I haven’t posted under this name for many a long year (but I have under other names!) but I just had to tell this story.
As Airport Manager of a large GAAP airport in SE Australia I had to handle many “interesting” events. One day a Funeral Director walked in and asked if he could scatter some ashes on the airport. The gentleman in question was never a pilot but always loved aviation and his widow was keen on this appropriate gesture.So I agreed to take the funeral party to an isolated part of the airport, near the engine test cell, and I would escort them. No ASIC’s in those days.
On the day the FD and the widow turned up with an urn- and nobody else! So we got into my car and proceeded to the spot where I intended to stand to one side, hands reverently clasped, whilst the “ceremony” took place. Instead the FD gave me the urn and basically said “You are the Airport manager- carry on!”I said under my breath “Whats his name?” and then desperately thought up a few words to say about the dear departed Fred Nurk. I then proceeded to scatter the ashes.
Now here’s a thing. Ashes don’t scatter, they clump. And as I opened the urn the entire contents hit the ground and formed a nice little white hill, which we stared at for a while. The widow seemed happy. But there was no wind and this little white hill just sat there.So we got back into the car and I took them back to the terminal, they gave me their thanks and departed in the funeral car.
And I thought I can’t just leave the ashes there: they might blow into a departing Cessna or something. So I got back into my car and went back to the area and, checking that nobody especially the tower was looking, quietly scattered the ashes widely over the ground with my right foot.