Is this the greatest ever barroom bet?

[Blue_Tires]

While drinking a Pilot bet he could land outside the bar, 2 hours later he touched down in central New York in a stolen aircraft. Years later he repeated the stunt because someone wouldn't believe him.



1st flight
In September, 1956 after drinking heavily at a bar in New York City, Thomas Fitzpatrick made an intoxicated barroom bet that he could travel from New Jersey to New York City in 15 minutes. At 3 a.m. he stole a single engine plane from the Teterboro and flew without any lights or radio before landing on St. Nicholas Avenue near 191st Street in front of the bar where the bet was made. The New York Times called it a "fine landing" and a "feat of aeroneutics". For his illegal flight, he was fined $100 after the plane's owner refused to press charges.

http://imgur.com/gallery/j2mrL

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/long-ago-a-pilot-landed-on-an-uptown-street-thats-where-the-bar-was/?_r=0

[rurallib]

1. History! That's why I come to the Lounge

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. If anyone had any lingering doubts... only in America..... It cuts

so many ways, some bad, some good, some off-the-dial crazy.

[Major Nikon]

2. The plane looks like a Stinson

Many of them are still flying

[Brother Buzz]

6. Cessna 140

The landing gear is all wrong for a Stinson.

It (at least one of the thefts) was a Cessna 140

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. He went on to have a distinguished career as an airline pilot.

https://m.

But seriously, this is a cool story. Thanks for posting. I thought I'd heard them all.

[world wide wally]

4. Still one of the funniest shows ever. ^

[Midnight Writer]

8. Didn't George W Bush have a similar story?

[Iggo]

9. Nah. You're thinking of Brian Williams.