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Showing results for tags 'mooney mite'.
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A Father's Influence - Aviation and everything else
Lance Keve posted a topic in General Mooney Talk
Hello All, I'm really too gutted to write anything of substance at the moment, but I wanted to share a few pictures of my father, the first one of him sitting in his Mooney Mite sometime between '69 and '71, when he owned the Mite. We laid him to rest yesterday far ahead of when it should have been. For the past two years he'd battled a brain injury from a freak accident. I had been searching for a Mooney when the accident occurred. He and I had been talking multiple times a week, planning all the trips we'd take, including Oshkosh. After the accident I could no longer call him and to visit meant a 5 hour drive, which I did many times until I found the Mooney. That helped shorten that trip to 1.5 hours which meant I could see him more frequently. He was so thrilled to hear of the plane and tried his best to overcome his challenges so he could go flying. It just wasn't meant to be. However, trying to make the most of the situation and give him some good days back, I managed, with the help of some good friends, to take a field trip away from the facility he was in and get him into my E this past November for a flight. He had a great day. To the staff at the facility, or anyone that visited, he talked about it for weeks and weeks afterwards. Throughout his life, he was so humble, quiet and kind. And so incredible. He did so much for me, I could never repay. Although he was a home builder by trade, his love of aviation was immense. He owned an Aeronca and a Mooney Mite, built a Rotorway Scorpion Too (II) in our garage when I was a kid, and was a Hot Air Balloon pilot flying second balloon for two of his friends businesses (I chased as a new teenage driver). He earned his Private, Instrument, Multi, Commercial and was hired by Eastern Airlines two seconds before they put a freeze on the incoming hires and it never materialized after that. He had a host of other incredible hobbies too, but this is an aviation forum and I've gone on long enough. Thanks Dad for, everything. Everything! Thanks MS'ers for letting me share this.