John Lancaster killed in crash

Oh f__k. I emailed with John on the side for a while (when it was the "Yellow" board).

He was a class act and a wonderfully nice person. So, so sad.

Be safe friends.

-Andrew
 
Tragic. John was a terrific guy with an incredible sense of humor. We also emailed on the side. Thank you for letting me know Dr. Bruce.
 
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RotaryWingBob said:
The oldtimers will remember John from the red board (and I think from this one as well). John was active on the Vertical Reference board under the screen name "flingwing". John was a really good guy, and he will be sorely missed.

http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6081206
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Dayum......:( :( :(
What a heartbreaker I hope a cause can be found. Little comfort except for the families involved.

They will be in our prayers today.

I checked on the Red Board, and no one has posted a thing yet. Mayhaps an X-post is in order here?
 
Moxie said:
Here's his photo. Where were we? Janesville? It's the fourth thumbnail down, he's on the far right. http://www.babesandairplanes.com/babes/galleryf.html
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Yeah, that's JVL. I know because I wanted to be there that day. I never did meet him in person, :( but I always had a lot of respect for him. I was always entertained and educated by the "Johnny L's Heli-Factoid" posts on the Yellow Board, and I also saved a brilliant post he made in Hangar Talk that was unrelated to flying but fit perfectly in that madhouse.

:(
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yeah, that's JVL. I know because I wanted to be there that day. I never did meet him in person, :( but I always had a lot of respect for him. I was always entertained and educated by the "Johnny L's Heli-Factoid" posts on the Yellow Board, and I also saved a brilliant post he made in Hangar Talk that was unrelated to flying but fit perfectly in that madhouse.

:(
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Is said post suitable for sharing, or is its insight lost out of context?
 
Thanks for letting us know Bob. Sad indeed. I recall him from a while back. My thoughts and prayers to his friends and family.
 
How incredibly sad. What a tragic loss. :( :( :(

I have copied something fun that he wrote on the old WebBoard. I'll post it here in his honor, and if someone finds it inappropriate, then I'll delete it. Hopefully it is something that John would want us to remember about him.

Topic: My homage to the board (1 of 11), Read 76 times
Conf: Hangar Talk
From: John Lancaster [email protected]
Date: Monday, November 15, 2004 09:20 PM

Hangar Talk(1,755 New)

Why did the chicken cross the road? (Benjamin Meyers)

Tom Downey: Today, I removed all the feathers from the wings and re finished the beak. Over the weekend, I plan to.

Lance Fisher: The interesting thing is that if you look at the speed of the chicken - figure an initial acceleration time of 0.8 seconds and a maximum speed of 8.2 mph, with a crossing angle of 88 degrees. I've attached a spreadsheet-

Agatha Shilling: That chicken can cross the road, but it had better not cross ME. My Glock is fitted with the low-profile sights. By the way, I made a fantastic chicken pot pie last night.

Ron Levy: FAR Part 91.349(a)(2)(ii) says that the chicken must cross the road before crossing COOP. Of course, in the F-111, we never even saw the roads.

John Lancaster: Well, first you have to consider whether the chicken even knew it was crossing the road. Maybe the chicken doesn't even know what a road is. It could be that to the chicken, crossing the road is something completely different than it is to us. It might come back across too.

Doug Hanson: I'm sick of you Libs whining about chicken support. The traitor chickens have been swilling from the government trough for so long they wouldn't be able to find a road without the Dem-controlled courts intervening.

Joe Williams: All women love me and all chickens want to be like me. By the way, I found a great 1966 Cessna 182, what do you guys think?

Moxie Moxie: The other day we girls were all crossing the road.

Bruce Chein: Sometimes chickens do that. Sigh.

Dave Taylor: Hey maybe the chicken will tell us about the trip across the road!

Charlie Melot: The L-22 chicken has a tendency to scuff the pads of its feet on asphalt. Much better to use Talon pads. Charlie Melot Zephyr Aircraft Engines

Henning Heinemann: Every chicken I've ever seen crosses the road beak-low - it's a common trait for all chickens to get their beaks up just before they get to the other side. This chicken probably raised its beak early.

Judy Parrish: OK, you can come clean up the coffee that I spewed all over my keyboard and monitor. That's a ROTFLMAO

Elizabeth Anderson: The poor chicken! Where do you think it's going? Everybody has a stake in the welfare of the chicken.

F W Birdman: Typically, the chickens crossing the roads CHOOSE to do so - don't try to make that my responsibility.

Robert Fisher: I've rebooted the server and updated the user databases. Hopefully the chicken will make it across the road sometime today.

--------------------------------------------------------
John

 
Thanks for re-posting that, Diana, I remember the original and how it brought a smile to my face then as well.

