07 October 2005

My Friend Flip

Ten years ago today, I lost a good friend. On October 7, 1995, Phillip "Flip" Smith crashed his Pitts S-2S during an airshow performance at Waukegan, Illinois. It was his first paid airshow. He was 28.

I can't believe its been ten years. It feels like yesterday that we posed for photos next to the Embry-Riddle alumni tent at Oshkosh '95. At the time, Flip was my only "Airline Pilot friend," and I envied his freewheeling lifestyle -- the kind of lifestyle that allowed him take two weeks off from his job flying 727s for the airlines, fly to Oshkosh in a Super Cub with his girlfriend, and camp under the wing. He also owned several other airplanes, had lots of friends, and seemed to have the world by the tail.

Two months later he was gone.

Aviation is the most fun, rewarding career field I can imagine, but it can also be cruel and capricious. My list of "Friends Gone West" began in college, and I'm sad to realize that the list has grown by one or two names every year. Not many non-aviation friends of mine can say that they've lost over 30 friends in that time, but that's how this business is...

It's not fair. Friends like Flip are supposed to stick around a for a long time. Damn.

Miss you, buddy.