Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 29,945
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
Last week, Scott Welch passed away following a several-year battle with cancer and about a month in hospice. He was 65.
Several people on here came across Scott, mostly when he or some of his employees at Byerly Aviation in Peoria, IL worked on his airplane.
I first met Scott in 2007 when I'd decided I would take advantage of the company flying club benefit and get my ratings, figuring that maybe one day I'd want to use them. Scott instructed me through private, instrument, multi, and CFI initial. He eventually was my boss for a short time, when I was flying 135 through Byerly in Navajos and Commanders. He sold me my Aztec, maintained it and the 310 while I lived in Pennsylvania. He was a friend and mentor. I couldn't have asked for a flight instructor who better matched me.
I still remember him walking into the FBO, his presence immediately obvious, and saying "You Ted?" "Yes" "Let's go fly!" At the end of my first lesson I asked him when the second lesson would be, he said "What're you doing tomorrow?" I was going to drive to PIT to go pick up my girlfriend at the time, who was flying in. "We'll fly there!" The club 172 had a bad transponder so we couldn't take that. He volunteered his family Comanche 180 (which his father had bought brand new). It was an instrument day, so my second flight lesson (and second logbook entry) is a cross country flying to a Class B in a Comanche, in IMC.
Scott picked up that I was the sort of person who loved challenges, and knew how to expose me to new experiences at the right time. Shortly after my first solo he called me up one afternoon and said "Hey Ted, want to fly an Aztec to Maine and back with me? It won't cost you a dime!" The owner wanted to get dropped off in Maine for a hunting trip, and was going to hunt his way back to PA. On that trip, he was telling the owner "You know, if you're going to do these sorts of trips you really want something like a Cheyenne. About 14 months later, a Cheyenne showed up on the ramp, and I bought that Aztec.
My first turbine time was later in that Cheyenne, and I borrowed it when my wife was pregnant with our first child, and having some problems. She was up in Newfoundland for work at the time. Flying commercial from Newfoundland to Williamsport is a pretty miserable experience, and the weather that day was crap. Not something you could've done with pistons. I called up Scott: "We're going to Newfoundland tomorrow. Need something with turbines." Without even asking why, he immediately responded "We can take the Cheyenne."
Scott was someone you could depend on, and someone who was there to save the day. He was glad to do that, and did it frequently for me, and many others.
When he was diagnosed with cancer, he kept it very close and told very few people, including his closest friends. I only found out about it a couple of months ago. He didn't take a "Woe is me" attitude, kept on doing what he loved, which was working with airplanes. Late last year things started to go more downhill, and about a month ago he came back to Pennsylvania for hospice. I got to talk to him earlier this year when he was still his old self, and then I talked to him a few weeks ago while he was in hospice before he died.
Some years back while we were flying somewhere, he said "All I ever wanted to do was play with airplanes, and let me tell you, God is good."
He will be missed, by me and many others.
www.sandersmortuary.com
Several people on here came across Scott, mostly when he or some of his employees at Byerly Aviation in Peoria, IL worked on his airplane.
I first met Scott in 2007 when I'd decided I would take advantage of the company flying club benefit and get my ratings, figuring that maybe one day I'd want to use them. Scott instructed me through private, instrument, multi, and CFI initial. He eventually was my boss for a short time, when I was flying 135 through Byerly in Navajos and Commanders. He sold me my Aztec, maintained it and the 310 while I lived in Pennsylvania. He was a friend and mentor. I couldn't have asked for a flight instructor who better matched me.
I still remember him walking into the FBO, his presence immediately obvious, and saying "You Ted?" "Yes" "Let's go fly!" At the end of my first lesson I asked him when the second lesson would be, he said "What're you doing tomorrow?" I was going to drive to PIT to go pick up my girlfriend at the time, who was flying in. "We'll fly there!" The club 172 had a bad transponder so we couldn't take that. He volunteered his family Comanche 180 (which his father had bought brand new). It was an instrument day, so my second flight lesson (and second logbook entry) is a cross country flying to a Class B in a Comanche, in IMC.
Scott picked up that I was the sort of person who loved challenges, and knew how to expose me to new experiences at the right time. Shortly after my first solo he called me up one afternoon and said "Hey Ted, want to fly an Aztec to Maine and back with me? It won't cost you a dime!" The owner wanted to get dropped off in Maine for a hunting trip, and was going to hunt his way back to PA. On that trip, he was telling the owner "You know, if you're going to do these sorts of trips you really want something like a Cheyenne. About 14 months later, a Cheyenne showed up on the ramp, and I bought that Aztec.
My first turbine time was later in that Cheyenne, and I borrowed it when my wife was pregnant with our first child, and having some problems. She was up in Newfoundland for work at the time. Flying commercial from Newfoundland to Williamsport is a pretty miserable experience, and the weather that day was crap. Not something you could've done with pistons. I called up Scott: "We're going to Newfoundland tomorrow. Need something with turbines." Without even asking why, he immediately responded "We can take the Cheyenne."
Scott was someone you could depend on, and someone who was there to save the day. He was glad to do that, and did it frequently for me, and many others.
When he was diagnosed with cancer, he kept it very close and told very few people, including his closest friends. I only found out about it a couple of months ago. He didn't take a "Woe is me" attitude, kept on doing what he loved, which was working with airplanes. Late last year things started to go more downhill, and about a month ago he came back to Pennsylvania for hospice. I got to talk to him earlier this year when he was still his old self, and then I talked to him a few weeks ago while he was in hospice before he died.
Some years back while we were flying somewhere, he said "All I ever wanted to do was play with airplanes, and let me tell you, God is good."
He will be missed, by me and many others.
William Welch Obituary | July 19, 2024 | Williamsport, PA
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www.sandersmortuary.com
