When I first heard about Cory Lidle's tragic accident yesterday afternoon, I had no idea it involved the former Blue Jays pitcher. I knew it was a small aircraft and my thoughts immediately went back three days when I was in such a plane flying around Southern Ontario.
Prior to take off in this C-GSIN I asked my pilot, Humble Howard, if there was some sort of parachute or escape hatch should something go horribly wrong. I learned there was no such thing, but he pointed to a Cirrus and explained that the Cirrus had a parachute system. Cory Lidle's plane was a Cirrus SR-20, that very plane Howard pointed out to me.
As Howard says on his blog, "GA pilots do all we can to be safe. We make sure the plane is in working order, fueled correctly and fit before every flight. Pilot error is the cause of the majority of small plane crashes and we all try and minimize that to the best of our ability."
He swears you're in more danger driving on the 401 and I trust him. I went up last weekend and I'd go up next weekend if the forecast was agreeable. We may never know what happened with Lidle's flight yesterday and it's extremely sad, but I doubt it will deter the avid pilots I saw at Buttonville Airport the other day.
