"Big Al" Passell flys west..

Just a quick note for those (many) pilots who knew him; well-known
flight instructor and DE (He checked out over 1/2 of the pilots
certificated in the Cincinnati, OH area over the last decade, according
to Sportys) has died at the age of 80 at his home in Cincinnati. "Big
Al" was famous among area pilots; just about everyone I knew had flown
with him, either as a student or as a certificate candidate. I flew
with him for my Private, Commercial and Instrument checkrides. He never
quite bought into the notion that "DEs aren't supposed to teach".
Everyone I know who had a checkride with Al said that he taught them
something they didn't know before; he was a great teacher. He'd also
'hold court' over at Sporty's; many of us sat and talked with him for
hours over there...he had some fantastic aviation stories. Fittingly,
his gravesite is directly under the final approach course for CVG 18R.
Thanks for the lessons Al.

More information at
http://www.sportys.com/press/displaypress.cfm?id=234 .