Pilot

Wherever Alvin T. Jones has lived throughout his adult life, he has reserved wall space for his Navy memorabilia. He displays his three Air Medals and his Distinguished Flying Cross, his honorable discharge, dated 1945, and a wedding photo of a young uniformed sailor and his bride. Another photo shows Jones in the center of the 10-member crew of a B-24 bomber. At 89, he recalls the name and assignment of each man posing in 1944 in front of that plane. Most notably, he recalls his pilot, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the smiling young man holding a puppy in the picture.

The U.S. Air Force sent two F-16 jet fighters to intercept a civilian plane that had strayed into restricted air space over Washington, D.C., at about 8:30 p.m. Monday. The military planes, based at Andrews Air Force Base, escorted the smaller craft until the pilot landed at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration was unable to communicate with the pilot, the sole occupant of the Beechcraft 58 aircraft, a small, twin-engine plane.

Search crews on Monday recovered the body of a woman, believed to be the victim of a small plane crash over the weekend, from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, police said. Mary L. Lagerquist, 78, of Sequim, Wash., had been a passenger Sunday in a plane piloted by her son, Lanson C. Ross III, 48, of Fort Washington. Ross told investigators the two-seater, single-engine aircraft lost power and that he was trying to reach Smith Island. Soon after his 3:30 p.m. distress call to Patuxent River Naval Air Station, he crashed into the Chesapeake Bay. The plane sank rapidly, but both Ross and his mother, who was injured in the crash, were able to exit, police said.

Charles Leo Coyle, a retired advertising executive for the Hecht Co. and the News American who was a World War II dive bomber, died of kidney disease Sept. 23 at the Hospice House of Williamsburg, Va. He was 88 and had lived in Towson for many years. Born in Lynn, Mass., he graduated from Swampscott High School and was an accomplished skier, ice skater and swimmer. He was nicknamed Dory because he was a skilled boatsman. He remained a skier and ice skater and enjoyed trips to the Northwest Ice Rink and Ski Liberty.

Patricia D. Shearer, a retired medical administrator and a pilot who flew for the Maryland Civil Air Patrol, died Aug. 23 of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. She was 76. Patricia D. McVay was born in Baltimore and raised on Camp Meade Road in Linthicum. She was a graduate of Anne Arundel County public schools. Mrs. Shearer worked for years as a medical administrator and at the time of her 1997 retirement, she was working for Dr. J. Dennis Branger at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

A pilot program under way in Northeast Baltimore could pave the way for city residents to begin filing police reports over the phone. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said police are trying to address a high volume of 911 calls in that district by rolling out a program in which residents can report nonviolent, nonurgent crimes over the phone on the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift. The program has allowed the Police Department to put four more officers — who can respond to more serious calls — back on the streets during those hours.

After Crystal Langdon checks out 22 books from her library on Reisterstown Road on Wednesday, she plans to carry them home on the Metro in her purse. And preteen boys enrolled at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy may soon be able to leave their book bags at home, because their reading lists for the entire year will fit into their back pockets. For the past three years, library patrons have been able to download virtual books onto some electronic readers, such as Barnes & Noble's Nook, or the Sony Reader, for the three-week loan period that is standard for hardcover and paperback volumes.

If you're looking for a unique spot for a first date, a romantic setting for a proposal, a special place to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary or even your 100th birthday, then why not try a hot air balloon? For 30 years, Mike Gerred, chief pilot and president of Light Flight Hot Air Balloons in Bel Air, has been taking people on the “ride of a lifetime.” Gerred describes the aerial adventure as a “quiet, calm respite from the everyday hectic lives we lead.” While floating 1,000 feet in the air may seem a little nerve-wracking at first, Gerred assures riders there is no reason to worry.