I just got the call that my good friend and RV-6 builder and flyer, Larry Olson, was killed in his RV-6. Details are still coming in but they found his aircraft with him and another in a lake North of Phoenix.
I met Larry while parking my Rocket at Deer Valley. He came up and asked if I needed a hanger to park for the night and gracioulsy offered space in his, which was appreciated. He had not completed his RV-6 yet but already had a hanger and liked the RV type company.
As he finished his RV I got to fly with him numerous times and his infectious smile and good natured personality just made him easy to like. He was a great ambassador for the RV community and took great pride in sharing his joy of flight and RVs with anyone interested.
I am in the military and just left a change of command. Printed in the back of the change of command program was the well know poem "HIGH FLIGHT." As a fighter pilot we sometimes take this poem to be written for our jet community, but reading it again this morning I realize it was written for guys like Larry too, it was him.....WAS him...it hurts!
HIGH FLIGHT
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of-
wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there.
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space...
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Oh Larry, I will miss our visits and our flights, you were a great friend and the world is a sadder place without you...
Tailwinds,
Jj
I met Larry while parking my Rocket at Deer Valley. He came up and asked if I needed a hanger to park for the night and gracioulsy offered space in his, which was appreciated. He had not completed his RV-6 yet but already had a hanger and liked the RV type company.
As he finished his RV I got to fly with him numerous times and his infectious smile and good natured personality just made him easy to like. He was a great ambassador for the RV community and took great pride in sharing his joy of flight and RVs with anyone interested.
I am in the military and just left a change of command. Printed in the back of the change of command program was the well know poem "HIGH FLIGHT." As a fighter pilot we sometimes take this poem to be written for our jet community, but reading it again this morning I realize it was written for guys like Larry too, it was him.....WAS him...it hurts!
HIGH FLIGHT
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of-
wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there.
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space...
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Oh Larry, I will miss our visits and our flights, you were a great friend and the world is a sadder place without you...
Tailwinds,
Jj