In Memoriam

[Phil Croucher]

You couldn't ship her over in a barrel of whisky? Less paperwork!

 

Black humour fully intentional!

 

More seriously, sorry to hear she's gone. We need as many politically incorrect people as we can get.

 

Phil

[cap]

You think like my wife.......and black humour totally accepted.

 

Politically correct? You're obviously not referring to my mom.

[Skids Up]

...politically incorrect people...

 

Cap, You need to read the fine print!

 

Hope you and your family are doing well...

 

kw

[cap]

Skids Up ------ right you are. Albert's comment about the barrel of whiskey sorta diverted my attention there for a moment.

 

We're all doing fine here. Mom's not dead ya see.......she's just flying higher, the fuel is cheaper, most of the stupid Regulations don't apply anymore.......and "two-fingers" is probably free. :up:

 

 

 

Be safe.......I don't want to read about your sorry *** in any newspaper, ya hear? I want you to get old and ugly like your Ops Manager.

[twinstar_ca]

We're all doing fine here. Mom's not dead ya see.......she's just flying higher, the fuel is cheaper, most of the stupid Regulations don't apply anymore.......and "two-fingers" is probably free. :up:

 

ya know, i like the way you say that, cap... you know your mom is grinnin' from ear to ear over that!! :up: :up:

[Biggles]

Well, that'll teach me for staying away again for so long. Wonderful stories - don't quite know how to feel: proud to be part of the audience, fortunate to know some of the "greats" a hollow heart feeling the lost or grinning because I can only imagine the reunion "up there" looking over us goofs !

 

Cap, my heartfelt condolences to you and your family. My next single malt will be for those shining upon us all - heck we need all the light we can get !!!!

[412driver]

gwk,

 

thank you for that tribute to Mark.

 

i spent time in the gulf and and sharing a beer or two with Mark was a part of it. Truly a gentleman and deeply missed.

 

RIP my friend.

[transquebecniece]

On this Memorial Day

 

In remembrance of Jim (Germany), Harry (Korea), Clarence Jr. (Germany) and Roy (Southeast Asia). Gentle giants. Soft-spoken lions. Courageous to the end. Sorely missed. Not forgotten.

[skullcap]

Heu HV;

 

Sorry a bit slow adding on here. Have read and reread. That dog house house/ storage shed was great, our old dog loved her "eye level window" wish we could have taken it with us on the next move. Can't add too much with babbling on but do rememeber questioning him on drafting or how to build almost anything he never would riducule me toooo much, just give me his "you are stupid but I'll be kind to you look" and explain it to me in piloteeese. You should have seen him fixing the crappy gyprock job in our basement, we used 25 lbs of mud to level the joints.

 

Also remember him teasing me about my "licorice" allen wrenches,,,,what a good guy he was.

 

They may not know exactly what went on that shiittty day but one thing is, he did save 3 people that I know.

 

Far as sour grapes whining bout getting in trouble for their so called "picture" I believe it was for hovering two helicopters over a waterfall with no where to go. A waste of money, yes as no one it their right mind would use a picture like that in any professional manner, get over it.

 

Anyhooo, thanks for the memories HV and take care;

 

sc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't really browse anything here but Helicopter Operations so I don't know if there's an existing memorial thread so I thought I'd start one. I'm posting it in this forum because I believe that it belongs here mostly because I want to celebrate the lives of our Helicopter Industry friends rather than grieve their passing. A friend of mine (as well as other members of this forum) died six years ago today (well, tomorrow actually as I'm writing this the evening of the third of May) and I hate the thought of forgetting him and who he was. So here goes:

 

My friend Sandy was a man of many contradictions: On the one hand a talented piano player who broke his father’s heart when he pursued his dream of flying, on the other a well-built rough-and-tumble type with a very short fuse. Despite his defensiveness (a trait shared by many pilots, I suspect due to our insecurities… he had a great sense of humour and loved to laugh.

 

I have so many memories of Sandy that I would like to share, but a couple really stand out for me: Once we were heading to Skullcap’s place south of Edmonton to help him build a doghouse/storage shed (Skully has a very weird sense of thrift). Sandy was driving a company truck (the Peace Helicopter’s “Danger Ranger”) and had stopped in front of me on 109th St. and Jasper Ave. to wait out a red light. I came up behind him and gently rear-ended his truck. Once our bumpers made contact I started to push him out in the intersection. He could not stop laughing and was telling me to stop while shaking his fist in the rearview mirror. It just so happened that next to him was a convertible Vette with two (very hot) girls who were thinking that he had flipped his lid. He started out trying to explain to them that it wasn’t him, it was actually me, but of course they didn’t know I was pushing him (and every time he started to say something to them I hit his truck again) so they started to get a little alarmed. When the light turned green they peeled through the intersection leaving a cloud of smoke behind but poor old Sandy was in hysterics with his head on the wheel and we had to wait for the next green… I had tears streaming down my face as well and all the people behind us honking their horns barely made an impact on me…

 

Another incident that I, unfortunately, only heard about was a classic Sandy situation. He and a couple of other pilots were at an airport lounge waiting for a flight and having a few light libations. Sandy decided to play a number on the lounge piano and placed his drink on top as he began to wow the patrons. He was just finishing with Chopin and was warming up to Rachmaninoff (of course I’m just trying to illustrate his virtuosity… he wasn’t banging away at chopsticks or anything like that) when a customer walked by and threw a loonie in his drink. Naturally the customer was trying to reward the lounge act for being entertaining, but a half snapped pilot on his way home doesn’t appreciate a grubby coin in his drink. Thankfully no violence ensued but I would give anything to have been there.

 

Unfortunately Sandy lost his spark in a tragic crash in Utah on May 4th, 2000, that also claimed the lives of two of his five passengers. The cause of the crash is still unknown and will probably remain a mystery forever, but I will never forget any of the moments I shared with Sandy, nor will I lose sight of some of the lessons of mortality that I learned with his passing. I loved him as a brother and miss him now and forever (coincidentally my younger brother’s birthday is also May 4th, which helps me remember this date as it goes by every year).

 

Sandy my friend, wherever you are, I think about you a lot and hope you are happy. Your friends here (of which Skullcap, Helipinch and Vertical Ref are the only ones whose handles I know) miss you and hope you’re keeping the beer cold… See you (not too soon),

 

HV

[helipinch]

I too have many fond memories of Sandy.

One wich my Wife told at his Memorial was when we lived at the hanger in Peace River and Sandy spent all his evenings in the hanger building his car hauling trailer. We had a Cat who in the evenings would get into the heaitng system in the hanger and Walk through the overhead ducts! After a few days of this Sandy was convinced that the hanger was haunted and he was hearing ghosts!

 

Another was a bussy fire season in Ontario. We were one of the last to arrive in Pickle Lake and there were no rooms available in town. Well at the last hotel, Sandy noticed a slight accent in the guy at the desk and started talking to him in French! Next thing you know we both have rooms in a section that was being renivated.

 

I can't beleve its been 6 years!!! I think about Sandy all the time. I did not know how close to him I was untill he was gone...... I hope he knew.

I'll not make that mistake again! Corey, Paul, Mitch, Jeff, I'll do my best to keep you guys safe up there, Fly carefully.

 

Pinch