Godspeed, John & Sheri Horn

We just returned from attending the wake for John & Sheri Horn, of
Cedar Falls, Iowa, on our way home from a few days in Wisconsin. Of
course we forgot to pack "funeral clothes" in the rush to get out, so
a stop at K-Mart was required before we could use the airport courtesy
car to drive to the funeral home.

Sheri would have gotten a kick out of that...

Sheri was the current head of the Iowa 99s, of which Mary is a
member. As the spouse of a 99, I am a "49 and 1/2", as was John,
Sheri's husband. John and I spent many an hour shooting the breeze
(while the women did the meeting work) in the company of all the other
"49.5"s.

I think every guy pilot feels a bit weird at these 99 meetings, given
the unusual female dominance of the gathering. John and I (and the
other guys) would be a part of the affair, right up to the point where
the REAL meeting would start -- and then us guys would be shooed away
like flies from a fresh-baked pie.

Often we wouldn't know where to go or what to do, so we'd find
someplace nearby with comfy chairs and start chewing the fat. This
was easy when they held their meetings at our hotel, the Alexis Park
Inn & Suites -- heck, I know ALL the good places to hide -- but not so
easy when they would meet in little podunk towns, or at restaurants.
I mean, where the heck can we GO when the meeting is at a restaurant?

Still, we'd rise to the occasion, and find a place to hang out. John
was good people, and Sheri was a real spark plug, and together they
owned an absolutely cherry North American Navion, painted in military
livery.

They flew the pants off that plane. As a husband-wife pilot team,
they rivaled Mary and me for flying all over the country. And, sans
children, they could get away year 'round, not just in the summer.

Well, last week they wanted to attend the Navion Fly-In back east, and
the weather in Iowa just didn't want to cooperate. They were two days
late in departing, due to crappy local weather, when "Get-there-itis"
struck, and they headed out even though Illinois was socked in with
fog.

No one knows what they were thinking, but I'll bet they figured they
could simply get on top of the fog, and zip through to the clear air
over Indiana. I saw the weather the morning they died, because we
had three Ercoupe pilots who were waiting it out at the inn -- and I
know that the weather over Illinois was pea-soup fog where they
augered in.

They were apparently on top for a while -- perhaps a good long while
-- and maybe a cloud layer above started to converge with the fog?
It's easy to see it happening, and once you're in it, you're on the
gauges. Did they turn on the autopilot? Did they have a vacuum pump
failure that aggravated the situation?

We may never know. All we know is that reports from the scene
indicate a high-speed, near vertical descent, and a 10-foot hole in
the ground. Witnesses heard the airplane's engine, and said it
sounded like a World War II movie, when the dive bombers were coming
in.

Sheri and John were the best kind of GA pilots, flying a great,
classic plane. They died together, quickly -- a blessing in itself --
but they will be sadly missed. I hope you'll all join me in a silent
toast to their lives this evening.

This makes three local pilots gone in the span of just six months.
Please be careful out there, guys and gals. This GA that we all know
and love can obviously bite us, quickly and mercilessly.

Read more of the story he

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2...7433221545.txt
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"