Chris Smith R.I.P.

JD · Post by JD » Sat Oct 10, 2015 7:24 pm

Our esteemed colleague and former Sylmar pilot has died suddenly. I heard it was in his sleep last night.

jimshaw · Post by **jimshaw** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 1:20 pm

What an interesting and fun guy. My condolences to Chris' family. Godspeed Chris.

Julieann · Post by **Julieann** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 1:35 pm

I hardly knew Chris but he made a lasting impression. It was the day of my hang gliding solo. The day was quite crazy. My instructor, Andy Beem, had returned from an unexpected trip to Ojai to make sure his land/property were safe from the impeding fires in the area. It was also the day of the Dahlsten Cup that year so the LZ was full of people. I was nervous. We loaded up the truck for a late afternoon flight. Andy stayed in the LZ to give me instruction. Chris Smith and his girlfriend were on the truck. Chris talked to me on the way up and told me not to be nervous and that this was going to be great. He even offered his girlfriend to take pictures. Coincidentally, the glider I had purchased happened to be his brother Brad's old glider (now owned by Ken A.) I set up, got ready, and was still very nervous but Chris held my nose wires and walked me up to launch. Chris said that he was excited to be flying with me and that is was going to be fun. It wasn't beneath Chris, a world comp pilot, to be giving pointers to a newbie! A couple of last safety checks and a call to Andy Beem and I was cleared and yelled "CLEAR!" Chris released my nose wires and ducked. I ran.....and I ran hard. I was off into the sky. I could hear all the hooting and hollering from Chris and everyone else on launch. I was well on my way up into the air! I was smiling from ear to ear! It was a day I would never forget, a memory etched into my mind. When I found out that Chris had passed, I was reminded of this fantastic memory.

When I found this obituary:
http://www.cdispatch.com/obituaries/obi ... iFSKtKrQdU
it sounded like Chris made the most of his short life and that he lived life to the fullest as well as caring about others. Like I said, I hardly knew the guy and he made such a lasting impression. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. Vaya con Dios!

Bob Kuczewski · Post by **Bob Kuczewski** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:00 pm

That's a nice memory Julieann.

My memories of Chris are somewhat similar. I first met him and his brother out at Avenue S when I was taking my first lessons through Windsports.

At that time (early 2004?) I think both Chris and Brad were also fairly new to the sport, but when you're just getting started, even an H2 seems like they know a lot!!

As you mentioned, Chris was always helpful and cheerful. His early passing is a reminder that our time here is very limited. Make it count.

rsherwoo · Post by **rsherwoo** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 2:19 pm

The obituary has a link to donate to his son's education fund. I just did so. If anyone else would like to, the link is:
https://bradsmith.dntly.com/campaign/le ... ation-fund