Incident

[Dirk Larson]

Flying family,

There was an incident yesterday at Dog Mountain. Dave Blizzard was involved and is in the hospital. Vince and I are at the hospital with him. He has sustained some broken bones and more but is in good spirits and doing well.

There is more to this story but out of respect we are going to wait to announce additional details. If you already know the details please keep them to yourself until the time is right.

Please, fly safe everyone.

Warm regards,

Dirk Larson
CPC President

Sent from my smartphone

[Travis Potter]

AWW MAN DAVE GET BETTER SOON! 

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[rick...@gmail.com]

Greg and I had just visited Dave Blazzard at the hospital. He is looking really good and may be going home to rest in a couple of days. The good news is that he will fully recover from this terrifying accident. He'll give his detail report on this matter later so to avoid repeating himself to many of his friends and family members who go visit him. Since Dave didn't sleep since yesterday, we told him to get some sleep first. 

Rick 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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[David Le]

Thank you. We're all thinking of them here.

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[Dirk Larson]

All, 

The news is already all over Facebook pages and has been posted in other forums so we as a club might as well start processing it as well. I also am aware that the family has been notified. 

Yesterday at Dog Mountain there was a midair collision between Dave Blizzard and John Benedict. There is some speculation that John may have had an incident while flying that caused him to fly erratically, but the end result is that he flew into Dave at about 150' of altitude and the fall took John's life. There will be incident reports to follow.

Please keep John's family in your thoughts and prayers.

Best,

Dirk

Sent from my smartphone 

[Steve Roti]

Very sad news for the Benedict and Blizzard families, and the whole CPC extended flying family. John has been paragliding since 1993, and I have many fond memories of flying with him at the Coast, in the Gorge, and high above the Toutle River Valley. He always had a smile on his face and friendly words for fellow pilots. RIP John.

-- Steve Roti

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[Jim B.]

Very sad news indeed. Flying was always more special whenever John was
present. There is an emptiness in the sky and in my heart. I'll miss
John. I'll miss his signature "Yee-Haw." The sky has gone quiet.
RIP John.

Jim B.

[Peter Reagan]

This is a really sad event.  Might be only the second US fatal midair.  Jim B could not have said it better. John had flown with us for almost a quarter century. I miss him terribly.   And Dave,  my heart is with you. Pete

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[spicymarge]

I am so so sorry to hear about John. He showed me significant kindness last year. I was passing through the area and he picked me up at my bnb then drove to Oceanside and three other costal sites trying to find flying for us. While not an epic day I enjoyed traveling with John and listening to his thoughts on flying different sites in the area. He seemed very reasonable and was very enthusiastic about paragliding in general. 

I regret we will not have a chance to fly again. 

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

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[John Kraske]

The loss of John has created a major void in my universe. Sharing this passion with John has etched the kind of memories that brings a smile to my face. I'd never heard John say anything unkind or critical of anyone. I'll forever remember his hand shakes, hugs, smiles, laugh and enthusiasms for what we do and what we've done together. I'm sure he's soaring somewhere...