To you, John. :cheerswine: , and prayers and thoughts to the family. :(
 
Thanks, Diana - I remember that as well. Prayers to the family - you'll be missed, John.
 
I never know him but that below is funny as all get out. He seemed like he was a hoot.

Diana said:
How incredibly sad. What a tragic loss. :( :( :(

I have copied something fun that he wrote on the old WebBoard. I'll post it here in his honor, and if someone finds it inappropriate, then I'll delete it. Hopefully it is something that John would want us to remember about him.

Topic: My homage to the board (1 of 11), Read 76 times
Conf: Hangar Talk
From: John Lancaster [email protected]
Date: Monday, November 15, 2004 09:20 PM

Hangar Talk(1,755 New)

Why did the chicken cross the road? (Benjamin Meyers)

Tom Downey: Today, I removed all the feathers from the wings and re finished the beak. Over the weekend, I plan to.

Lance Fisher: The interesting thing is that if you look at the speed of the chicken - figure an initial acceleration time of 0.8 seconds and a maximum speed of 8.2 mph, with a crossing angle of 88 degrees. I've attached a spreadsheet-

Agatha Shilling: That chicken can cross the road, but it had better not cross ME. My Glock is fitted with the low-profile sights. By the way, I made a fantastic chicken pot pie last night.

Ron Levy: FAR Part 91.349(a)(2)(ii) says that the chicken must cross the road before crossing COOP. Of course, in the F-111, we never even saw the roads.

John Lancaster: Well, first you have to consider whether the chicken even knew it was crossing the road. Maybe the chicken doesn't even know what a road is. It could be that to the chicken, crossing the road is something completely different than it is to us. It might come back across too.

Doug Hanson: I'm sick of you Libs whining about chicken support. The traitor chickens have been swilling from the government trough for so long they wouldn't be able to find a road without the Dem-controlled courts intervening.

Joe Williams: All women love me and all chickens want to be like me. By the way, I found a great 1966 Cessna 182, what do you guys think?

Moxie Moxie: The other day we girls were all crossing the road.

Bruce Chein: Sometimes chickens do that. Sigh.

Dave Taylor: Hey maybe the chicken will tell us about the trip across the road!

Charlie Melot: The L-22 chicken has a tendency to scuff the pads of its feet on asphalt. Much better to use Talon pads. Charlie Melot Zephyr Aircraft Engines

Henning Heinemann: Every chicken I've ever seen crosses the road beak-low - it's a common trait for all chickens to get their beaks up just before they get to the other side. This chicken probably raised its beak early.

Judy Parrish: OK, you can come clean up the coffee that I spewed all over my keyboard and monitor. That's a ROTFLMAO

Elizabeth Anderson: The poor chicken! Where do you think it's going? Everybody has a stake in the welfare of the chicken.

F W Birdman: Typically, the chickens crossing the roads CHOOSE to do so - don't try to make that my responsibility.

Robert Fisher: I've rebooted the server and updated the user databases. Hopefully the chicken will make it across the road sometime today.

--------------------------------------------------------
John
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Ken Ibold said:
Is said post suitable for sharing, or is its insight lost out of context?
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Aww, crap. Now I can't find it. :(

It was titled "Don't be reasonable, just be EMPHATIC!" and as best I can tell it was posted on or maybe just before April 5, 2005. I found some e-mails I exchanged with him after that, but can't find the original.

Anyone else happen to save that post?
 
Diana said:
I have copied something fun that he wrote on the old WebBoard. I'll post it here in his honor, and if someone finds it inappropriate, then I'll delete it. Hopefully it is something that John would want us to remember about him.
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Diana,

That was the other post that really stuck out in my mind. Hopefully there's still some humor in it for the newer folks, since most of the people mentioned in it are still hanging around over here! Thanks for posting that. I find it most appropriate.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Hopefully there's still some humor in it for the newer folks, since most of the people mentioned in it are still hanging around over here!
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:yes:

Sorry to hear about John. Never knew him but he seems like a class act.
 
Never personally conversed with John, but I do recall that his posts were in the few of the "worth reading" posts on the old 'yellow board'. Sad to hear when we lose any pilot - especially one with great quality.
 
Moxie! Nice to see you here. Thanks so much for the pick. Chatted with John a bit that day and really enjoyed meeting him in person. Really hate to get this news.

Thanks for sharing.

Best,

Dave
 
Does anyone who corresponded with John directly know about any family? Anywhere we (POA Collectively or individually) could send cards, notes or flowers?
 
gkainz said:
Does anyone who corresponded with John directly know about any family? Anywhere we (POA Collectively or individually) could send cards, notes or flowers?
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His brother-in-law read the thread somebody started at vertical reference:

http://verticalreference.com/helicopterforum/index.php?showtopic=5535&st=0

He mentioned that he thought that John's wife would like to read the posts in the above thread. I'm sure any fixed winger who wanted to say something about John on the VR board would be appreciated.

