Most Memorable Cockpit Companion

[170C]

Kyle, sorry to learn of your loss. I met you Dad at your home last summer and enjoyed listening to some of his flying stories. Wish there had of been time for more of them. Its always hard to give up a parent, but we all know that is the order of things. I know you cherish the many memories of you Dad. That urn is a unique idea and based on having met your Dad and the things you have said about him I think you hit a home run with the casing idea. Tell Becky hello for my Becky and me.

Take care!

[Robert Eilers]

One of my most memorable associations with another pilot did not involve sharing the cockpit, however we shared airspace from Mirabell, Quebec to Fortworth together - he in a Bell 412, me in a Bell 407. Back in 1996, my Sheriff and the Sheriff of the adjacent county decided to put together a joint law enforcement helicopter program. The Bell 407 was selected as the jointly owned aircraft for the partnership. I took delivery of the Bell 407 in Mirabell, Quebec - in December! Of course, I was stuck on the ground for over a week waiting out a snow storm. While stuck in Mirabell I met a facinating Bell delivery pilot by the name of Yves. Yves was a Quebec native and over coffee, fighting boredom we talked about our lives and our wives. Yves met his wife flying a helicopter for a wild life research company in Northern Quebec. His wife to be was a wild life researcher studying wolves. The two of them were forced down by a unforecast snowstorm. The way Yves explained it - with a classic Maurice Chivalier accent - "By the time we could fly out, we were man and wife".

The Bell 407 delivery package consisted of a comm radio, a wet compass and an improvised cabin heater. Yves, out of necessity, had obtained a portable GPS - so we agreed to depart together and I would follow Yves out of Mirabell and into the USA through the on-going snow storm. We ultimately parted company in Fortworth. We shared many evenings at the end of the flight day, over dinner, or over drinks talking about our different life experiences. Yves was one of those characters you might read about in some fictionalized novel, but only meet once in a life time.

[n3833v]

Kyle,
Sorry about your dad. I enjoyed his stories and company when there. Say hello to Becky from Becky and I.

John Hess