Plane towing "Will You Marry Me?" banner crashes off RI

GENERIC life preserver ring coast guard rescue drowning / CBS/AP

(CBS News) BLOCK ISLAND, R.I. - A romantic gesture went awry off the coast of Rhode Island Monday when a plane towing a "Will You Marry Me" crashed into the water.

CBS Boston affiliate WBZ reported that the Coast Guard rushed to rescue the pilot, the only one on board the plane, at around 4:10 p.m. ET after receiving a radio transmission

A Coast Guard spokesman told CBS News an unidentified Good Samaritan on a boat also went to the aid of the pilot, who is unharmed, and picked him out of the water.

The pilot's 8-year-old son played a role in the rescue, as well. He was communicating with his father via radio when the Coast Guard received the mayday call.

"We're happy that the pilot is okay," said Ross Ruddell, Coast Guard public affairs specialist in Boston.

The plane, a Piper aircraft, had gone down between Block Island and Westerly around 3 p.m. ET.

No word on whether he or she said yes.

[Calltwoarms]

Yes, that might well be an omen. But he shouldn't be superstitious about marriage 'cause it's already a gamble.

[jamiphil]

i laughed when the bride to be said, " i wondered why he paced the beach for two days before he asked me"

[aviatrixx]

Ummm.did I mis-read this, or did it say the pilot and his son were communicating with each other on the radio when the mayday call was received by the Coast Guard? As in, the pilot was chatting with his kid, then sent a mayday, then crashed? Sounds like the pilot was distracted and the airplane got too far ahead of him. Yep, even a Piper can do tat if you're not paying attention.

[alpinequeen]

Skywriting would have made a better effect.

[byrdh5n1]

Agreed. Bigger splash....

[jonnyooh]

I think guys who make a public spectacle of their marriage proposals are criminally prissy. I especially find proposals on national TV silly and vomity. Apparently the media doesn't, but I consider the media prissy. I would like it a lot better if from now on, the woman rejected the proposal. Maybe a few decades of that would put a halt to the practice. I do not give a piddle if somebody I've never seen before and hope never to see again is getting married, mowing his lawn, taking a tinkle or slurping a saucer of sliced peaches. Your stupid private life does not interest me. Got it?

[Jaylah54200]

I agree. Not necessarily with the "prissy" part, but the part about not wanting to see public spectacles of marriage proposals.

Virtually every woman I know (including me), married or single, hates this kind of thing. We feel that a marriage proposal should be a personal, private thing.

Don't get me wrong. We're fine with "the grand gesture." A nice dinner, flowers, champagne. And we even like the whole idea of getting down on one knee.

But that knee thing should be AFTER we leave the restaurant, and NOT when there are a bunch of people standing around.

Also, as long as we're on the subject. Please DON'T buy the ring before you pop the question unless you absolutely know for sure what kind of ring we'd want. Girls have a tendency to be rather sentimental about their engagement rings, and if you buy one we don't like, it leaves us torn between wearing a ring we don't like for the rest of our lives, or always knowing that we "traded in" or original engagement ring.

Ask first. If she says yes, then ask her what kind of a ring she'd like. Then go to a jeweler, pick out a couple of rings that fit her preference AND that are within your price range. Then bring her to the jewelers, have the jeweler bring out the tray of rings you've pre-selected, and let her have her choice of those. (For those wondering, that's actually the way Emily Post suggests in her book on etiquette.)

If you want the world to know, then AFTER you've privately proposed, and she's said yes, then send up a plane with a banner saying "She said yes!"

Chances are, she'd rather just have a nice, tasteful announcement, with an engagement photograph of the two of you, published in the local newspaper.

If anybody had the stupidity to propose to me at a game on the big scoreboard, I'd refuse. Because I'd know for sure that he was NOT the man I wanted.

[jonnyooh]

I'm glad to have someone agree with me, especially of the feminine persuasion. However, I don't know why you disagree with the word "prissy". That word does have kind of a slippery definition, and may change shades of meaning in different parts of the country. For me, the ultimate example of prissy is the Cialis commercial. I'm getting to the point where I can locate my remote and zap one of them in less than a second. For long term prissy, you have the Kay Jeweler's commercial:
Every kiss begins with Kay, [or is it K? They don't say.]
Whoops, I think I just turned gay, would be my response to that one. Nothing against gay people, but I am of the opinion that you can't pray away gay. But a prissy enough commercial can make you gay. Which is why I have become a quick draw when it comes to zapping a Cialis commercial. And which is why I wish there would be a ban on proposing on national TV. Or at least a ninety day jail sentence.

[nohater]

might be an omen. the answer should be no, no way!

[varigdc10]

It's Obama"s fault.

[Calltwoarms]

It's Bush's fault for the Patriot Act. His gesture was shot down by the N.S.A.

[Martha12345]

Not a good start.

[KansasCity-2012]

If someone goes through that much trouble to propose marriage, doesn't it make you wonder what other extraordinary measures a person will go through to get what they want? such as a mistress...a divorce.....

Hail to those with ordinary sense and predictable behavior!

[EmpireGeorge______--]

they place an order for the sign and pay......what was so "extraordiary" about ordering a banner ?

ordinary is bordinary.

[earth5695]

Kansas....ordinary and predictable remind me of white bread and Kool-Aid.

I'm glad things are boring where you are !