Mail delivered despite plane-gull collision
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Carl Matzelle
Plain Dealer Reporter
Put-in-Bay- The postman's creed, "neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night . . ." might need to be altered to include birds in the future.

That's what the pilot of a plane carrying mail from Put-in-Bay to Middle Bass Island may be thinking after a gull crashed through the windshield of his Brittain Norman Islander nine-passenger aircraft shortly after takeoff Friday.


The pilot, Harry Thomas Griffing III, 21, of Griffing Flying Service in Sandusky, was temporarily blinded by the impact, forcing his co-worker, Ernest Owen, 67, to take control of the plane until Griffing could clear his face of blood, glass and bird debris, employee Kathy Walker said. Owen was not injured.

Griffing landed the plane safely on Middle Bass and was taken to the home of Postmistress Margie Wolfe, where paramedics treated him before he was flown by helicopter to Firelands Regional Medical Center. Griffing received several stitches under his left eye.

The pilot was back flying Saturday, said his mother, Kelly Griffing.

Birds are plentiful around the islands and previously have collided with the company's planes, usually propellers and wings, without major incident, Kelly Griffing said.

She lauded Owen for his quick thinking.

"He's not a licensed pilot, but he's been flying long enough to know what to do in cases like this," she said.


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