sounds that draw many of our visitors offer wonderful opportunities for young and old to shed the worries of more hectic environments - swimming, sailing, surfing, fishing, skiing. Mother Nature can provide a warm refuge for those seeking a respite from an often-cold world.
But as watermen who ply the waters for a living can tell you, Mother Nature isn't always cuddly and big-hearted and bountiful. With little warning, she can quickly turn angry and mean and hostile.
The deaths of the three visitors in separate accidents should remind residents and tourists alike that danger accompanies any trip in or on the water.
One of the vactioners who drowned was an Ohio man trying to rescue his wife in heavy seas near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. She was pulled to safety by rescue teams, but her husband died. Another visitor, a Thai native who had been living in Virginia, died when he apparently lost control of a windsurfer on the Roanoke Sound. And a Virginia teenager was fatally injured when his jet-ski crashed on the waters of Southern Shores.
There was no connection to their deaths except that they died in the water doing what they came here to do - enjoy the bounties of a beautiful part of America.
And we all suffer with the survivors who have to deal with such untimely endings of loved ones who had come here with high hopes of enjoying a summer holiday.
There are clothes to be gathered, and cars to be driven back home, and souvenirs to be assembled, and pictures to be developed that may bring more pain that happiness.
Occurring when they were here celebrating life, the deaths of the three visitors are particularly tragic.
Let us be thankful that Margaret Bradley, the pilot and the family of five who landed safely on her car were not part of the tragedy. by CNB