Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

My wife and I were first introduced to Jeff while visiting the AES plant in Hawaii. Jeff graciously escorted us around the plant. When we asked him to suggest a restaurant for dinner, he was very helpful and directed us to a great restaurant. Shortly thereafter Jeff transferred to the mainland and while waiting for his family to join him; we invited him into our home for a meal.

Working the majority of our 12-hour shifts together, Jeff and I have had many hours to share our stories. Both of us had our early years in the S.F. bay area. We also had shared interests. We both love flying, although mine was powered flight. Most recently Jeff joined my grandson and me at the pistol range for some target practice.
Jeff, I’m gonna miss you.

I trained with Jeff a bit at Dockweiler two years ago as he was having fun and brushing up on his landings. Amicable cuss that he was, I swapped a few emails with him and tried to get him out to Crestline or catch him at Sylmar... and also was hoping to have him do some computer work off-shift from AES. I am sad I will not get the chance to know him, truly.

My heart goes out to those who love him, whose numbers appear to be many.

That’s it, I quit. This sport is just too gnarly. Over the years I’ve had about six friends get killed flying hang gliders or paragliders. Its just too depressing and heavy. For me, seeing the dark side of flying just takes all the fun out of it.

Flying has been good to me personally. Sure, in the past fifteen years of soaring I’ve had one big crash where I broke both my arms in half. But the rest of the time has been filled with the greatest moments one can imagine: Flying my Falon over the top of Mount Whitney, jumping off the cliffs of Yosemite twenty times, ridge soaring the coastal cliffs of New Zealand, Mexico, and California, etc. All those trips we’ve taken to Baja twice a year have been really fun!! Go Team ODAS (you know who you are)!! I remember the old days, back when I started, how people would do aerobatics, and evern loops, when they’d come out to the LZ. Back when Dino was a regular fixture in the club. When we used to race motorcycles in the LZ, and when I accidently set the gezebo on fire, during one of our “Flaming Paper Airplane Races�. Boy, those were good times!!

I’ve been lucky to have been taught by Joe Greblo, and to have learned a conservative style of flying. In fifteen years of soaring, and over 500 hours of air-time, I never moved away from a beginner single-surface glider, to a more difficult to fly double-surface glider. Though I was constantly teased, and told many times in the LZ by beer-soaked pilots that double-surface blade wings are “just as easy to fly as a Falcon�…I always knew they were full of shit. These were often the same people who would tell me that hang gliding was no more dangerous then driving a car. But, in fact, hang gliding is many hundreds of times more dangerous: each year, one in a thousand hang glider pilots dies flying. And that’s in a sport where the average US pilot only flys less then 20 hours a year.

But having seen a pilot die in front of me in Mexico, and hearing about Richard Seymour and Jeff Craig getting killed…its just all too depressing for a sissy like me. Richard and Jeff were both really great guys. So I’ve decided to hang up my hang-strap. For me, its just not fun any more. You’ll still see me in the LZ mooching beers off my pals, but my flying days are over.

I just want to encourage you all to fly safely, be careful, and error on the side of caution.

Gayle Ellett

What's going on? Another in AZ

http://ahga.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2860&sid=19

Everyone please be extra carefull.

And Mike Preston, a beloved member of the SCPA & SBSA, took his own life on Sunday to really round out this weekend of carnage.
If anyone is up that way, perhaps you can help celebrate his life. Mike sounds like a pretty amazing and creative guy who, as often happens, was aflicted with major depression.

I can understand Gayle's feelings and decision. After such a long and full career of flying I could see why you would feel that there is more to lose than gain after probably doing most of what you ever wanted in flying. We all need to consider that regularly.

I will not yet quit myself. I feel I have much more left to get from it before I'm done. I personally would not regret leaving the world this way. I will do all I can to prevent it, but if it happens please understand there are no regrets for me. I have no wife or dependent children to complicate my decision, but if I did, I'd hope they would understand. I expected to die from disease last year, but was cured. Before the cure, I only regretted not living more fully, and helping others more. Hang gliding truly enriches my life, as I'm sure it did those who we have lost. While we feel terrible losses, those lost lived full amazing lives in part due to their voluntary pursuit of a sport that approaches the miraculous in beauty, freedom, and grace.

I also understand what Gayle is saying. Being older and having a wife and kids I definitely understand.

However, I have a few other thoughts.

Some of my high school friends and I got together two years ago. They are all about 50 or a bit more now. When J and I saw them, and they saw us, they were flabbergasted. All they could talk about was how much younger we looked than they did. I kept my mouth shut about it other than to say thanks, but it was clear they were right. I noticed that my hang gliding friends are, by and large, in better shape and look younger than my non-hang gliding friends of similar ages. Is it the hang gliding? Who knows. But when my high school friends talked about the stuff they were doing with their lives, I noticed a lot of TV and such. Their odds of dying young are just as high as mine, I think. They will die from "rusting" because they don't do anything. Maybe I'll die from being too adventurous. But if I have to choose, the choice is clear. Of course, this is a very personal choice, and I'd never venture to suggest that my decision is right for others. I'm of the "Live life fully, but do it with care" philosophy. Don't let fear stop you from doing the things you want. But don't let those things overwhelm your good sense and caution. You won't find me climbing Everest. But you might find me climbing Mt. Whitney. You won't find me doing aerobatics, but you might find me trying to fly 100 miles. You get the idea. But everyone makes that choice themselves, and it is a very personal and private choice.

