N801BH Gone West... (Ben Haas)

My latest event has me thinking a lot about preparing for that final day. Also has me thinking I have a lot left I want to do in what time I have left.
 
Zeldman said:
My latest event has me thinking a lot about preparing for that final day. Also has me thinking I have a lot left I want to do in what time I have left.
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Zeldman,

Most positive statement in the thread. Gitter done while you have the time. My plan is to cook my way into oblivion while enjoying the foods I love. Danged if I'm going to be intimated by cholesterol.
 
Norman said:
Ted,
I found ir sad that Ben passed away but that happens to all of us eventually. Some of us meet our demise earlier than others. Mine will likely come soon.
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I was just informed...

Norm passed away a couple of days ago.

Bummer...big time bummer. Norm and I go back at least 15 years. We had our differences but I always liked the old fart.

Rest In Peace, Norm. :(
 
OMG, that is sad, and a surprise. RIP Norman, you'll be missed buddy.
 
I’ve never met Norm, but enjoyed his posts here. Cone of confusion no more, Godspeed and tailwinds, friend!
 
timwinters said:
Norm chain smoked Winstons and had a horrible diet. I think he was pushing 80. Lasted longer than many of us who knew him thought he would.

He was one of the good guys.
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I agree. enjoyed his posts. sad to hear this.
 
BTW...Norm was very hard of hearing and refused to wear hearing aids so one of his main pleasures were these online pilots' forums (he was also a train geek).

He was found dead at his computer.

:(

:(

:(
 
Norman said:
Zeldman,

Most positive statement in the thread. Gitter done while you have the time. My plan is to cook my way into oblivion while enjoying the foods I love. Danged if I'm going to be intimated by cholesterol.
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Do it. Dietary cholesterol isn’t the Big Bad Wolf it was formerly believed to be. All things in moderation, young man.
 
Lachlan said:
Do it. Dietary cholesterol isn’t the Big Bad Wolf it was formerly believed to be. All things in moderation, young man.
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Genetics probably plays the biggest role in longevity, but you can control some things... R.I.P. Norman. He obviously had good genes.
 
I liked the fundamentals of his philosophy. Live life doing the things that bring you happiness.

He will be missed!
 
John221us said:
Genetics probably plays the biggest role in longevity, but you can control some things... R.I.P. Norman. He obviously had good genes.
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I wish I could quote this in his proper thread, but living a full life, happy to its fullest extent, then keeling over, is the way to go, and those are good genes. Being lucid and happy to the end is priceless.
 
As @mscard88 suggested, let's honor Norm in the thread made for him specifically.

@Bill Jennings made a good point regarding the black ribbon. I'll talk to the other MC members about this.
 
Over the weekend I was flying dogs from Texas to Idaho. Ben was a big fan of what Cloud Nine did, and then looking at the 530 I realized I was flying past KJAC. I then checked and saw I'd be flying past 2WY3, Ben's airport:

http://airnav.com/airport/2WY3

It's still on the sectional and in the Garmin Pilot database (although not in the 530W database - probably because it's a private own, private use airport with no instrument approaches).

I flew within around 20 nm of the airport. From FL180 it wasn't clear where exactly the airport was, but I saw the general area. Although 2WY3 is still a registered airport apparently (I doubt anyone would have deregisterd it, and might not even know to do so), whatever level of maintenance Ben did on the runway is probably now gone, and as I understood it was always basically just ~3,000 ft of dirt anyway (at 7,800 MSL).

I thought of Ben flying past there, and thought that some others might appreciate the photo.

IMG_4232.JPG IMG_4233.PNG
 
I remember discussing with him that his airport was near Pinedale, WY (PNA), where I have been numerous times in the past.
 
Thanks for the post and the pic Ted!

SCCutler said:
As a somewhat-gearhead, I always wanted to meet Ben and regretted not getting to do so.
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:yeahthat:

Ben was the first to respond when I made my first post on PoA. He was quick to welcome newcomers to the zoo.
Seemed I just barely got to know what sort of unique and interesting plane he was flying...and suddenly he was gone.
 
Ted said:
I was looking up some tail numbers in the N-number inquiry to see what had happened to some of them. Among those I was wondering about was N801BH:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=801BH

It looks like they did successfully sell the airplane and get its ownership transferred to a gentleman in Texas. I assume the plane made it out of Jackson Hole at this point, whether it was flown out or made it out on a truck.

I'm happy to see that this means Ben's plane isn't going to just sit in a hangar and rot. At least, I assume not. I can't imagine someone would buy a plane like that and not fly it or otherwise take care of it. I do hope this person will keep Ben's powerplant in there and be able to keep it running.

But, I'll admit to being sad that it's not me who's its next caretaker.
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I don't know if any of you are around - but I just saw these comments. I'm the "gentleman" (don't get called that a lot) that has this airplane. and.....Haven't flown it yet! I get to put in a grueling 5-6 hrs a week on it. The V-8 was removed (ooops) - but totally overhauled, and re-installed. (took a while to understand everything he had done to it...thank God for the video he posted). Sure doesn't sound like the other airplanes out there!!! :) Looks like Ben had some hard landings, so little damage repaired on the firewall, new stainless headers, new wig-wag lights on the wings, wiring removed, the 40 round guages have been removed, his radios, GPS, Transponder, removed, new faux-"glass panel" (it's the Flightbox Pro and Engine Monitoring from Falken Avionics) installed. Same paint scheme. I'm going to keep his tail number on it. It's been hangered ever since I loaded it on a trailer and hauled it back to KDWH. It's in the final stages of testing and configuring, so hopefully it's just a couple of months away from doing what it was built to do!
 
Thanks, Steve. Welcome to PoA!
 
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