A few texts over Christmas from his widow, reminds me of my friend Jeff M. He was excited to fly his newly rebuilt Cessna 185 amphibian last summer. He took his wife and kids to their remote camp (no cell phone service there). He made a few errors, the most fatal of which was forgetting to confirm that the wheels were retracted for a water landing. He was experienced, and knew better, but for whatever reason, he landed with the wheels extended. His wife and kids all exited the inverted plane. Apparently, life jackets were not aboard. Jeff, and the family dog did not exit. His wife swam back to try to save him, but wisely gave up, to assure that she survived for her kids. In yet another awesome honour to him, she got the kids up on the float spreaders, and she paddled the plane to shore, and tied it there, in case it sank with him in it. She and the kids spent the night on the shore, as he had not filed a flight plan, so no one knew they were missing until mid the next morning.
So I continue to offer small bits of support to his widow, as she sells off the assets of his aviation company, and figures out how her future is to be. And I think of Jeff, a nice fellow, who missed just a couple of important things, then the rest of his life...