We went to visit Randy in the hospital. I took him copies of Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Steve Vai's Passion and Warfare. It seemed appropriate. One had to imagine it could have all ended right there in January of 1991. No more RANS.
The crash was documented. Ed Wilson was video taping the test flight. After the plane lost power it appeared to plummit almost vertically then disappeared behind the horizon. The harrowing image of that rapid decent would lead one to expect little chance of survival. A horrified Ed Wilson raced toward the estimated crash site. Others in the area had seen the small craft go down and were on the scene within minutes. Randy had pulled himself burned and badly brused from the wreckage, and was lieing on the pickup seat of first responders. When Ed arrived all he saw was an airplane consumed by flames and assumed that Randy was still inside. He immediately turned back bringing the worst possible news to Paula.
Ironically this nightmare scenario would return to haunt Ed in June of 1998. By that time Ed had returned to his former position at Leading Edge Airfoils of Colorado Springs when Bill Raisner Jr, the company's owner, was killed in an ultralight crash while filming a documentary in the Galapagos Islands. This time the horror was real. Bill's widow sold the company and it was moved to Wisconsin.
It can happen.
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