In 1988, Love Jr., teaching pros Jimmy Hodges and John Popa and pilot Chip Worthington were on a 20-minute flight from Sea Island, Ga., to Jacksonville but something happened in the fog that lay over the countryside that night and they fell into trees eight miles short of the airport. There were no survivors. Arnold Palmer, an avid pilot, has come close to disaster. He blew an engine on takeoff at a small airport just outside of Miami. That one was so close, he had begun to review emergency procedures for ditching at sea.
Professional golfers spend a lot of time in the air.
It's a necessary part of their careers. Most fly commercially but many own or lease planes. It's a safe way to travel, of course, but there are going to be accidents. We're never prepared for it, though. You can't be.