Wife Says Pilot Husband Would Rather Fly Than Eat

"If I die tomorrow, I've had the greatest life and I've conquered more than I thought I could."

Those were the words Tim Harbison told the Tallahassee Democrat his neighbor Al Fitzgerald always used to say. Fitzgerald, of Panacea, FL, and close friend and fellow pilot Al Madiedo died last week, when Fitzgerald's 1946 Ercoupe 415-C (file photo of type, right) went down just 150 yards east of the Wakulla County Airport (2J0).

The Wakulla County Sheriffs department said there were no witnesses to the June 21 crash that ended the 15-minute late-night cruise. The FAA's preliminary accident report says the aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances.

Residents of the Tarpine fly-in community, where Fitzgerald lived, called in a fire in the nearby swampy woods Wednesday evening. The Sheriff's Office responded about 10:00 p.m. and by the time local volunteer firefighters got the fire under control, about 6 feet of the body of the plane were all that remained.

Both Harbison and another friend, Paul Shearer, flew Fitzgerald's Ercoupe on independent flights earlier in the day on Wednesday. Neither experienced any problems with the plane. Fitzgerald had owned it for a little more than a month. The online FAA registry still shows the aircraft registered to its previous New London, WI, owner.

Fitzgerald's wife Brenda said her husband died doing exactly what he loved to do. "He'd rather fly than eat... he'd rather fly than do anything."

The Democrat reported that autopsies on the bodies were scheduled for Friday, June 23, and that the Ercoupe's engine was being examined in Tallahassee for mechanical problems.

**   Report created 6/23/2006   Record 1
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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 99355        Make/Model: ERCO      Description: 415 Ercoupe, Mooney A-2 Aircoupe, F-1 Ai
  Date: 06/22/2006     Time: 0200

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: PANACEA   State: FL   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
  FATALLY INJURED, PANACEA, FL

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA

  Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: ORLANDO, FL  (SO15)                   Entry date: 06/22/2006

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ercoupe.org