Gary Sparks in plane crash

[John Saltveit]

I just read about Gary Sparks being in a plane crash and dying.  Some of you old timers will remember Gary. I assume its the same guy. The age seems to be about right. He was flying a homemade experimental aircraft.

 

http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/jun/29/medical-examiner-identifies-man-killed-plane-crash/

John Saltveit

[Larry Pindar]

Really sorry to hear that. Gary was an early Oregon pilot and I think was a student of Phil Pohl same as Judy And I were.  He was one of those guys that had a lot of potential but kind of lost interest and his time was mostly spent in helicopters and airplanes and then later as an instructor.  I remember him being a very sensible and as focused on safety as anyone in memory.  Aviation is such that even bad things can happen to folks who do the right thing and make the right choices 99.99 times out of 100. This is very sad.  He was a real nice guy and I’m sure that his family is feeling a great loss.

[Discover Paragliding!]

Really sad. Gary was the guy I went to for lessons when I finally got around to trying to learn to fly airplanes. He and I had a great time trying to thermal and ridge soar the airplane with the power off, instead of doing the typical GA type flying.

I often think of him. He will be missed. :-(

Brad

See you up there,

Brad and Maren
Your 'Couple' of Instructors
www.DiscoverParagliding.com
503-861-2772 (W) 503-440-0733 (c)

On 6/30/2012 1:15 PM, John Saltveit wrote:

[Ancil Nance]

http://www.cascadeparaglidingclub.org/pages/garysparks.php

[Steve Roti]

In addition to all the other good things Gary Sparks did, he also drew a series of Stanley Stall cartoons for the CPC newsletter in the early to mid 90's. Here are four cartoons to remember him by.

Steve

[Peter Reagan]

I remember that gray glider. I had a mostly gray one too and Gary and I used to joke about how anti-photogenic we were. Gary was delightful company on a trip to a flying site. This makes me sad. Pete
On Jun 30, 2012, at 7:33 PM, Ancil Nance wrote:

> http://www.cascadeparaglidingclub.org/pages/garysparks.php
>

[John Saltveit]

Some of you may remember that Gary gave out "sticky wicket" stickers for tree landings, water landings, etc.  Some of you may still have one on your helmet.  I used to drive up to the meetings with him when I lived in Salem.  I think he lived in Eugene then. He was a good guy and as someone said, the president of the CPC in 1994.

John

[John Eiden]

Those cartoons are great. They should be published in a series in the USHPA magazine. ???????

Have a great day..JOHN

[skf...@effectnet.com]

That would be a step down from the CPC news letter.  Long time ago, I wonder if we still have the mimeograph ? That was the only good mail I would get.

SF

Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

[dave_blizzard]

Keith, a very close friend of Gary's and a fellow pilot, just called with information about Gary's celebration of life which will happen this Saturday, August 4th.  There will be a potluck starting at 1:30 - Hanger 2 on the North side of the the Troutdale Airport.  Keith said he expects 200+ people so you'll see the cars.  He warmly expressed that we would be most welcome. 

On Saturday, June 30, 2012 1:15:11 PM UTC-7, John Saltveit wrote:

[dave_blizzard]

Here is a link to more information about Gary's celebration
http://www.gorgewindsinc.com/gsparks.html

> >http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/jun/29/medical-examiner-identifies...
> > John Saltveit