Gone West: Mike Andrews (mikea)

wsuffa said:
That's not Kent. It's Scott M. Scott's bride is at the table in the middle.
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LOL, OK. I haven't seen Kent in a while and I don't think I've ever met Scott. Now I'm not even going to attempt to name the others, even though I'm pretty sure....
 
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What a great photo, @ScottM , thanks for sharing it
 
ScottM said:
Grant just called me and said that a couple of hours ago Mike Andrews passed away suddenly. It was just a couple of weeks ago that we were celebrating his 60th birthday. He was a great guy and friend. I have no other information than that right now. I reached out to his wife Joan and I know that Grant and Dr. Bruce have already spoken with her.

RIP Mike.
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Correction: It was his 65th birthday. I had it wrong too. :confused: His personality was younger than his physical age!

And some additional information from Joan.
Mike will be cremated, and a memorial celebration of life will be held at a later date to avoid being a super-spreader event! Donations in Mike’s name may be made to the 2x2 Animal Rescue, Making a Difference Rescue, Young Eagles, EAA or AOPA.

Any interest in a memorial plaque at EAA AirVenture like we did for Moxie? I think it would be a great tribute! https://www.eaa.org/eaa/support-eaa/give/tribute-opportunities/eaa-memorial-wall
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
Another incarnation of Chuck would make sense. I do seem to remember Evil Chuck from the early days before he essentially disappeared from the board. Maybe that's a PoA Deleted somewhere.

Chip was #4. Brian Austin was in the single digits but not 2. What was Ron is now a poadeleted so it's hard to see. Maybe?

Thinking about it, I seem to remember when I first joined, Chuck just had his normal "Greebo" username but he had the evil eyes avatar.

Doing a bit more digging, it looks as though Bruce knew at one point:
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Man, reading all these names is bringing back some long lost memories. I have no idea what number I came in at - not even sure if I'm double or triple digit - but I think I was in fairly early on. I remember chatting with Laurie, Jesse, Tony, Jamie (aka Jules), John (aka 'old man'), Nick (aka Skyhog) and others into the wee hours of the morning on the old chat maybe even before you came on the scene and wooed Laurie into submission.
 
gprellwitz said:
Correction: It was his 65th birthday. I had it wrong too. :confused: His personality was younger than his physical age!

And some additional information from Joan.
Mike will be cremated, and a memorial celebration of life will be held at a later date to avoid being a super-spreader event! Donations in Mike’s name may be made to the 2x2 Animal Rescue, Making a Difference Rescue, Young Eagles, EAA or AOPA.

Any interest in a memorial plaque at EAA AirVenture like we did for Moxie? I think it would be a great tribute! https://www.eaa.org/eaa/support-eaa/give/tribute-opportunities/eaa-memorial-wall
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I'd be in on a memorial plaque.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
But this also got me going down a rabbit hole of PoA history, looking to see some of the earliest members. While I've been around a while, PoA was about 2.5 years old when I joined and a lot had already gone on in those first couple of years. My dear wife was in the first 100 users (#91, to be specific) and joined within the first 2 weeks of PoA being founded. Some of the earliest users are now only around on rare occasion, some I never really got to know at all, some basically gone entirely but still keep in touch with elsewhere.
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I'm #95 and I'm pretty sure I joined on the first day PoA was available to the public. Almost all of us were refugees from the old AOPA "Yellow board" that was going to be shut down shortly thereafter, so there was a big wave of signups when the start of PoA was announced on the yellow board. Some of the early plans for PoA started as posts on the yellow board too, so we knew it was coming.

The one thing I couldn't find, though, was user #2. There were a few "poadeleted" users (their user IDs changed when that happened). Curious if any PoA historians may remember who that was.
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I expected it to be Brian Austin, but he's #5 so I think

Bill Jennings said:
I remember Mike from the early days here, and I remember something in his sig about giving 200lbs (or whatever number is was) of fuel a free ride wherever he went...
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400 pounds! He had 4x fuel tanks in his plane:

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EdFred said:
I believe user #2 was another incarnation of Chuck.
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That makes sense - Probably testing user permissions vs admin permissions.

wsuffa said:
(Was evil Chuck one of them?)
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Evil Chuck! Forgot all about that.

