March 2, 2018

A Miami woman was lying in her bed when an 80-pound inflatable raft suddenly crashed through the roof into her room.

"Police say the yellow raft fell from a Royal Canadian Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter on its way back to Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport," the Miami Herald reports.

37 comments:

rhhardin said...

Finders keepers.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Lucky it wan't raining.

rehajm said...

oh jeez...

I always imagined it this way

Ralph L said...

Searching for Canadians in South Florida? Don't they trust the locals to find their lost snow birds?

tcrosse said...

It fell through the rafters.

BudBrown said...

Yeah, they had this on the late news last night. Overhead view showing a neat
hole in the roof. I'm guessing it wasn't inflated.

Peter said...

David Lavallee, a Royal Canadian Air Force spokesman, said Wednesday night that crews were in South Florida for a few weeks “taking advantage of the warm weather” to train for water search-and-rescue missions.

Thinking up bullshit justifications for going south in the winter is a Canadian art form.

Carter Wood said...

Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond

Episode 72: "Tonight at 12:17"
December 6, 1960

Every night at 12:17 expectant mother Laura Perkins (Peggy Ann Garner) hears the sound of a small airplane crashing through her roof.

Leland said...

Even the Canadians now are crossing our borders and wrecking our homes.

I just don't know if we can build a wall tall enough for helicopters.

Wince said...

Luce Rameau was lying in bed and talking to a friend on her cellphone when she heard what she thought was a bomb.

Was she "lying" or laying?

Maybe that's what she got for fibbing to her friend on the cell phone?

Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’

I was layin’ in bed...

But I never did like it all that much

And one day the raft just fell

Oso Negro said...

One must think that the RCAF will NEVER be attempting the rescue of Canadians from conditions similar to those in Miami. I would think that St. John's, Newfoundland or Victoria, B.C. would be much more realistic training locations.

Ralph L said...

Imagine the carbon emissions from flying helos from and back to Canada. National scandal!

John said...

There is a military cliche that covers this. "You've got to expect losses in a big operation." The fact the Canadian Forces have sent their own rescue team to support the snowbird migration is a testament to their national desire to be warm and for winter to end.

TrespassersW said...

I HATE IT when that happens.

WisRich said...

Why does the old joke about the woman who dies, after being stuck on the roof of her house during a flood, asking God why he didn't answer her prayers for help.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Was it Integrity by any chance?

Peter said...

is a testament to their national desire to be warm and for winter to end.

Quite right. We prefer hot weather for our marches and protests against the horrors of global warming.

Ann Althouse said...

"And one day the raft just fell."

LOL.

"Lying in bed" is one of those cases where we could use some heterography to distinguish homophones.

Ann Althouse said...

Dylan also sang "lay, lady, lay." Singing "lie, lady, lie" wouldn't work so well.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm going to write a blog post, Dylan's Greatest Grammatical Errors.

mockturtle said...

It must not have been inflated when it fell.

Ralph L said...

Did it fall on her big brass bed? Crossways?

Quaestor said...

Who the hell were they searching and rescuing for? Stephen Abootman on his ice raft?

Quaestor said...

It must not have been inflated when it fell.

They don't. There's an immersion sensor which triggers a compressed air cylinder. During WWII the RAF struggled with means and methods to airdrop lifesaving gear to pilots in the water. Dropping an inflated dinghy never worked. Either the slipstream tore the raft to bits or wind carried it far beyond the reach of the downed airman. They finally settled on a timing mechanism that triggered inflation near the end of the descent. The US forces were more concerned with helping downed airmen in the more dangerous Pacific, where something as small as a rubber dinghy was of little help. Their solution was the Dumbo, a bomber aircraft, typically a B-17 or a B-29 (a.k.a. the Super-Dumbo) equipped with a large rigid lifeboat designed to freefall 200 or more feet from the plane and then automatically float to the surface and right itself. Here's a B-17 Dumbo. Note the lifeboat slung underneath.

The lifeboat had onboard fresh water, food, clothing, medical supplies and a radio transceiver. The supplies were meant to keep an entire B-29 crew alive for a couple weeks. The Pacific was often to rough for an amphibian to set down, so the Dombo lifeboat was designed to ensure survival until a submarine could be dispatched.

Here's a Dumbo lifeboat showing its scale and other details. It had oars and a tiller.

Quaestor said...

The Pacific was often to rough for an amphibian to set down, so the Dombo lifeboat was designed to ensure survival until a submarine could be dispatched.

Man, that was nasty. Corrected sentence: The Pacific was often too rough for an amphibian to set down, so the Dumbo lifeboat was designed to ensure survival until a submarine could be dispatched.

traditionalguy said...

Big deal. The Canucks thought Miami was adrift and rescued her. Next time they will send in a Destroyer.

Comanche Voter said...

It could have been worse. Other objects falling from the sky and penetrating roofs include chunks of "blue ice". Occasionally a jetliner lavatory will malfunction and leak to the outside of the plane--creating a chunk of waste filled "blue ice". The ice falls off the plane when it descends into warmer air. Given a choice between a life raft and a chunk of blue ice--go for the raft. It smells better.

Anonymous said...

traditionalguy said...
Big deal. The Canucks thought Miami was adrift and rescued her. Next time they will send in a Destroyer.


The Canuks, following the lead of the Euro's no longer use "Destroyers". That sounds too warlike for a Navy. They have 12 "PatrolFrigates"

Quaestor said...

They have 12 "PatrolFrigates"

I bet they have nice curtains.

MadisonMan said...

A variant on pennies from heaven. A LOT more than pennies in this case.

Wilbur said...

Very few Canadian snowbirds in Miami-Dade anymore. They're all up in Broward or Palm Beach counties, and a rising number in Naples on the west coast.

Gahrie said...

Dylan also sang "lay, lady, lay." Singing "lie, lady, lie" wouldn't work so well.

The truth hurts.

cubanbob said...

140th and 10th avenue. Has to be Opa Locka. I'm fairly confident the woman will try to get more for the roof repair than the house is worth.

John Nowak said...

I asked some Canadian friends what she did to them. I'll get back to you.

Drago said...

If only she owned a houseboat.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RMc said...

I hate it when that happens!