The world lost an aviation pioneer this week. Scott Crossfield went down in his Cessna 210 in bad weather.

I won't try to summarize his biography here - there's just too much to tell. You can google him for yourself and spend days reading all about him.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Crossfield at Oshkosh last year. He gave a 30 minute talk about himself and his career. It was completely unscripted - he just talked off the top of his head for half an hour. He took questions from the audience, and those would often lead him into more great stories. I wish I had recorded that presentation. He hung around afterwards and talked individually to the people that came up to meet him. He was a very personable guy and still had a razor sharp mind - pretty amazing for his age.

An aside: During that same trip to Oshkosh, my buddy and I were making the 2 mile walk back to our campsite one night when a car pulled up alongside and the driver offered us a lift. As the door opened and the dome light came on, I saw it was Bob Hoover behind the wheel. :D

I love the aviation community.