She lost her fight and has gone west. (Old Cfi), Ginger Thomas

Crane Pilot

Crane Pilot

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jun 26, 2015
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central florida
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crane pilot
It's with the greatest regret I have to be saying the world lost a great pilot today. My mom, you know on here as, "Old cfi" lost her battle with cancer and heart failure today. She was my first instructor way back in the mid 80's. She attained her cfi,cfii,mei, and finally her multi engine ATP. Her speciality was instrument work and mainly NDB approaches, she loved those, also multi engine training. She had stopped flying in 92' with 5,000+ hours, but when I had the erge to change careers to flying she agreed to get current again but didn't renew her instructor tickets, and get me started on instruments when I got there. So after I finished the PPL I payed for her to get current and an IPC and she was my safety pilot in more ways than one. She always made sure I was being taught correctly. I always had to debrief my flights with not only my instructor but her as well. She is the reason I have redundancy in the airplane. I have a tablet with electronic charts, I also have a back up tablet with all the same up to date charts but I also keep paper charts in the plane. Im really gonna miss our talks about flying and her help with understanding certain things. The funny thing is she really hates social media but really loved this forum, so when she saw this new addition she told me I could put her on this one. So I have to say good by to my mom "Old Cfi" and thank y'all for the years of entertainment you have given her. I'll still be on here from time to time. Thanks
 
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Sorry for your loss.RIP
 
So very sorry for your loss. It’s sounds like you both shared the passion of flight and you will have memories to carry forward.
 
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Sorry for your loss. You were blessed to have such a wonderful person in your life. Hopefully you will have the opportunity to pass along some of your lessons learned.
 
Very sorry to hear this! I never knew @old cfi was your mother.

May she Rest In Peace! It sounds like she was a great fighter with that terrible disease.

:(
 
Sorry for your loss. What wonderful things to have shared with your mom, though.
 
Ryanb said:
Very sorry to hear this! I never knew @old cfi was your mother.

May she Rest In Peace! It sounds like she was a great fighter with that terrible disease.

:(
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Yeah it was something we she never wanted public. She tried to stay a very private person
 
Bill Jennings said:
I am sorry for your loss. I remember your mom's posts, she always seemed to bring wise comments to the threads.
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Yes she was an old school stick and rudder pilot that didn't like all the new tech and what's being taught today with the new breed of magenta line pilots. My first approach she taught me was an Ils so I can get the power settings for the speed and rate of decent needed for the approach then numerous VOR approaches. She had some really great instructors that she learned from then expanded on that to make it her own. I'm really gonna miss her and our debrief after my flights.
 
Lost my Mother recently as well, miss her terribly.

Your Mom left knowing that she has a great son, Sounds like she WON the race...
 
Sorry to hear. You probably had the best training ever, as a mom would want to be sure her children were as protected and safe as possible. She flies on in you, your flows, procedures, and the way you execute your manuevers. Thoughts and prays for comfort to you and your family.
 
Thanks for sharing your memories of her, and of her positive influence on you. Nothing says more about a person than the way they are remembered.
 
Very sorry to read of your loss. She sounded like an amazing mother, teacher, and friend. Blue Skies to Old CFI. Sincerest condolences to you and your family.
 
@Crane Pilot, you had the relationship with your mother I wish I could have had with mine.
Time will help heal the sorrow, and I hope you will find strength from the memories.
You wrote a lovely tribute to your Mom; yet one more reason for her to be proud.