Ted DuPuis said:
Doing a bit more digging, it looks as though Bruce knew at one point:
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Oddly enough, Mike worked for AT&T. Maybe @bbchien can clarify his comment from long ago!

gprellwitz said:
Any interest in a memorial plaque at EAA AirVenture like we did for Moxie? I think it would be a great tribute! https://www.eaa.org/eaa/support-eaa/give/tribute-opportunities/eaa-memorial-wall
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Abso-freaking-lutely, count me in.

CJones said:
Man, reading all these names is bringing back some long lost memories. I have no idea what number I came in at - not even sure if I'm double or triple digit - but I think I was in fairly early on.
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You're #243. Were you ever on the yellow board?
 
CJones said:
Yep. I was a yellow board refugee. Wasn't it the red board before it was the yellow board?
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I think it was the other way around. Yellow first, then red. I think they shut red down for w while too (after the "bicycle" incident).

Chuck had set up a couple of test accounts. Evil Chuck was one, but there was also a PoA test account so permission settings could be tested. IIRC, there were 4 or 5 test accounts.
 
CJones said:
Yep. I was a yellow board refugee. Wasn't it the red board before it was the yellow board?
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Nope... Yellow first (or if not first, it was that color by 2001 when I joined AOPA), then no board at all for a bit, then red. And now back to none at all.
 
wsuffa said:
I think it was the other way around. Yellow first, then red. I think they shut red down for w while too (after the "bicycle" incident).
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flyingcheesehead said:
Nope... Yellow first (or if not first, it was that color by 2001 when I joined AOPA), then no board at all for a bit, then red. And now back to none at all.
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Ah.. Ok. I've slept since then, so it's all a blur that far back. ;)

Pretty sure I joined AOPA and whatever color board was associated with AOPA in 2000. I don't think I ever re-joined after I came over here. I have no clue what my username was over there back in the day.
 
CJones said:
Ah.. Ok. I've slept since then, so it's all a blur that far back. ;)

Pretty sure I joined AOPA and whatever color board was associated with AOPA in 2000. I don't think I ever re-joined after I came over here. I have no clue what my username was over there back in the day.
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I want to say that we actually used our real names on the yellow board, IIRC. I do think I have a couple of old screen shots of it somewhere...
 
Very nice Photo Scott. Mike was a good guy.
 
I spoke with Joan today, and she asked me to pass along her thanks for all the nice comments here.

And the idea of Dr Bruce being #6 is kind of weird. I always thought he is not a number, but is a free man! And if Evil Greebo is #2? Hmmmmm...
 
Mike's obituary was just posted:
https://www.strangfuneral.org/michael-p-andrews/

I'll ping those who've expressed an interest in the memorial plaque. We have a bit of time.
Andrews.jpeg
 
I never met him but I have seen that beautiful 235 based at my airport. Was in New Mexico when he passed. Wish I would have met him after everything that has been said.
 
Well, this sucks. I'll miss you Mike.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Thanks, Grant. I've added this to the Pilotcast Facebook page and Twitter account.
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Thanks Kent. We have raised enough for the plaque, but I'm leaving it open a while to allow others to contribute. I want to express my thanks, and thanks on behalf of Joan, for the generosity of ALL who donated to the EAA in Mike's name!
 
gprellwitz said:
Thanks Kent. We have raised enough for the plaque, but I'm leaving it open a while to allow others to contribute. I want to express my thanks, and thanks on behalf of Joan, for the generosity of ALL who donated to the EAA in Mike's name!
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thank you, Grant, for taking the time and making the effort to do this.
 
@ScottM Thank you for posting the news, sad as it is. I've been mostly lurking for so long, and arrived at PoA recently though a different page than usual. I saw "mikea" and clicked right away, thinking he had posted, before I even realized what subforum it was.

I first met several of the yellow board/PoA (now) old-timers at the AOPA Expo in Tampa, 2005: Ron Levy, @bbchien, @Lance F, @AdamZ, and ended up sitting next to Mike at dinner one night. I'm pretty sure he had some of his podcasting recording gear on him! We of course bonded over our appreciation for Apple products. I too remember his love for his bulldoggies. Very nice to hear he got married! Didn't even know that.

flyingcheesehead said:
Oddly enough, Mike worked for AT&T.
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That would explain how one day, out of the blue, he PM'ed me asking if I wanted one of those new-fangled iPhones. The original ones that were so hard to get at the time. He said he had gotten a "deal" on them! Haha, little did I know.

