I was saddened by the news of a fellow local pilot , and person who spent many hours talking with me, and was such an inspiration . Jim Leroy from tracy ca was arguably one of the best airshow aerobatic pilots in the world. he instructed where i work and fly at, and was an all around awesome guy. he was killed while performing at the dayton ohio airshow yesterday. RIP Jim and my prayers go out to your wife and 5 year old son. that being said , i felt today being so beautiful id go for a currency flight i needed in respect to Jim , the only way to celebrate a pilots life is by flying , thats what he would have wanted. here is a pic of his plane , 400 horsepower unlimited competition aerobatic aircraft made by pitts.

here is the plane on impact


didnt mean to get sappy just wanted to show respect o somebody who really inspired my aviation career . now on to what i did today.

some cool planes in the hanger as always

vari EZ kit plane with a cool paint job , and a carbon fiber prop




cessna 195 , from the 50's


the plane i usually fly back from a fresh paint job , citabria 7ECA



cool vans RV kit plane at the airfield we landed at



when we were flying over his hometown airport


then we had slurppies


btw these are all iphone pics

 

sad to hear, i read about it yesterday as well

i love my iphone pics as well, soo clear but no zoom

 

Sorry to hear about your freind Mark...

 

Was it N98MF? I registered an aircraft for him, talked to him on the phone a few times and he invited me to an airshow coming up next month in kansas. This is horrible. Let me know if there is anything I can do man.




Modified by crstfr14 at 7:37 PM 7/29/2007

 

Sad to hear...He's in a better place 4 sure....

BTW...those iphone pics are pretty clear

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crstfr14 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Was it N98MF? I registered an aircraft for him, talked to him on the phone a few times and he invited me to an airshow coming up next month in kansas. This is horrible. Let me know if there is anything I can do man.


Modified by crstfr14 at 7:37 PM 7/29/2007</TD></TR></TABLE>

im not sure the reg on his new aircraft but he was in the bulldog 2 which is his new plane.

 

Sorry about your buddy Mark.

You seem like a very good friend. Very nice little tribute.

 

we werent super close personal friends . just first name basis guys that talked flying whenever we could , and i would watch him perform at shows . he also was a big guidance in my training. its just so weird to know a person so well, see crash and die. pilots have a special bonding you feel a loss every time a pilot goes down . buy when you know the guy , talked to the guy or even had a beer with the guy , it hurts big time as a fellow pilot.

 

My sympathy goes out to his loss. But the iphone takes some pretty nice pics.

 

I talked to him several times and he was so excited to get this new plane flying. Sad to hear that the plane that was my project to get registered for a few weeks took his life. He had some hilarious stories and was very proud of his plane and career.

 

damn that sux
hope you cheer up Mark

 

i'm sorry to hear about your friend bro, keep your head up man.

 

so to hear

iphone pics looks good

 

sad to hear about this mark.

losing friends is always hard, especially close ones.

keep doing your thing and keep your head high.

 

RIP. i would love to fly one day. How does a normal civilian get the opportunity to learn how to fly? whats the cost involved with this?

 

Sorry to hear about it man, prayers to his family and friends .

 

sorry to hear what happened..

but gotdamn i almost don't believe those were taken with an iphone!!

 

Sorry to hear that bro. My prayers are with you and his family.

 

Damn sorry to hear that bro. Brought flashbacks of when the blue angel crashed before my eyes. Keep your head up. And that Iphone takes some nice pictures.

 

rip, did you see the crash?

 

The picture he sent me when we were trying to get his plane registered. Pretty sick.

 

sorry to hear mark, keep ya head up

 

 

Rest In Peace.

 

Great pics. Sorry to hear about your friend.

That would be one of the coolest/most expensive hobbies/most dangerous hobbies ever.!