Comments on:

By: Trish

Trish — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Wow! Those were close calls! Sometimes my Chris talks about being a pilot and I am torn between admiration and FEAR! That is sweet that W would fly over the house to say goodbye.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:16:00 +0000

Interesting stories. He was a very capable man. We sometimes never know about our “close-calls”, thank goodness!

By: Changes in the wind

Changes in the wind — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:24:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing these stories and yes I too would like to have met that pilot:)

By: Laura in L.A.

Laura in L.A. — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:14:00 +0000

Oh, Jean, my Dad was a private pilot, too. And right now he remembers very well. Sometimes he tells me of his plans to “get current” on his license and start flying again. Breaks my heart. I just tell him, “Oh, well, you know the cost of fuel these days…” That gets him off on a tangent about the high price of gas! (And AWAY from the dangerous topic of getting his driver’s license back!)

Some dear family friends took my folks cross-country in their small private jet recently, and Dad got to sit in the cockpit. He loved it, and the memory of the experience stuck with him for awhile.

Praying for you and W.

Love, Laura

By: JeanMac

JeanMac — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:14:00 +0000

Mandy, thanks for commenting. Sometimes Wayne remembers and other times he says:
“I may have flown but it’s a long time ago so not sure I remember”.
BC is a very dangerous world to fly in.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:47:00 +0000

I can relate to your scary times related to flying.
My husband always had an airplane until he became a diabetic and lost his license. He had to make emergency landings two different times due to a malfunction and I’ll always remember the phone calls.
The first time him and a friend were test flying a plane when the engine quit, they were trying to land on an old road and as they were coming down were able to send in a “Mayday” and their location, the girl on the other end gave them landing instructions and my husband being fairly excited by the impending landing did not respond too nicely. They landed without any damage but then faced about a 10 mile walk back to civilization, they didn’t have to finish walking out because they were met with the fire department, ambulance and all the rest. After some repairs they were able to take off again a couple of days later.
The second time a friend and him were each flying different aircraft and his engine quit, he quickly found an abandoned road along a river and managed to land, this time he twisted up the propeller and did some other damage because there were big rocks everywhere…as luck would have it he didn’t get hurt and was fairly close to a public beach. When the police arrived they asked for his drivers license of all things! That time the airplane had to get hauled home on a flatbed trailer.
Does Wayne still remember about flying and airplanes? If he does my husband could sure share some exciting stories with him.
Mandy