(My contribution BTW is under user "PA Pilot")

A board member posted a quote from a post that John made on VR:

<<<Thing is, I know a lot more car drivers, as a matter of fact, every adult I know drives a car. Stands to reason that it's likely I personally know people who have died in cars. Hell, I've watched people die in their cars right in front of me. I know a lot fewer helicopter pilots (by an order of hundreds, I'd guess), yet I know (as in personally met) two people who have died in helicopters. Which is safer? Well, at 1,000' AGL, I'll choose the helicopter any day!>>>
 
I'm in tears just reading the sentiments on the VR Board. John certainly cultivated legions of friends and admirers within his all-inclusive "family." I remember him from both Yellow and Babes Boards, and send my heartfelt sympathy to his family and, also, to his passenger's family who are no less devastated by the tragedy.

HR
 
Really sorry to hear. He was the ski patrol guy right? We shared Colorado experiences on the side.
 
Diana said:
How incredibly sad. What a tragic loss. :( :( :(

I have copied something fun that he wrote on the old WebBoard. I'll post it here in his honor, and if someone finds it inappropriate, then I'll delete it. Hopefully it is something that John would want us to remember about him.
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No, it is most appropriate, Diana. I never met him, but from just this one contribution to the board before I joined, I know I would have found him a great friend.

My prayers to his and his passenger's families.

Jim
 
Cr__. John was a really nice guy, and will be greatly missed.

Very saddened to hear this.

Let's be careful out there.
 
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This is very sad news. I was really hoping the title of this thread was just a bad joke. As others have already said, John was one of the really good guys. Having conversed online for several months, when John first came to Minnesota, I showed him around the area and got to know him pretty well. I had the pleasure of flying with him on several occasions in helicopters and airplanes as well as spending a fair amount of time sitting around chatting when he was working at the airport I'm based at. I'll pass the news to the owner of the FBO he was teaching at, I know he was well regarded there. I will miss him.
 
ejensen said:
Really sorry to hear. He was the ski patrol guy right? We shared Colorado experiences on the side.
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I don't recall him talking about ski patrol, but he was a ski instructor in Colorado for several years before getting into flying as a career.
 
Ah, crap. This just knocked the wind out of me.
John was a great poster and well respected on the old AOPA board.

I loved his Johnny L's Heli-Factoids. Those were great and very educational. I even saved them to disk. (Note to self: Make additional backup to CD)

RIP Johnny L. You will be missed. I will think of you every time I see a helicopter.
 
gkainz said:
Does anyone who corresponded with John directly know about any family? Anywhere we (POA Collectively or individually) could send cards, notes or flowers?
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John had a wife who I only met briefly once as she was attending college in Michigan while he worked here. But I know someone who would know how to reach her and I'll report back if I learn anything useful.

I'm thinking of taking a collection from any interested members here and on the redboard. Any takers? I'm pretty sure his wife would appreciate that we remember him fondly.
 
lancefisher said:
John had a wife who I only met briefly once as she was attending college in Michigan while he worked here. But I know someone who would know how to reach her and I'll report back if I learn anything useful.

I'm thinking of taking a collection from any interested members here and on the redboard. Any takers? I'm pretty sure his wife would appreciate that we remember him fondly.
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I'm in. Paypal or similar Lance?
 
lancefisher said:
I'm thinking of taking a collection from any interested members here and on the redboard. Any takers? I'm pretty sure his wife would appreciate that we remember him fondly.
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I'm unemployed, don't have much extra $$ available and have a few unexpected critical expenses that must be taken care of.

I'm in anyway.

It won't be much but I'm in for what little pittance I can manage. Every penny helps and John deserves it.

Just let me know where to send it.
 
This is really sad. Scary, too, because earlier this week we were talking in FlashChat about how it is a certainty that someone we know from the boards is going to die in a crash. I remember him from AOPA board.

Diana, thanks for the post; most appropriate!

Lance, let us know about contributions; I'm in.
 
I've been in contact with John's former employer and mutual friend at FCM. He and another close friend (a local TV helicopter pilot) of John's are putting together a group donation to a local aviation charity per Lisa's (John's wife) request. I'm told that any kind of memorial service is at least a couple weeks off, I'll post more on that when I learn anything. I should have an address to send cards in a day or two.

John was lately more involved on the helicopter "Vertical Reference" webboard:

www.verticalreference.com as member "flingwing206" and there's a similar thread over there:

http://verticalreference.com/helicopterforum/index.php?showtopic=5535&st=0

One or two of wife Lisa's brothers have posted in that thread. I'll PM them about taking a look here as well to see the kind thoughts.

And here's John's link to his wife's homepage if you're interested:

http://www.lancasterequine.com/lisa_about.htmla
 
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