Well that's that,they now rest with God or whomever God is to you.
Jabba my friend & to those that new Des & his friends I extend my sympathies to you all who are involved in that field of aviation, a dangerous & at times unforgiving world you guys fly in.
Perhaps in the future as I've said in the past we can ALL learn from the likes of Des's misfortunes & take a little part of the Des's of the past world with us every time we advance the throttle.
One thing I used to keep in the back of my mind & this was instilled in me by an early instructor was that anytime you where flying in weather that had any significant cloud around say above 4 Octa's then never fly in VMC blw the highest peak of terrain in yr immediate area. In other words know where you are at all times & the LSALT. The ONLY time this was not a major consideration (terrain height wise) was when there wasn't a cloud in sight.
I got caught once in my 33 yrs of driving planes, fortunately for me it was over an inlet which was SL (obviously) & I couldn't out climb the surrounding terrain due cloud to get to my destination so I diverted coastal at very low level to find a country strip & land.I swear right there & then that I'd heed my instructors advice big time...........I'd been on a short break down to YFLI (yes I know Jabba SE over water in my silly days!!
)& luckily had a change of undies!!!
RIP Des & those that joined you for we are more humble than ever as we all ought to be right now.
Wmk2