Report: He Tried To Turn Back For The Runway
A Florida skywriter is dead after his Rawdon T1 went down
shortly after take-off on Tuesday.
Authorities identified the pilot as 54-year old James Goggin of
Pompano Beach (FL), described by friends as "an astoundingly good
pilot." Goggins, known as a skywriter who sometimes wrote religious
and inspirational messages on his own nickle, was taking off on his
second flight of the day at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines
(FL), when the engine apparently quit on him.
"Something went very wrong on the takeoff," said Jim Reynolds,
spokesman for the Broward County Aviation Department and Goggin's
long-time friend. "It gained very little altitude."
Witnesses corroborated that statement, saying Goggins tried to
turn back after the engine quit. "He took off, I heard the engine
stall," Scott Ross told South Florida's NBC 6. "Then, he tried to
turn back to the airport, which you shouldn't do, and then he kind
of... started going down sideways, and then he just went straight
down in the ground."
The T1 went down inside the airport's perimeter fence.
"He could fly anything with wings on it," Reynolds said in an
interview with the Miami Herald. He said he met Goggin about 20
years ago at an aerobatic contest in Sebring (FL). "As I remember
it, he was one of the... hottest aerobatic pilots the world had
ever seen."
Goggin was arrested in the 1980s, accused of smuggling 1,000
pounds of cocaine into the US from the Bahamas. He went to prison
where, according to Reynolds, he really turned his life around.
"He just expressed that he never wanted to go back and do
anything like that again. He just absolutely straightened his life
out," Reynolds said. "He paid a heavy price for it."
There was no immediate word on the cause of Tuesday's
accident.
[E-I-C Note: I met Jimmy a long time ago... an
easy man to befriend and a superb flyer. He set out on a bad
course for a while, but did an amazing job of getting his life back
in gear and setting his world straight. He was a good soul... and
we're going to miss him.]
FAA Preliminary Accident Report
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 2706D Make/Model:
EXP Description: EXP RAWDON T1
Date: 10/02/2004 Time: 1715
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal
Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City:
HOLLYWOOD
State: FL Country: US
DESCRIPTION
ACFT CRASHED AFTER DEPARTURE UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE ONE
PERSON ON BOARD WAS FATALLY INJURED, THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED,
HOLLYWOOD, FL
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew:
1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0
Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass:
0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0
Min: 0 Unk:
#
Grnd: Fat: 0
Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
WEATHER: 1725 140/13KTS VSBY10 SCT036 SCT047 BKN055 TEMP29/21
ALT3010
OTHER DATA
Activity: Business Phase: Unknown
Operation: General Aviation
Departed: HOLLYWOOD,
FL Dep Date:
11/02/2004 Dep. Time: 1714
Destination:
LOCAL Flt
Plan: UNK Wx Briefing: U
Last Radio Cont: LOCAL Last Clearance: CLRD FOR
TAKEOFF
FAA FSDO: FT LAUDERDALE, FL
(SO17) Entry date:
11/03/2004