Roy Halladay’s wife, Brandy, was initially against the idea of the Toronto Blue Jays former star pitcher owning the aircraft he tragically died in Tuesday.
Halladay, 40, was one of the first to own the tiny sports plane ICON A5, which he had described as “like flying a fighter jet.”
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According to ICON, Halladay’s A5 was the “first of 100 specially equipped Founders Edition (A5 FE) aircraft to be built.”
“I’ve owned other aircraft, but no aircraft embodies the adventure or captured the dream of flying like the A5. Not only is it the safest and easiest aircraft I’ve ever flown, it is hands-down the most fun,” Halladay said in a statement following the delivery of the aircraft. “The beaches, lakes, and waterways my family and I get to explore around Florida are mind-blowing. Words don’t do justice to what the A5 allows us to experience. Even my wife, who used to be uncomfortable in small planes, now asks where we should take the A5 for the weekend. I’m honoured to own the first A5 Founders Edition.”
In a promotional video that has since been removed from the manufacturer’s YouTube page, Brandy said she “fought hard” against the idea of owning the aircraft.
“I didn’t grow up the way Roy did, I didn’t grow up with airplanes or a comfort level like he did in small airplanes,” Brandy said.
“She’s fought me the whole way,” Halladay said.
“Hard. I fought hard,” Brandy said. “I was very against it.”
WATCH: Baseball fans in Toronto are coming to terms with the tragic death of former Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay, who was killed in a Florida plane crash, Tuesday. Ashley Molnar reports.
Rolled out in 2014, the A5 is an amphibious aircraft meant to be treated like an ATV, a piece of weekend recreational gear with folding wings that can easily be towed on a trailer to a lake where it can take off from the water.
Brandy said she went with her husband to the Florida training centre and went for a ride with Halladay in the aircraft.
“OK, I get it. This is amazing,” she said of flying in the A5.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s office said Halladay’s plane went down around noon off the Florida coast.
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“He was probably one of the most humble human beings you’ll ever meet,” Sheriff Chris Nocco , who called himself a friend of Halladay’s, said. “For somebody who won two Cy Youngs, as I said one of the greatest pitchers in baseball, he would walk in the room as if he was just anybody. It didn’t matter who he met, he was kind and generous.”
In May, two ICON Aircraft employees died while flying at low altitude over California’s Lake Berryessa. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited pilot error as a cause of the crash.
ICON said it was “devastated” by Halladay’s death.
“We have gotten to know Roy and his family in recent months, and he was a great advocate and friend of ours. The entire ICON community would like to pass on our deepest condolences to Roy’s family and friends,” the company said. “ICON will do everything it can to support the accident investigation going forward and we will comment further when more information is available.”
The NTSB is investigating the cause of Halladay’s crash.
–with a file from the Associated Press
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