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sratm
Joined: 03 Apr 2010
Posts: 2
Location: CHARLESTON SC
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 Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:12 pm Post subject: my father was john ratcliffe |
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Hi,
my name is shawn ratcliffe. My father is the pilot that passed away on thursday. I want to thank you right away for all the nice things you have said. My family thanks you.
I came across this forum friday when i was looking for stories of my dad. I went to the site thinking that it would be a generic discussion on what happened. I was stunned to find out that many of you have actually gotten to know my dad well. My father was a well liked man. With more friends than i new of. Always helping others that were strangers. I have found out so much about my father in the last days here.
I didn't want to know my dad growing up. for really stupid reasons. And as i got older the anger got worse the more he tried to help. Not long ago, at the age of 35 or so, we mended alot of holes. But I still didn't take the time sooner to learn more. I was just to busy trying to move the career along that i was in to take that time. During that just to busy time he was building his kolb. I was excited at the thought of flying with him because he got me hooked when i was around 4 or 5. But with my attitude as a child I never went to the lengths he did to further that love of flying. The freedom you feel. The rush you feel when pulling up and away from the runway. The sensation that runs through your body.
I'm not able to take that flight with my father in life now, or even learn of his life from him. But i have decide learn as much as i can of him through my family, and to learn all he knew of flying by learning all i can of it.
i have decided to move out of my career now as quickly as i can and into a career in aviation. To learn to be the pilot that my father was.
I hope to get to know all of you as well as my father did. I was told that he got hooked on flying at a young age. He and is brother built a wooden plane and drug it up on the roof of the house they lived in and his brother pushed him and the plane off the roof and he crashed landed into some bushes. From his first flight to his last he loved flying. My father was a pilot.
thank you again for all the friendship you show him.
sincerely Shawn M Ratcliffe
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Ralph B
Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Posts: 367
Location: Mound Minnesota
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| Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject: Re: my father was john ratcliffe |
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Thanks Shawn for sharing this with the group. I too lost my father when I got home from the service years ago. It was not in an aviation accident, but due to alcohol. The sad part is that he was in naval air and could have done so much more with his life in his retirement. This is how I got interested in aviation as a youngster.
Good luck with your new goal to be a pilot. I love my Kolb's. They both give me great pleasure in life. I will always be grateful to Homer Kolb and New Kolb Aircraft for designing these great machines to fly.
I was out flying the Kolbra today. Here is a picture. It's starting to warm up here in this cold country.
Ralph B
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_________________
Ralph B
Kolb Kolbra 912uls
N20386
550 hours |
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clrprop
Joined: 16 Sep 2008
Posts: 44
Location: SC
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| Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:05 am Post subject: Re: my father was john ratcliffe |
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I'm very sorry for your loss Shawn. I lost my Dad on Jan. 27th.
Here is an e-mail forwarded to me :
Last Tuesday (or Wed)AM I went out to JZI to “pat my Luscombe”. While I was there a John Racliffe drove up in a pickup wi9th a 8-10 trailer behind him. I introduced myself and he said he had a Kolb LSA in the trailer and he was going to rent Hangar 10 (the other side of my row). He said he needed to “fly off his hours” (a FAA requirement I think). We “talked airplanes for a couple of minutes, then I left.
Apparently the next morning he put the Kolb together and started flying there at JZI staying near (east of) the runway (4/22). He must have crashed about 11 AM. Apparently no one heard his engine and started a “check”, then called 911. Rescue vehicles included a airboat that had to be used to get to the crash site. I was told by a local pilot that he got slow, stalled and spun to the pluff mud. TV photo showed Kolb on its back, nose down. Pilot died of chest and head injuries. Sad.
Keath T
Kolb Mark IIIC
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