In honor of Mark Brody - wherever you may

[Admin]

In honor of Mark Brody - wherever you may

 

Tragically last Sunday 19th November 2006 one of our forum friends, Mark Brody (aka marbrody), was involved in an accident whilst flying his drifter at Nowendoc near Armidale NSW that took Mark's life.

 

We will not really know and will not surmise what truly happened till the RAA have finished their investigation.

 

As one of our forum members that knew Mark well puts it:

 

“Mark was the keenest flier I've seen and would have to have averaged 10 hours a week. He even flew in Armidale's winter in temps of around 0 degrees. Most weekends he would fly off somewhere, down the coast or off out west.â€Â

 

He shared his love of flying with anybody who wanted to and his best friend/girlfriend was sitting in the back seat on most of the trips. Tamar (I'm not sure of spelling) got her RAA licence on the Drifter about six months ago.

 

Mark was such a common sight that when you go outside of an afternoon now it seems strange not to hear the Drifter buzzing round.

 

The sight and sound of the Drifter will be missed.

 

Mark's funeral is on Monday 27th November 2006 at

 

St Pauls Anglican Church

 

Church St, West Tamworth

 

At 10.30

 

The funeral directors are Bourke and Hamilton on 02 6765 3999

 

If anyone could attend on behalf of the forums it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Flowers will be sent on behalf of all forum members.

 

Mark joined the forums on the 17th May 2006 and was a regular visitor contributing posts that helped many and may have even saved the lives of many others right from the beginning with his first post:

 

"Hello

 

Mark from Armidale NSW

 

I have a 95-25 Ausflight drifter with a 582 and fly out of Armidale

 

I would like to draw peoples attention to a problem that I found with the drifter fitted with a trim tab.

 

If this effects you, then look at the cable that runs between the elevator and the tail plane itself, you will find that it is rubbing into the rear spar, where it threads through.

 

Mine is a 1989 and I have put approx 673 hours on it since purchase in 2000 and found the rear spar cut one third of the way through.

 

I contacted Wayne Fisher and he said he had never heard of it but checked out all the planes in his shed and got back to me saying all of them were affected including his relatively new experimental aerobatic drifter look alike. He is designing a quick fix for the problem"

 

Tony Hayes, the well respected and leading authority on Thrusters also recognised Mark’s great contribution to the safety of others by responding with:

 

Mark - top post mate!

 

Ian, could I request that a copy of this is put in the 'incidents/accidents' thread please. Partly because of the quality of reporting and partly because it may encourage people to look a bit harder on their routine maintenance. Wayne is no slouch and if he had missed it then it underlines a few points does it not?

 

The RAAus Tech Manager should be informed immediately if that has already not been done.

 

Mark went on and conversed with many other forum members about their engines, tail wheel solutions and electrical problems in the spirit that these forums are all about. Mark’s contributions will be deeply missed. We all thankyou Mark for allowing us the time to know you.

 

And like Mark’s avatar depicts:

 

The sun may be setting today but it is the dawning of the new future for you!

 

 

May you rest in peace Mark whilst you are flying through the skies for ever more!

 

RecreationalFlying.net members offer their deepest sympathies to Mark’s loved ones, friends and colleagues.

 

 

[Guest danda]

Atragedy such as this really brings home the fragile nature of life it hits harder when the person is know to you no matter how insignificantly.

 

I will pray for his family and those close to him that God will fill their hearts and minds with all the good memories of their life together.

 

Don

 

danda

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Mark,

 

May you rest in peace mate. We will miss your posts on the forums here from another true Drifter flyer. It may be the end of Marks life here but I am sure it is the beginning of another for him. All of our thoughts are with Marks family at this difficult time. Ian, thanks for sending the flowers on behalf of all of us on these forums.

 

 

[Student Pilot]

Went to Marks funeral yesterday, there wasn't a dry eye after Tamar spoke, the Church was full at I'd guess at around 300 people.

 

In the hanger where we leave our Aircraft, Mark's Drifter was the one closest to the door. This was because out of the 8 or 10 Aircraft in the hanger, Mark's was the one that was out of the hanger most. Summertime he would fly before work and after, then on Saturday's and Sunday's.

 

Mark will be missed.

 

 

[TechMan]

My thoughts are with Marks family and girlfriend also, and of course also with the passenger, hoping that he will make a full recovery.

 

Tony Hayes, the well respected and leading authority on Thrusters also recognised Mark’s great contribution to the safety of others by responding with:

Mark - top post mate!

 

Ian, could I request that a copy of this is put in the 'incidents/accidents' thread please. Partly because of the quality of reporting and partly because it may encourage people to look a bit harder on their routine maintenance. Wayne is no slouch and if he had missed it then it underlines a few points does it not?

 

The RAAus Tech Manager should be informed immediately if that has already not been done.

I could not find this post from Tony, though Mark did contact me and an AN was raised for the Drifter on this subject on the 10 April 06.

 

It shows that sharing information openly, like Mark did, can possibly save the life of someone else.

 

I am certain he will be missed, even more than the noise of the drifter going by daily.

 

Chris

 

 

[TechMan]

Thanks Ian

 

 

[Guest David C]

Truly a very tragic loss . Our thoughts are with his girlfriend and family . Thank you Ian for your kind floral tribute .

 

RIP Mark .

 

 

[Guest Tamar]

Hello everybody,

 

I am Tamar and Mark's girlfriend. Thank you so much for all your heartfelt replies in honour of Mark. It is a great support to see these reactions of fellow pilots.

 

I am still grasping the reality of the awful truth of his accident. Mark was such an experienced pilot. He simply adored flying and went up every chance he got. Although he was an enthousiast, he was always aware of his airmanship. His accident was an accumulation of incidents, as in so many cases.

 

Last Wednesday me and his familiy (his father is a GA pilot) visited the crash site and air strip. We got a pretty good picture of what might have happened, but are awaiting the official report as well.

 

Apart from missing Mark as the love in my life, I will dearly miss flying with him, sharing that passion with him is something I'll never forget. Whether I will fly again will be a question to be answered in the future.

 

Mark's passenger is doing fairly okay, considering circumstances. Last I heard he left the Intensive Care and is in a normal ward.

 

Thanks for the flowers, Ian. I knew Mark was hanging around on the forum, but I had no idea he made himself so popular!

 

Take care all,

 

Tamar

 

 

[Guest Juliette Lima]

Hello Tamar,

 

Thank you for a delightful and brave first posting.

 

Whilst we can share to some extent your loss ,we know the pain for you and for Marks family must be intense.

 

Our thoughts are with you, as are our wishes that time will hasten your healing.

 

Thank you again

 

Take care.