DBVZ down (sad news about a PoA member) (Dwight B. Van Zanen)

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poadeleted20

Deleted
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Apr 8, 2005
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31,250
It appears we have lost one of our colleagues.
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 61410 Make/Model: EXP Description: AVID FLYER MK-4
Date: 03/26/2012 Time: 1823

Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
City: WAXHAW State: NC Country: US

DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN A WOODED AREA, THE 1 PERSON ON BOARD WAS FATALLY
INJURED, NEAR WAXHAW, NC

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:


OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER


FAA FSDO: CHARLOTTE, NC (SO33) Entry date: 03/27/2012
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http://www.wbtv.com/story/17257437/plane-crashes-into-wooden-area-near

Nothing further known.
 
Re: DBVZ down

What a rotten thing to happen. He was a good guy, and I will really, really miss him.
 
Re: DBVZ down

Last time he posted, his sig showed him living in my old stomping grounds, flying out of Crest Airpark (about two miles from where my sister lives; I've flown out of there too before) in Washington State. Here's a tribute in his local WA paper:

http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/news/144716725.html

http://irmo.patch.com/articles/local-man-killed-in-plane-crash#photo-9436905

EAA tribute: http://www.scttf.org/Club/members/DwightVanZanen.htm

Sad news.

We retire the user IDs with a special message/status, do we not?
 
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Re: DBVZ down

Crap. Very bad news.

RIP, Dwight.
 
Re: DBVZ down

I don't know him, but am familiar with that airport. I used to train at a nearby airport, and landed at Jaars on occasion. It's definitely surrounded by trees, and is often used for training by missionary pilots, who land next to the 40'-wide runway.
 
It's a sad fact that if you are in aviation, you will sooner or later end up knowing someone who died flying an airplane.

For everyone reading this, you be extra careful and try and make "sooner or later" be "never", ok? Thanks.

RIP.
 
Oh no. Thank you for posting this. It is new information to me that we retire user names and add nice signature lines. Sounds very thoughtful.
 
TMetzinger said:
It's a sad fact that if you are in aviation, you will sooner or later end up knowing someone who died flying an airplane.
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It is an even sadder fact that if you stay in aviation long enough, you'll run out of fingers and toes counting them. In any event, let's wait for the report and see if we can learn anything from what happened to prevent it from happening again. That's about the best we can get from things like this.
 
Re: DBVZ down

TangoWhiskey said:
Last time he posted, his sig showed him living in my old stomping grounds, flying out of Crest Airpark (about two miles from where my sister lives; I've flown out of there too before) in Washington State. Here's a tribute in his local WA paper:

http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/news/144716725.html

http://irmo.patch.com/articles/local-man-killed-in-plane-crash#photo-9436905

EAA tribute: http://www.scttf.org/Club/members/DwightVanZanen.htm

Sad news.

We retire the user IDs with a special message/status, do we not?
Click to expand...

We do, indeed, Troy, and need to get this taken care of. It is terrible to lose any flier; closer to home and more hurtful yet when it is someone with whom we have shared our passion through thoughtful conversation.
 
Didn't know him or much about him, but dammit, he was "one of us"... it's terrible.
Blue skies, Dwight...:(
 
I also didn't know him, but the fatality count this year seems to be on track for a bad one. :(
 
Ron Levy said:
It is an even sadder fact that if you stay in aviation long enough, you'll run out of fingers and toes counting them. In any event, let's wait for the report and see if we can learn anything from what happened to prevent it from happening again. That's about the best we can get from things like this.
Click to expand...

It is as sad when all your old buddies aren't waking up in the morning anymore.
 
Re: DBVZ down

Amen. He and I exchanged numerous PM's on another forum (some info, mostly yuks) and even though we never met in person I felt that we knew each other very well. He was a bright and funny guy. RIP

TangoWhiskey said:
Ah, damn.
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I exchanged a lot of PMs with Dwight and especially appreciated his providing some clarifying OGC opinions on logging. Didn't know that he was a local fireman until now. He was a good one and will be missed.

Bob Gardner
 
Oh fruk... Sigh... And very sad. There but for the grace of.....
 
Quote from the link.

"Van Zanen is survived by his wife and four children."

Our hearts go out to them.

We all earn our rewards, I'm sure he is enjoying his.

Maple Valley is a much safer place thanks to him.
 
Didn't know him but I hope his family is okay. Someone should do a missing man formation for him. Very unfortunate.
 
Sad to hear:( He had a BRS, makes me wonder about the timing between death and crash and which came first. An MI can be pretty instant, I've witnessed it.
 
May God bless him, as He surely will.
 
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