If that wasn’t baffling enough, Fitzpatrick accomplished the same landing again two years later. On October 5, 1958, he landed an aircraft on Amsterdam Avenue near 187th Street. Then, he jumped out of the plane and fled the scene, but later, he turned himself in.
He told the police that he had performed the second flight because a bar patron from Connecticut refused to believe he had done it the first time. After the first flight, Fitzpatrick was charged with grand larceny and for violation of the city’s administrative code.
The grand larceny charge was dropped because the plane’s owner declined to sign a complaint, and he only had to pay a $100 fine.
But the second time around, he didn’t get off so easy. He never renewed his pilot’s license after it got suspended the first time. He was slapped with a number of charges and sentenced to six months in jail.
Fitzpatrick had three sons and was married to his wife, Helen, for 51 years. He died in 2009 at the age of 79. He will always be remembered for this truly awe-inspiring feat.
