Wednesday, November 17, 2010

With Heavy Heart

Today around 1:30 I got a call from my friend down at Southern Utah University.  "You're ok, right?" she said.  "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"  "I didn't know if you were flying at UVU or not."  Confused, I asked what was going on.  I was informed that an airplane from UVU had crashed in Payson and that both occupants of the airplane were killed.

I'm glad I was able to say that I was ok.  But what about my friends?  I quickly texted Heather to see if she was ok.  I got a text back from her very quickly.  She was fine.  That made me feel much better.  I later learned that one of the pilots on board, though not a close friend, was in one of my classes last semester.  I had a few conversations with him and he seemed like a really nice guy, always with something intelligent to say during our classroom discussions.

Throughout the rest of the day, many friends called or texted me to see if I was ok.  I truly appreciate those calls and messages.

The aviation community is a close-knit community.  Though many didn't know David Whitney well, his loss still affects us all.  Anytime a plane goes down, there is a feeling of reverence towards the pilots.  It's a very difficult feeling to explain.  The best I can explain is the feeling that we all felt as we watched 9/11 unfold.  The scene and those who died earn your respect and reverence. So it is with today's crash.  We lost a bright and aspiring pilot as well as a talented flight instructor.  May God be with them and their families.


Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair;
Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air!

Aloft in solitudes of space,
Uphold them with Thy saving grace.
Thou Who supports with tender might
The balanced birds in all their flight.
Lord, if the tempered winds be near,
That, having Thee, they know no fear.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Goodbye, Dear Friend

So yesterday I went out to my car to go to see Inception (incredible movie, by the way) and noticed that my dear friend, iPod, had been stolen out of my car.  Just a couple things wrong with this situation.

1) My iPod was stolen.  That's inherently wrong anyway.
2) I live in Mapleton.  Come on.  It's MAPLETON!  Who does that here?
3) My car was in my garage.
4) Nothing else was stolen.  Not even my $650 aviation headset.  Nothing was stolen out of the garage either.
5) Now the world will know about some of my secret musical tastes, which i tried to keep from the world, for reputation's sake.

But to the guy who stole it, good luck trying to convince someone it's yours considering my full name is engraved on the back of it.  And don't use the "I found it" line because that's just lame, and even if you did, a decent person would try to find the owner of such a thing.  You find and keep a dollar.  Not and iPod.

Moron