RIP Mike.
 
Mike will be included in the EAA Memorial Ceremony at OSH '21 on August 1 at 10AM. Please let me know if you're planning to attend BY 1 JULY so I can add you to the RSVP list. I don't know how they're going to work it this year with COVID. I think that I can get parking passes if you want to attend the ceremony but aren't going to be at OSH otherwise.

Thank you for your submission to honor your loved one on EAA’s Memorial Wall. While we all missed having AirVenture 2020, we are excited to honor the 2020 and 2021 inductees at the annual dedication service on the last Sunday of AirVenture, August 1st, 2021 at 10 a.m. This heartwarming ceremony includes a poignant reading of inductees' names, a breathtaking missing man flight formation, and concludes with the playing of taps. Unfortunately because of COIVD guidelines, there will be no brunch this year.
 
gprellwitz said:
Mike will be included in the EAA Memorial Ceremony at OSH '21 on August 1 at 10AM. Please let me know if you're planning to attend BY 1 JULY so I can add you to the RSVP list. I don't know how they're going to work it this year with COVID. I think that I can get parking passes if you want to attend the ceremony but aren't going to be at OSH otherwise.

Thank you for your submission to honor your loved one on EAA’s Memorial Wall. While we all missed having AirVenture 2020, we are excited to honor the 2020 and 2021 inductees at the annual dedication service on the last Sunday of AirVenture, August 1st, 2021 at 10 a.m. This heartwarming ceremony includes a poignant reading of inductees' names, a breathtaking missing man flight formation, and concludes with the playing of taps. Unfortunately because of COIVD guidelines, there will be no brunch this year.
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Grant,

Count me in. Thanks!
 
On Saturday August 14, 2021 at 11:00am CT we’ll have a memorial to Mike at Campbell Airport, C81. Catering by Portillo’s. Please RSVP so we have enough food! Fly-ins are encouraged!
Joan waited so COVID won’t be as much of a concern.
 
gprellwitz said:
On Saturday August 14, 2021 at 11:00am CT we’ll have a memorial to Mike at Campbell Airport, C81. Catering by Portillo’s. Please RSVP so we have enough food! Fly-ins are encouraged!
Joan waited so COVID won’t be as much of a concern.
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Never met Mike unfortunately, but C81 is my home base. Would feel a little weird about stopping in.
 
gprellwitz said:
On Saturday August 14, 2021 at 11:00am CT we’ll have a memorial to Mike at Campbell Airport, C81. Catering by Portillo’s. Please RSVP so we have enough food! Fly-ins are encouraged!
Joan waited so COVID won’t be as much of a concern.
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If nothing is on my calendar, I will try and be there.
 
The EAA memorial last Sunday was wonderful. There were seven of us there for Mike with beautiful weather. The missing man formation was moving. Looking forward to seeing his friends at Campbell airport on Saturday, 8/14 at 11:00 AM. We'll have good food and tell tales. PLEASE COME! We've ordered lots of food.
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gprellwitz said:
The EAA memorial last Sunday was wonderful. There were seven of us there for Mike with beautiful weather. The missing man formation was moving. Looking forward to seeing his friends at Campbell airport on Saturday, 8/14 at 11:00 AM. We'll have good food and tell tales. PLEASE COME! We've ordered lots of food.
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Where were you all?!? I was there, but never saw anyone I knew.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Where were you all?!? I was there, but never saw anyone I knew.
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Obviously we never saw you either! We were on the right side towards the rear. Leslie and I got there just at the beginning; had to ask Larry O to drive us over. Thanks for the picture!
 
gprellwitz said:
Obviously we never saw you either! We were on the right side towards the rear. Leslie and I got there just at the beginning; had to ask Larry O to drive us over. Thanks for the picture!
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Ah. I was standing at the left rear right by the boom camera operator. I tried to stand in some conspicuous places afterwards as I looked around for people, but apparently I'm easy to miss. :rofl:
 
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