30th anniversary for me today

[JH27N0B]

I consider Halloween to be my other birthday.  October 31, 1991 I was in a plane crash and critically injured.
Looking at the pictures of the Cessna later and reviewing the event, it was unsurvivable, yet I am still here. So that is why it's my other birthday in a sense. The plane was demolished, the metal clipboard that had been in my lap was wadded up like a piece of paper, so I can't explain how I am still here!
On a Mopar related note, after college my interest in my Challenger T/A waned and all my free time and money went into my new hobby and career change aspirations of flying planes.  While laid up, some of my friends brought me car magazines when they visited me in the hospital and rehab.  While reading them I started thinking a lot about my car and how much I liked working on it and looking at it, but for doing a lot of driving, not so much.
I started thinking about what kind of E body would be more comfortable for driving.  It would need power steering!  It would need better ventilation so it wasn't so hot and stuffy! Exhaust out the rear, not under the rear windows where the fumes would poison me in traffic or stopped at lights!
Then it dawned on me, I need a convertible!  So after recovering I looked off and on for a while for a cuda or Challenger convertible, nice driver quality.
Finally by 1997 I was getting frustrated by not finding anything, and tried running some wanted ads.  Through an ad in Mopar Collector Guide I found my 383 Challenger convertible in western Illinois.  Buying it was the best money I ever spent!
That Challenger really got my interest in cars back into high gear, enjoying the convertible later got me motivated to do a concours resto on my T/A, and buy a V code Challenger.
So good things do sometimes come from tragedies!

[Floyd]

Wow!  Wild story.  Glad you made it.

[anlauto]

Happy Birthday....I guess ....

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Great story Brad. Blessings are where you find them

[js27]

Great life story. Being a two time survivor myself--2013 open heart surgery due to my Mitral Valve exploded--2017 massive Widow maker heart attack--You tend to look at life differently. I sold off my two babies and parts collection. I lasted almost a year and had a nice 67 Satellite Convertible Driver in my garage. Some stuff is just in your blood and even though things change your life along the way we always tend to come back to our roots.
Happy Anniversary !!
JS27

[JH27N0B]

Here's a newspaper photo on my adventure.
I was thinking about the accident over the weekend of course, but also about mortality in general.  On Saturday I went down to put a deposit on a car trailer I am buying.  The seller is the widow of a long time area E body fan who passed away in spring after having an aneurysm a few days before Christmas last year and passed away about 5 months later.  He had a hemi cuda, a Challenger T/A, and he was working on a '71 Challenger convertible project.  He was sitting in front of his computer, maybe even searching for parts for his project, when his wife noticed he was slumped over, and after not being about to wake him, called 911.  Don was 69. 
A year ago I had pain in my left thigh, and finally went in to immediate care after it didn't get better within maybe a week.  Turned out to be a bad blood clot, related to vascular damage in my leg from the bad fractures decades earlier, and likely the inactivity of months of the lockdown and working from home etc.  I was in ICU for a few days even, and less than a month later was back in the hospital, with an aneurysm myself, in my other leg, a complication from the blood thinners they had me on being the probably cause. 
Point I'm getting at, is you never know when the grim hand of fate is going to get you.  We all have long lists of things we want to do, places to see, cars we want to own, cars we own and are "going to fix it someday" and at some point sometimes something happens that makes you realize if you are going to do these things, you better get on it because you don't have forever!
My experience last year got me off the fence about finally buying a truck, which I've had on my to do list for a couple years but never did.  I also overpaid a bit for another vintage car this summer, knowing it may be years before another that checked all the right boxes turned up.  And I'm buying the trailer, I did a concours restoration on my T/A and have joked I have a trailer queen but no trailer to take it out to shows with.  Now that problem is resolved hopefully.
  I've got some other things on my bucket list I need to figure out how to do, I'm going to try to make it a priority to get at some of those items!

[Mopsquad]

Wow, that's a wrinkled mess. Looks like there was no major post crash fire.  Did you fly again after the accident?

[JH27N0B]

The wings with the 40 gallons of fuel were ripped off by a tree I hit on the way down so that took care of fire concerns!  Also I had snagged power lines with the landing gear, which slowed the plane down a lot before hitting the tree, sort of like a jet catching the wire on an aircraft carrier!
The accident was attributed to contaminated fuel which caused the engine to fail, at around 1000 feet, in clouds, at night, over a city.
As a matter of fact, I did get flying again after I recovered and dealt with the FAA for many frustrating months getting my medical back.  I went on to complete the commercial pilot license I had been training for at the time of my "hard landing", then got 3 flight instructor ratings and after building enough time I even got my ATP license (airline transport pilot).  After some more back and forth dealing with the FAA medical offices I was able to get a 1st class medical in the early 2000's required for flying for the airlines, but timing and such with it being post 9-11 etc, timing was wrong to get an airline job.
I have worked as a part time flight instructor for over 25 years, I had about 400 hours when I crashed and currently have over 5000.  So I've flown a little since the accident!

[ledphoot]

Excellent perspective and glad you are still with us. Life is short and fleeting. Let's get to gettin while the gettin is good. Be well everybody!