If you DO give up flying, please find something else to keep life interesting. It doesn't need to be "dangerous", but get out and do some fun stuff.

On their deathbed, nobody ever said "I wish I'd spent more time at work and less playing!"
--- Anonymous

Only a fool has no fear. Only a coward lets it control him.
--- Klingon Proverb

Quiet and secure. Cracks a smile without delay. Always happy just being. Always helpful and good. Even tempered as I saw it. Made you feel warm and good all over, as if you were a life long friend.

Jeff and I took his last ride up the mountain together that day, side by side. I was pretty talkative for awhile (just a wee bit ) as this was going to be my first flight in months. At the end of the talkative bout I mentioned how I'd better quiet down before someone got irritated. Jeff immediately sprouted a big grin and said he was just thinking to tell me to "Shut the f--- up!" We had a great laugh on this one! He was one who could say such a thing and mean absolutely nothing by it in any way. Do you know what I mean?

Can anyone please post a picture here or in the LZ as so many there that day just couldn't picture Jeff in their mind only because he was so quiet (there were a great deal more people there Friday than usual) . With a picture I know that most all of them will instantly remember Jeff and have stories of their own to remember/tell.

Jeff, thanks for the laugh my friend. Hope to see you on the other side...

Has anyone heard if Jeff may have suffered a heat attack in the air? I read on another board that may have been a possibility.
I'm wondering....I'm 46 now....in that age group.

Jeff had a light heart attack about half a year earlier. I am assuming the doctors checked his arteries thoroughly at that time. They found he only needed a stent put into one artery to correct the problem. He was let out of the hospital within a couple days.

I figure the doctors did all they needed to. Seems to me, if there were other clogged arteries they would also have been taken care of them then. With my lack of knowledge, it also seems unlikely that within six months another artery would have closed to the point of causing another heart attack.

I had it in the back of my mind to have a full cat scan of my body for years now - just in case. Jeff's heart attack helped provide the impetus and I went in and had a triple scan done. The first was a 64 slice scan, with contrast, of my heart and arteries. The second a full body scan and the third concentrated on a problem hip (all done at the same time on the same visit).

I only have catastrophic insurance coverage (pays for hospitalizations). So I paid cash and it costed $2000. Nothing of any significance was found. Money well spent though as I was worried, what with my lavish eating style. Thanks again Jeff!

I implore all of you in your forties or older (men and women as the number one cause of death for women in advanced age, I believe, is heart attacks - my aunt had one) to at least have the heart and arteries scanned with 64 slice and contrast. Just do a search on the web for more info. Approximate cost is $700 and well worth it!!!

larswet wrote:Has anyone heard if Jeff may have suffered a heat attack in the air? I read on another board that may have been a possibility..........

http://www.crestlinesoaring.org/forum/20080829/1550

By Tom Cornelius at Mon, 2008-09-01 19:03
I saw Jeffs crash and it didn't appear he was having any problems other than being to low in heavy sink. There was a comment about earlier heart problems. I didn't see the down wind but in his base turn he was really sinking fast,his final was smooth and he leveled his wings perfectly but was still sinking like a stone.I'm a pg pilot and don't know much about landing hang gliders,but if he could have extended his base another 15 feet he would have come in on level in the normal landing area,off the side of the rocky area of the wash.I'm thinking he did what he had to in adnormally heavy sink to keep from draging a wing tip. I didn,t know Jeff personally,he was well liked and will be missed. my condolances to familey and friends.

hello earthbound friends,

birdfarm's SMOOTH!
800 up!

love,
richard and jeff

To all of you who click links directly to the forum, Jeff's picture is now up on the home page of the SHGA website, www.shga.com.

Jeff was such a nice guy to talk to I never saw him angry or mad,few months back Jeff had bad landing and cracked the helmet the same day he went out and bought a new helmet and couple weeks later I saw him at the beach practicing his landing skills and helping out other students.He loved flying. It was a pleasure meeting you Jeff

Condolences to all Jeff's family and friends.

http://www.shga.com/

/_\

At Sylmar's HGA;s Jeff Craig's mass in the summer of 2008, I saw the TCF as being a symbol of his two daughters (uprights or two queenposts) and the basebar as his wife ...his home base. Since at least 1908, the TCF has served hang gliders and aircraft and kites in various ways, including poetic opportunities for meditation. The tabernacle at the Jeff Craig service was also shaped as a triangle control frame. Jeff so enjoyed flying! JpF
/_\

Joe,

Those are lovely thoughts. Perhaps we can integrate this symbol /_\ into our Bill Bennett memorial (y'all thought I'd forgotten but I haven't...)

Upon completion of the new Gazebo, we will resume our Bennett memorial project that also includes space for acknowledging Walt, Richard and Jeff.

L