I lost a friend today...

[fulcrum]

hi guys i think it is time we started a website or something similar to honor fellow CFI's friegt dogs, pilots who die while doing thier job . and maybe we can have a small fundraiser or something similar to that and start a small scholarship in the names of these wonderful people
Remember what Richard bach said
"Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? "

fulcrum

 

[falcondriver]

I've been thinking the same thing fulcrum. I will glad to help.
Does anybody on this board have experience with things such as this????
FD

 

[TDTURBO]

Thats a great idea Fulcrum!

 

[redshirt]

fundraiser idea

Fulcrum:

Regarding the fundraiser idea, check out a thread by Timebuilder called "a modest proposal". He proposed a similar idea, to set up a fund that would provide financial assistance to the families that lose pilots in work related accidents. It could be funded by contributions solicited from this web site, as well as other similar web sites/professional organizations, etc.

To be honest, I have no idea how to go about this. I have a friend with some experience managing charities, and I am awaiting a call back from her. It may be just as simple as going to a bank and setting up an account, or there may be tax and reporting issues that I am not familiar with. My limited research so far has let me to the IRS:

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=96099,00.html

And to a centralized state charity registration form:

http://www.nonprofits.org/library/gov/urs/a_tp_urs1.htm

Are there any members out there who have any legal/accounting/administrative experience with this kind of thing? It can't be that hard, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel trying to figure it out if I can avoid it.

I am sure there are plenty of people who would be happy to make a contribution. We just need some help getting started.

 

[Rook]

thought this excerpt would fit from Ernest Gann's Fate is the hunter.


""Unporting is the balance destruction of the elevators by aerodynamic force. I won't confuse you with theory, but if enough separation occurs, your airplane will go into a vertical dive or even beyond the vertical, and no two men in the world are strong enough to bring it out. This can be caused by a missing hinge bolt." He sighed heavily and drew wavelike lines on the table, then an airplane diving for the lines. He sketched another airplane more precisely and marked its approximate center of gravity. "Did you slow down when you first noticed the vibration? You did not because you had no fear of it. But if you had been the nervous type, if you slowed down, the center of gravity would have changed. That would have been quite enough to complete the process of unporting which had partially begun." "The vibration really wasn't very bad." "It doesn't take much. But let us assume another pilot would have reacted in the same way. It would only have postponed the inevitable. As soon as the time came for a normal power reduction and it was accomplished, unporting would begin. But not you. In the past you had lost all four engines wo many times, the prospect of losing one gave you relatively lettle concern. So you sat there, fat, dumb, and happy, and you canceled all power reductions. This brilliant decision saved your life the first time that day." I could think of nothing to say but a series of well...well's. Howard held up one finger and then raised a second beside it. "This was not enough," he said, and I saw that he was exasperated. "You landed at Burbank and desembarked twenty-one passengers. God alone knows why, but you took on just enough fuel to make up the difference in losing their weight. Even so your center of gravity would have been changed enough so that unporting was more likely than not. But..." He moved a third finger up beside the others. "You were in a hurry to reach Oakland so you could go about your silly sailing. As a result, and don't try to deny it because the figures are in the logbook, you used full gross weight cruising power all the way and your speed was correspondingly high..." He paused, touched at his mustache, and stared at me incredulously. Then he spoke very slowly, clipping off each word as if he intended to impress them on my memory forever. "I would look at you quite differently if I thought you had planned what we eventually discovered. We had some long sessions with our slide rules and we found, my friend, that you had arranged the only possible combination of power, speed, and weight which would blockade the chances of unporting." Later when the wine had mellowed us both, I asked Howard if his slide rule could measure the fate of one man against another's.

Godspeed to all of the Brothers and sisters, friends and family of those that we've lost in aviation. We stand at our glasses ready and will all see you again.

Rook

 

[CaptBuzzard]

I am a 402 Freight Dog, and it hits close to home hearing about this. I am very saddened to hear this. I wish his family and friends the best.

Flyby, I wish you the best and sorry about your loss. Hang in there.


CaptBuzzard

 

[aviatrix]

To Will!!!!

The Flight Express pilot who was killed Wednesday was my friend, co-worker, and roommate and I just want to publicly express my sadness and shock!
I know "210Fr8dog" has already given some specifics about what happened.
Will was an absolutely wonderful person! I had only known him for about six months, but he was a great friend and mentor! The night that this unfortunate accident happened, I was sitting on the cargo ramp in SGF in snow waiting for him to land and taxi over to swap cargo loads!
I still have not returned to "normal"............whatever that is! I just thank everyone for their kind words of support!
To those of you who pray, please include Will and his family in your prayers!
Thanks!

 

[Timebuilder]

Fulcrum, here is the thread that redshirt has referenced:

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=102743#post102743

 

[LR25]

Hey Timebuilder, I would like to try and do something for the families specifically by the upcoming holiday. Maybe if not a fund but a "group" offering of support in the form of a letter and prayers, specifically for the spouces.

Does anybody know how reach these individuals by mail?

As I stated before, I think that thoughts and prayer will be a positive note for the people that need it most.

It would be from the aviation community that these people were part of here.

I guess the biggest hurdle will be the logistics.