Monday, May 2, 2011

Catching Up


Can't believe it's been a month! I don't feel so bad though when I see people that still have Christmas posts up... Lots going on, but tonight just a quick post in memoriam of a friend that lost his life a week ago in a plane crash. The pictures I took from another friend, and they really tell a story of a life cut short.

I didn't know Pete Vinton super good, I had met him a couple of times, toured his hangar and had him show me the plane he was building. He took me on a demo flight of the Carbon Cub SS that he was the sales rep for (and the one he lost his life in)lst summer. It struck me that he was a veteran of Desert Storm, a military pilot, a no nonsense kind of guy that loved his country, his family and flying. He was straight to the point, and made an impression on me. I have talked about that flight in the Cub for almost a year now, even the morning he passed away, I was talking about it. There are a few jackasses that built their homes around the private airpark that Pete managed, they put up stupid signs along the road (that I take to get to DIA) protesting the airpark. Its ticks me off everytime I drive by so I asked Pete about it and his reply was, "it's ironic that I fought for my country to give people the right to free speech, essentially the right for those people to protest my right to fly" his language was a little more colorful, but you get the point.

Anyway, I just wanted to write about Pete and share a couple of pictures. This is partly why I love to fly, the feeling, the experience, the joy. These pictures were taken last summer on a flight from Alaska to Washington.

Blue skies, tail winds, soft landings...RIP Pete Vinton

2 comments:

GLWallace said...

Beautiful tribute to your friend and flying companion. The sky is where I always found my greatest freedom to.

Karen Mendenhall said...

The skies always held a special treat for me, that meant Grandpa Dev was coming to visit!!! Now it means my special friend and confidant is coming. I hope I see you in the skies soon! Thanks for sharing - so sorry for the loss of a friend no matter how close or not close he was, he was part of who you are, that's what counts. Love ya!