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http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/a...print_article.jsp?articleId=6061482&siteId=36
Grounded life wasn't for pilot
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Denver Post Staff Writer
The Denver Post Article Last Updated 6/05/2007 06:21:40 AM MDT
Retired pilot Mark Zenner's daughter Christiana said her dad was "above all things, a pilot," adding that it was "the one place where I think he was truly at home."
"Flying was not just a service or a job for him. It was spiritual," she said, four days after Zenner, who was 60 years old, committed suicide near South Metro Fire Rescue in Centennial.
Zenner, a United Airlines pilot for 28 years, was required by a federal retirement rule to stop piloting airline passenger flights after turning 60 on May 26. He died on the day he officially retired from United - May 31.
"The heartbreak he felt when he was grounded, unable to fly as a captain, was also the heartbreak of losing all that spirituality," Zenner's daughter said during his memorial service. "It broke my heart too. He no longer had the one thing that allowed him to gain perspective, to put things to scale."
Family members and friends say Zenner was a complex man facing a variety of problems.
He was depressed, they say, and worried about seeking help. He wanted to keep flying but was unable to continue. He had conflicted emotions about his combat service in the Vietnam War, according to family members.
He expressed his angst and cycles of depression to a friend, who often begged him to get professional help, according to Zenner's brother Jim. "But Mark could not, because he believed doing so would end his career and his passion for flying, while putting his family at financial risk," his brother said.
Zenner's brother John said he will choose to remember the times that Mark was his hero.
"Whether it was being the prince of charm as an uncle to my children, going beyond the call of duty in every way in helping with my mom and my dad, taking me flying over the Central Valley in California over the Sierras when he flew small charter planes, the many trips he took fishing with us," John said during the service, "or simply being the lovable goof that he often was."
"Asking for help was not in Mark's character," said John, who added that he wished he "could have simply made it all better for Mark."
Zenner was a passionate advocate among airline pilots for a rule change to raise the mandatory retirement age to 65. It's a change the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this year indicated it would like to make, but it has not yet occurred.
The FAA plans to make the rule prospective, meaning pilots already retired but under age 65 after the rule goes into effect would not be able to return to work, FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said earlier this year. That means Zenner would not have been able to return to his job.
The rule-change effort gained more urgency for many pilots after United terminated its pension plans and turned them over to the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., causing many pilots to see their pensions drastically reduced.
In December, Zenner was featured in a Denver Post article about pilots protesting the mandatory retirement age. At that time, he said his pension had been reduced by 75 percent to 80 percent as United recovered from bankruptcy.
"At the twilight of their careers, when pilots are looking forward to a normal retirement, those retirements were plundered by the Chapter 11 process," Zenner said early this year. Being able to work until age 65 is "a critical way to stay gainfully employed and make up those devastating losses."
His youngest daughter had been accepted to medical school, "and I would dearly like to help her out with that," Zenner said late last year.
Asked to comment, United spokesman Megan McCarthy said: "We extend our condolences to the Zenner family. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time."
Other pilots were shocked by the news of his death.
Zenner thought the change to the mandatory retirement age would happen, said Mike Ballard, a pilot who lives in Larkspur. "He never voiced to us a backup plan."
"Mark was always a very positive guy and always moving forward," Ballard said. "It just didn't seem like this would be a part of his life or the end of his life."
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Grounded life wasn't for pilot
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Denver Post Staff Writer
The Denver Post Article Last Updated 6/05/2007 06:21:40 AM MDT
Retired pilot Mark Zenner's daughter Christiana said her dad was "above all things, a pilot," adding that it was "the one place where I think he was truly at home."
"Flying was not just a service or a job for him. It was spiritual," she said, four days after Zenner, who was 60 years old, committed suicide near South Metro Fire Rescue in Centennial.
Zenner, a United Airlines pilot for 28 years, was required by a federal retirement rule to stop piloting airline passenger flights after turning 60 on May 26. He died on the day he officially retired from United - May 31.
"The heartbreak he felt when he was grounded, unable to fly as a captain, was also the heartbreak of losing all that spirituality," Zenner's daughter said during his memorial service. "It broke my heart too. He no longer had the one thing that allowed him to gain perspective, to put things to scale."
Family members and friends say Zenner was a complex man facing a variety of problems.
He was depressed, they say, and worried about seeking help. He wanted to keep flying but was unable to continue. He had conflicted emotions about his combat service in the Vietnam War, according to family members.
He expressed his angst and cycles of depression to a friend, who often begged him to get professional help, according to Zenner's brother Jim. "But Mark could not, because he believed doing so would end his career and his passion for flying, while putting his family at financial risk," his brother said.
Zenner's brother John said he will choose to remember the times that Mark was his hero.
"Whether it was being the prince of charm as an uncle to my children, going beyond the call of duty in every way in helping with my mom and my dad, taking me flying over the Central Valley in California over the Sierras when he flew small charter planes, the many trips he took fishing with us," John said during the service, "or simply being the lovable goof that he often was."
"Asking for help was not in Mark's character," said John, who added that he wished he "could have simply made it all better for Mark."
Zenner was a passionate advocate among airline pilots for a rule change to raise the mandatory retirement age to 65. It's a change the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this year indicated it would like to make, but it has not yet occurred.
The FAA plans to make the rule prospective, meaning pilots already retired but under age 65 after the rule goes into effect would not be able to return to work, FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said earlier this year. That means Zenner would not have been able to return to his job.
The rule-change effort gained more urgency for many pilots after United terminated its pension plans and turned them over to the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., causing many pilots to see their pensions drastically reduced.
In December, Zenner was featured in a Denver Post article about pilots protesting the mandatory retirement age. At that time, he said his pension had been reduced by 75 percent to 80 percent as United recovered from bankruptcy.
"At the twilight of their careers, when pilots are looking forward to a normal retirement, those retirements were plundered by the Chapter 11 process," Zenner said early this year. Being able to work until age 65 is "a critical way to stay gainfully employed and make up those devastating losses."
His youngest daughter had been accepted to medical school, "and I would dearly like to help her out with that," Zenner said late last year.
Asked to comment, United spokesman Megan McCarthy said: "We extend our condolences to the Zenner family. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time."
Other pilots were shocked by the news of his death.
Zenner thought the change to the mandatory retirement age would happen, said Mike Ballard, a pilot who lives in Larkspur. "He never voiced to us a backup plan."
"Mark was always a very positive guy and always moving forward," Ballard said. "It just didn't seem like this would be a part of his life or the end of his life."
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