He has a great career - he's a hard worker, incredibly talented, and he's one fortunate fellow. Which is why it's always dumbfounded me why he risks it all by taking to the sky, piloting small planes. I mean - I get his love of flying. It's a passion some people have and keep.
But in the risk/benefit analysis that people do - and parents, especially, have to do - I'm not sure his passionate benefits outweigh the real risks to his livelihood and his family.
He is, to use the lexicon of my peeps, meshugenah.
I thought of my friend today - and my bugging him about flying - when we got word of a small plane crashing in a highway Harding Township, New Jersey - after taking off from Teterboro airport.
Five people were killed - including two managing directors of the Greenhill & Co. investment firm in New York City, Jeff Buckalew and Rakesh Chawla; and members of Buckalew's family - his wife and their two children, and their dog.
Why the plane crashed remains the unknown. And it's the main target of our reporting - that and the tragedy that has now torn apart several families. There is some concern tonight from federal aviation officials that ice on the wing might have been a contributing factor.
We'll have the latest on the crash, the investigation, and the lives lost, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're taking a closer look at those small digital video cameras that are flooding the market. It's especially important because the Flip cam - the best of the bunch - has now been discontinued. So if you break yours, what do you do? We have one, and we have no idea what camera we'd buy to replace it. And we would replace it because it's so incredibly handy and versatile and user-friendly.
Tonight - we have some answers, thanks to Consumer Reports, which gives us the 4-1-1 on the non-Flip cams out there.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
And a P.S. We're looking once again to read your emails on air this Christmas morning. While we love your "have a happy holiday" messages, we're especially looking for your thoughts on this Christmas, 2011 maybe someone you miss, your thoughts for the new year (there's a big election, maybe you've heard about it), or what you remember from the year past. Please send them HERE or to my email, Bill.S.Ritter@ABC.Com. I look forward to hearing from you.
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