Tragic ending

This is a pretty sombre post, but i feel as though i need to say something, not only for myself, but for the tribute of a good friend. Jamie Stephens was a good friend to all the pilots up here, worked hard, partied hard, and was a loyal friend in every way. He followed his dream of commercial aviation like all of us and i was fortunate to work with him at my first job in Kununurra. The pilot fraternity in Darwin is close, and this is a huge loss to all of us.

He was only 22 years old, and had achieved so much in a short time. It's so tragic that he is not around to continue his dream and his goal. To say goodbye in such tragic circumstances is horrible and i hope to never witness, or see this happen to anyone else. RIP Jamie, you will be missed mate.. To your family, i can't even imagine what you must be going through.

It is such frightening wake up call. Flying is such an amazing thing, an amazing dream to follow. We love it and we do it so carefree. But something like this is such a wake up call and is something that all pilots either have already dealth with, or inevitably have to deal with eventually. On Saturday 5/2/2011, his Cessna 310 twin engine aircraft crashed 1 mile north of Bathurst Island airstrip at 10pm. The dangers of flying are very real. We must all do what we can to fly safe, for ourselves, or families and our passengers. I just witnessed that it can happen to anyone.

RIP Jamie, you were a good friend to a lot of people, and you will be missed greatly.