Henning gone west

jtru said:
Hello POA,

I am not a pilot, but I stumbled upon Henning on Reddit some months ago and found him to be such an interesting/sometimes disturbing character that I ended up following him around for a bit.

He mentioned sometime last Fall that he was looking to "be gone" (or similar verbiage) by Halloween, 2023. Looks like he held on a few months longer.

I realized this morning that he hadn't posted in a month or so, so I took to Google to find answers and sure enough, found his obit and other Facebook posts.

Being a new account, I can't post links. But his username on Reddit was "Wise_Investment_9089". reddit/u/wise_investment_9089 should get you there.

Not sure if this is meaningful or helpful to anybody but he was interesting enough to fascinate me for a while. His posts/comments on Reddit are definitely indicative of his mental state.

My condolences to anyone who knew him personally.
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Thanks for the info.
 
One thing about Henning - his statements were direct and crude. And when those direct and crude statements were right, they usually were both spot on and made people uncomfortable.
 
Ted said:
One thing about Henning - his statements were direct and crude. And when those direct and crude statements were right, they usually were both spot on and made people uncomfortable.
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I’ve always missed the man. I often did not agree with him. I always figured he would show back up on the board.

despite his rough edges I’ll always miss his contribution to POA.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
I’ve always missed the man. I often did not agree with him. I always figured he would show back up on the board.

despite his rough edges I’ll always miss his contribution to POA.
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Before my time, but what was it so bad that got him banned and all his posts deleted?
 
Piperonca said:
Before my time, but what was it so bad that got him banned and all his posts deleted?
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Post 80 of this thread:
masloki said:
It may have been on the Germanwings thread or soon after. I remember seeing that post of his too, being very shocked, and then soon after he was banned and didn’t return. Prior to that, I took his posts in good jest but after, I just couldn’t read whatever he chose to write about.

Fair skies and tailwinds, cap’n.
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I see the MC has reinstated his user name (from poadeleted20 iirc) and added the "gone west" banner. Feels like the right move all things considered.
 
Jim K said:
I see the MC has reinstated his user name (from poadeleted20 iirc) and added the "gone west" banner. Feels like the right move all things considered.
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Henning's username wasn't ever deleted, I saw posts of his from time to time in searches. He was, however, "Ejection Handle Pulled" (banned). I think something within the system doesn't allow "Gone West" and "Ejection Handle Pulled" at the same time.
 
Ted said:
Henning's username wasn't ever deleted, I saw posts of his from time to time in searches. He was, however, "Ejection Handle Pulled" (banned). I think something within the system doesn't allow "Gone West" and "Ejection Handle Pulled" at the same time.
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Ah. I'm thinking of Ron levy. Another one gone before my time that I bump into in old threads. He's poa deleted 20.
 
Racerx said:
Some of those reddit posts....not a good read.

"An idol mind is the devil's workshop"
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He’d been posting similar for years - some of it here and some on Facebook. But it did descend further and further as the years went on.

As I said towards the beginning of this thread, he had a lot of demons running around inside his head.
 
It is always sad to see anyone seek a permanent solution to a temporary problem. The depth of despair and hopelessness that drives a person to suicide is difficult to witness.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I never would have thought a resourceful, independent guy like Cap would do himself in, if indeed that's what happened, over money.

I hope it ain't so.
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It wasn't over money. It was over declining mental health, which slid further and further over the years and, perhaps, manifested in the end as blaming money. But it was never money. He was way more broken than that.

For a long time now he's been convinced that... Well, here are his some of his own words: "All of creation is a quantum physics based hologram of Dark Energy playing out in Dark Matter that grows and reproduces living organisms that provide the energy for the perpetuity of the Quantum Singularity."

As a computer scientist who spent a lot of time working in high energy physics (and like many here, found him oddly interesting) I tried to have some conversations with him and tease apart that kind of word salad. But he was too far gone. He really strongly believed that we are all god, or one with god, or quantum beings equivalent to god. And all this was going to lead to a hydrogen economy somehow also. If he were ranting on a street corner instead of typing at a computer I suspect more people would have been concerned. But here we are. His illness seems to have finally won the day.
 
I remember his posts fondly. I didn't always agree with what he wrote, but I always enjoyed reading his words. A character through and through. Not a bad way to be remembered. Most of the posts on this and other forums are imminently forgettable. Henning's posts lingered in your mind.
 
I recall he talked a lot about his dad being either a psychologist or a psychiatrist and also about the lack of care for mental illness in this country. Maybe he saw it coming, maybe not. But it looks like it caught him.
 
Matthew said:
I recall he talked a lot about his dad being either a psychologist or a psychiatrist ....
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I looked it up once. Iirc his dad was the lead psychiatrist for the state of Missouri mental health system at one point.
 
I noticed his last medical was six years ago in 2018. I can’t help but wonder if he avoided mental health treatment to maintain his (or an intent to reapply for a) medical certificate so he could continue random piloting gigs. Base on what’s being reported, there was definitely something going on, although it was likely never formally diagnosed.
 
Brad Z said:
I noticed his last medical was six years ago in 2018. I can’t help but wonder if he avoided mental health treatment to maintain his (or an intent to reapply for a) medical certificate so he could continue random piloting gigs. Base on what’s being reported, there was definitely something going on, although it was likely never formally diagnosed.
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Never diagnosed.....equals .....it never happened. ;)
 
Brad Z said:
I noticed his last medical was six years ago in 2018. I can’t help but wonder if he avoided mental health treatment to maintain his (or an intent to reapply for a) medical certificate so he could continue random piloting gigs. Base on what’s being reported, there was definitely something going on, although it was likely never formally diagnosed.
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If you're not going to apply for a medical, or if you're willing to be deceptive, why avoid treatment? It seems much more likely that he didn't realize that he was mentally ill. Most mentally ill people don't. Or maybe he was in treatment and that's why he didn't have a current medical.
 
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Jim K said:
What was the final straw that got him ousted from POA?
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I don't recall details any more, but he explicitly took steps to ensure he'd be banned; a series of blatantly offensive, rule-breaking, posts. He got his wish.

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Sad to read of his passing - of course he was a tortured soul, but you could surely never call him dull. Had the pleasure of spending some time with him the year that Jesse, Tommy and I flew to OSH. Interesting, though we were glad that, at the end of a long day, we were in open air. He had a certain... musk.

Of course, there's no way he was expert at everything he claimed - and yet, when he held forth on subject about which I had significant knowledge, he was more-often right than wrong. Maybe not a bad person to know in the midst of a zombie apocalypse?

Glass held high, looking to the west: Fair Winds, Henning!
 
I went to high school with Henning. We FaceTimed in January and he seemed “normal” having a usual airplane conversation. He often spoke about checking out of this life as he saw humanity as a failure. I always hoped he would pull through, but sadly he got his wish. Yes, we lost a tortured soul and a wild story teller, but at his core, Henning was a good dude. I’ll miss him for sure.
 
I’ve spent time with Henning over the years. He was an interesting guy. The 310 Henning purchased was through my introduction. It’s been about a year since we last spoke but he sounded good at the time.
 
radiokaos said:
I’ve spent time with Henning over the years. He was an interesting guy. The 310 Henning purchased was through my introduction. It’s been about a year since we last spoke but he sounded good at the time.
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Yeah he told me the 310 story. No intentions of buying anything…but once he saw it
 
I drove by Hennings boat in Pt Townsend, WA yesterday. It makes me very sad to see it in its current state knowing all of the blood, sweat, and tears he put into it. I hope he is finally at rest.
 

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