(I loved your comment about NDB approaches :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: )
 
Thank you all for the kind words and support. I'm sure my next flights are gonna be very rough especially my instrument check ride that is scheduled on Feb 10 again after 2 dicontinuances. I hope ill be able to focus enough to pass, all I have left is the approaches and unusual attitudes. I had wanted to get it done and the multi engine rating before she passed so I could take her up in the piper Seneca that she loved and has over 1000 hours in. I was also trying to plan a final flight/retirement celebration complete with the fire dept at the airport and the water cannon, just as its done for retiring airline pilots. I know with time it will get easier and easier but today is so hard as its the first time I woke up in my house without her here. She fought her cancer for 6 long years and compounded with 2 heart attacks in the last year, I'm so proud of her and how she fought it for so long but the last couple days she was just so tired her body was just so wore out. Now maybe in heaven she can realize her dream of getting a DC3 type rating, that was always on her bucket list, unfortunately I was never able to afford to pay for it till recently and much to late in the game for her. Thank you again she really loved y'all and reading the posts and of course joke day. I wish I could remember the pilot that was on here several years ago that lost his battle with cancer also, I know that bothered her as they talked several times. I'm also curious to know when I get her ashes and fly them to Michigan to be scattered is there a special procedure or anything I have to let the airline know?
 
I'm sorry for your loss. It is wonderful that you and your mom were able to share flying and have that bond. It makes the loss harder, but the memories better.

Normally for the Gone West threads we add the user name and real name of the person in the subject to make it easier for those searching, but obviously also want to respect the preferences of the departed and their family. You said your mom was a private person - do you think she would have preferred to leave her real name out of the identification or include it? If include, could you share her name so that we could add it?
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'm sorry for your loss. It is wonderful that you and your mom were able to share flying and have that bond. It makes the loss harder, but the memories better.

Normally for the Gone West threads we add the user name and real name of the person in the subject to make it easier for those searching, but obviously also want to respect the preferences of the departed and their family. You said your mom was a private person - do you think she would have preferred to leave her real name out of the identification or include it? If include, could you share her name so that we could add it?
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I know you mean well, but wouldn't that be like asking Crane Pilot to reveal his own real name on an open internet board? Most (many) people just have a legitimate problem with that. Revealing his Mother's name would allow us to find his real name with a simple search.
 
Crane Pilot said:
Thank you again she really loved y'all and reading the posts and of course joke day.
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And we all will greatly miss her contributions to this forum. You can take comfort in knowing that she is no longer in any pain and is now at peace.
 
JOhnH said:
I know you mean well, but wouldn't that be like asking Crane Pilot to reveal his own real name on an open internet board? Most (many) people just have a legitimate problem with that. Revealing his Mother's name would allow us to find his real name with a simple search.
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Hence why I asked the preference. If the preference is no real name given, that's no problem at all.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'm sorry for your loss. It is wonderful that you and your mom were able to share flying and have that bond. It makes the loss harder, but the memories better.

Normally for the Gone West threads we add the user name and real name of the person in the subject to make it easier for those searching, but obviously also want to respect the preferences of the departed and their family. You said your mom was a private person - do you think she would have preferred to leave her real name out of the identification or include it? If include, could you share her name so that we could add it?
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You know I really don't know if she would approve or not she never said one way or the other. But I do know that she didn't like having her name out on the web for whatever reason. I guess she was afraid of identity theft. And as for me hell in on facebook so no issue there, in fact Im on a few FB groups with a few of yall from here. But since she is beyond caring at this point I will add her name to the subject. And just maybe one of her old students from long ago may see it and chime in.
 
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JOhnH said:
I know you mean well, but wouldn't that be like asking Crane Pilot to reveal his own real name on an open internet board? Most (many) people just have a legitimate problem with that. Revealing his Mother's name would allow us to find his real name with a simple search.
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If you can do that you can pm me and let me know what you find. I am curious cause her and I have common names.
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. Cancer got my mother too.

It hurts, but gets bearable with time. We are lessened by her departure.
 
Crane Pilot said:
You know I really don't know if she would approve or not she never said one way or the other. But I do know that she didn't like having her name out on the web for whatever reason. I guess she was afraid of identity theft. And as for me hell in on facebook so no issue there, in fact Im on a few FB groups with a few of yall from here. But since she is beyond caring at this point I will add her name to the subject. And just maybe one of her old students from long ago may see it and chime in.
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As I said, we want to respect the wishes, but I think you hit on the main point of having names as well as the user names - for those of us for whom it's different, there are folks who knew her from "the real world" who might find the news.
 
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