Death in Aviation and My Hesitation to share.

Death is a difficult thing to deal with at any time, but when it's so related to something you hold so dear, it's even tougher. You hear about it and try to distance yourself, but the tight-nit aviation community feels every single one like a sharp sting.

I hesitate to publish any story about the death of an aviator. There's a magnifying glass on aviation that threatens to collapse our world. Hundreds die in car accidents every week, but news coverage of those don't garner good ratings. When a single person, however, dies in a plane crash, that's front page news. Writing in the aviation field, I feel obligated to discuss the incidents to some extent. Readers want to know, but I try very hard to present the facts and even harder to discourage the thinking that planes are death traps in the sky.

For those journalist who view such tragedies as reader-ship boosters, I truly feel sorry. They haven't a clue that the 'story of the day' was just the end of a much longer story; one of a wonderful loving person who had family and friends. They neglect to think that by 'spinning' the story into a dramatic tale they're helping to destroy something that person stood for; something that person loved and gave their lives to.

For me, it's much more. It's a thought as I run my hand across a wing, a brief pause before starting the engine and a small prayer before I depart.

To those who've taken their last flight,

Steven