We at Lancair
remain, one and all, in shock. Compounding the pain of Kevin's loss is the
fact that it comes much too quickly on the heals of Sterling's death. I
can still hear Kevin's voice filled with enthusiasm after speaking to
another Lancair kit customer. He was new to sales, yet he fit right
in. I guess it was because he not only enjoyed selling but loved flying
and selling Lancairs. Kevin had over three hundred hours of flight time
and enjoyed building time in both our Cessna 150 and the Legacy FG. He was
a good pilot. He was a good employee. We must all learn from these
most recent and unfortuate events that while flying is fun, it remains a serious
business that must be treated with the utmost respect.
There are those
of us who worry each day as to what might happen to them if they take any chance
whatsoever. Those individuals may live a long and fruitful
life without the risk, but therefore without the reward that flying an
airplane of one's own construction may provide. In 1992, shortly
after the death of my father, his good friend Bob Chehardy, who is now 80
years old, asked me if I there is something I would like to do that I hadn't
yet. I stated that I was thinking of building an airplane.
He said "Do it now! Life is short. Don't wait. You may not be
here next week." Whether it is building an airplane, being with your
family on a vacation, taking a walk in the park or making a phone call to a
friend you have not spoken with for several years...do it now.