A humbling day of flying, spreading ashes

[hilltop170]

After 40 years of flying, today I had another "flying first". Many of you guys have done it before, but I had never been asked to fly someone to spread the ashes of friends or loved ones. Today, Ina and I flew two ladies who both had lost parents and wanted to spread their ashes together on Father's Day. Ina had worked with one of the ladies in a previous job and the other lady was the best friend of the first lady. One had lost her father, the other had lost her mother. Both parents were veterens. The father had been a Crew Chief and Flight Mechanic on most heavy Air Force transports from WWII to Viet Nam. It was a humbling experience.

Both ladies presented Ina and I with some flowers and tokens of appreciation for helping them. One lady had prepared a short biography with pictures and thoughts about her father which she read on the ground before we boarded the plane and both ladies had prepared some thoughts which they read just before each release.

West of Anchorage is a mountain called Mt. Susitna, or Sleeping Lady as it is best known. It resembles a female lying prone on her back with her head to the south, the body, then her feet to the north. I doubt there is any person who has visited Anchorage who is not familiar with Sleeping Lady.

It was decided we would spread the ashes of the mother first. She had requested her ashes be spread on Mt. Susitna so we climbed up toward the Sleeping Lady. The top was shrouded in clouds when we arrived so I circled around the mountain while the prepared thoughts were being read by the daughter. Just as we approached the area of the mountain which would represent the heart, the clouds parted and we were able to fly over the top and two roses and the ashes were released. I circled back and made another pass over the same spot but when I turned to make the third pass, the clouds closed back in and covered the mountain just as we passed over the spot. It had been a perfect moment in time for the release.

We flew toward the second release location in silence. The father had requested his ashes be spread over water. Since Cook Inlet, an arm off of the Gulf of Alaska, was near, it was a good choice for the release. I chose an area offshore of the Beluga River. The prepared thoughts were read then two roses and the ashes were released. As we turned to reverse course, below was a huge pod of close to thirty, pure white Beluga whales swimming in the inlet. It was a beautiful sight.

I had always wondered how a flight like this would work out. It was a flight Ina and I will always remember and two people who knew virtually nothing about general aviation now have warm regards toward flying.

[Brad Brady]

WOW, Richard, I've spread ashes before ....but never as eloquently as you have described.

[flyguy]

You brought a lump into my throat and a few tears to the corners of my eyes with this touching story. Thanks for sharing it, Richard.

[DaveF]

Thank you for doing that, Richard.