CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

To many fans, their particular sport is a religion.

Crashingthegoalie discussed Hockey as Religion, as seen in the way that fans worshiped their players when they demised.

Baseball is also religion.

But, sometimes the religion goes to far.

In September, 2002, a Cessna airplane dropped ashes over Seattle’s SAFECO Field. Unfortunately, the ashes did not fall as a cloud, but rather a missle, which exploded on the Mariners’ roof and then the powder floated to the ground.

Several people who saw the incident, feared a terrorist attack and one witness dialed 911. Officials feared a bio-terrorist attack, and evacuated the stadium and nearby streets and offices.

In the Seattle alert, airspace was cleared, city streets were closed and an entire neighbourhood was cordoned off.

“In light of 9-11 and the fact that this involved an aircraft, we were very concerned that this might be some kind of attack,” Seattle Fire Department spokesman Harold Webb said.

A hazardous materials team was also despatched to investigate and the small plane tracked to a nearby airfield.

“This was a quite reputable local company that does this a couple of times a year, but honestly, I’ve never heard of a location such as this,” Mr Kenitzer said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it plans to investigate the incident.

Dave Miller of the FAA flight standards division in the agency’s Northwest Mountain Region said in this case, “their choice of locations would appear to be extremely imprudent.”

“The guy (who died) was apparently a real Mariners fan and wanted his ashes over the field,” Dave Menzimer, chief pilot of Wings Aloft, the company that owns the plane, said.

He described the flight as a “routine ash drop” carried out at the request of the deceased man’s wife.

Officials at the Mariners were not best pleased with this tribute to their team, however.

A spokesman said the club was considering seeking charges against the airplane operator.

“We did not know this was happening and we’re quite upset about it. This could have been a very serious situation,” Tim Hevly said.