That's the rumor from Fort Lauderdale, about twenty miles south of me. I hope that there were no casualties on the ground. I wonder how many C-47/DC-3s are still remaining, and how many of them still flying?

[Update a couple minutes later]

Now it's sounding like it was out of Executive Airport, off Commercial Blvd, not out of Fort Lauderdale International.

[Update at 4:50 PM EDT]

Sounds like the pilot was a hero (assuming that he wasn't at fault in the first place). He put it down in the street, missing homes and businesses.

> I wonder how many C-47/DC-3s are still remaining, and how many of them still flying?

Estimates vary. Most sources, including Boeing, say "hundreds" are still flying, but others, including Courtesy Aircraft (which sells them) say over two thousand. It probably depends on how you define "flying."

Until last year, there was even an airline operating DC-3s in Alaska. It was a historical attraction more than anything, but they had to shut down because TSA told them they couldn't continue unless they installed cockpit security doors.

...they had to shut down because TSA told them they couldn't continue unless they installed cockpit security doors.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that.

When I lived in Fort Lauderdale, someone took off from the Executive Airport in a Cessna. He made it about 5 blocks or so before landing right in the middle of a fairly major intersection. Cypress Creek and North Andrews Ave, as I recall. blocked traffic for hours.

When I first moved to Fl there was an airline I think it was called Sunshine Airlines that flew from Miami to the Keys. I remember a travel article in the Miami Herald that said the DC-3's they flew had wicker seats. One of those should have's.

Quite admirable piloting skills to set that thing down on a residential street with no deaths and relatively minor injuries to the crew! Apparently he lost the port engine shortly after take off.