Flying Airplane Is an Eye-Opener for Blind Woman

--Bumpy landings are common to novice pilots, and Karen Prendergast’s first one was true to form. But she has a better reason than most--she has been blind for more than nine years. “Hopefully, I can change some of the antiquated feelings of some people that handicapped people can’t do anything,” she said after her flight with instructor John Marchelletta, manager of the airport in Marshfield, Mass. “It’s a wonderful feeling,” she said. “The only thing I did miss was seeing the actual scenery.” Marchelletta, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat with access to the dual control yoke and rudder pedals, led Prendergast through various maneuvers to familiarize her with the sensations of banking, diving and climbing. Prendergast, 36, had control of the Cessna 172 about 80% of the time, doing “everything from takeoff to landing” under Marchelletta’s direction. “I can’t wait until I go again,” she said. “It’s like an addiction.”

--British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband, Denis, have signed a contract to buy a house for about $520,000 in a high-security housing development in south London. The development is bounded by a high brick wall and equipped with electrically operated entrance gates and closed-circuit television cameras. The Thatchers have lived at 10 Downing St., the official residence of British prime ministers, since Mrs. Thatcher took office in 1979.

--The black granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington attract thousands of visitors, many coming to look up the names of family members or friends on the carved list of the war dead. And, behind them, the visitors have left faded photographs, war medals, stuffed animals and sad letters, among other memorabilia. “I’ll tell you, when they first started bringing the pieces in, especially the letters, it was really touching,” said Gregory Vaughn, who works at the National Park Service’s regional storage facility, where the material is kept. Jan Scruggs, the ex-Vietnam infantryman who conceived the idea for the memorial and helped raise $8 million to pay for it, said that he never expected friends and kin to leave behind mementos. To many families, he said, the memorial’s completion signified that “it was finally psychologically OK to say goodby . . . .”