Vale- Ben Sandilands
 

I've heard a report that Ben Sandilands has passed away after a long battle with cancer.

Whilst I didn't always agree with his views on things aviation related he could at least be trusted to always call it as he saw it. There is no doubt he made an overwhelmingly positive contribution to the Australian aviation scene. I will miss him and his contributions.

Sad if true, I had no idea he was ill. RIP

If correct very sad. Head and shoulders above the other aviation so called expert in Australia. Will be badly missed, loved reading his articles.

Have not seen an article for over a week, thought it was odd.

Dragon Man is right there. He would cut to the chase and see through most issues that your standard journo wouldn’t even know how to tackle.

Concur. Especially with the first part of the quote above.

Keg is correct sadly. It has been confirmed. I agree with the other sentiments. I must plead ignorance. For some reason I thought Ben was a much younger man. Perhaps I based the perception on his ‘youthful’ name.

Yes, sadly Ben passed away peacefully on Friday evening in the company of his sister, Susanna, and his daughter, Victoria. He was the epitome of "old school", a straight shooter, sometimes wrong but always forthright. He will be missed.

Very sorry to hear. He was the only aviation journalist whose articles I knew I could trust to be factual.

Folks,
So sad to hear that. He has been very unwell for quite a long time, but I had about an hour on the phone with him mid last week, we talked quite regularly, he didn't give any indication things were quite that bad.
Indeed, he was quite chuffed about the fact that with his solar and batteries, he had gone 100% off grid. As always, he was right up to date (indeed, ahead of many "journalists") on the goings on in the aviation world.
Anybody who sees a funeral notice, please post it.
Tootle pip!!

Very sad news.

Sadly Ben was the last of the real journalists. When regurgitating company PR spin seems to pass for journalism these days, Ben was a standout professional.

Knew his stuff. Respected by the airline industry. Credibility and integrity intact.

The antithesis of Geoffrey Thomas.

That's sad to hear. Didn't know the man. Enjoyed reading his daily words and insights.

I'm greatly saddened by this news. I knew of his ill health but also was unaware of how bad it was. No complaints from him, just kept blogging. A real pro.

Our small community is a poorer place without him.

Sad news indeed. After almost 30 years in this business Ben was the only aviation news journalist I trusted and looked forward to reading his articles.

Godspeed Ben.

I’ll miss his posts, they were always very informative and usually correct unlike some of the so called aviation Journalists out there.

Here is a link to his page for those not familiar.

https://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/

Oh.......:(

Does anyone know if there will be a continuance of Plane Talking, or will it fall by the wayside? Maybe GT can take it over!
Sincere condolences to Bens family. You will be missed Ben.

Very sad to hear. Ben and I had a slight disagreement over something he wrote that concerned me and in the ensuing discussion, which it was, we found that we were much more in agreement that disagreement. We kept in touch over the years and he was of much assistance to me on several matters aviation.
My condolences to his family on their loss. He is a loss to Australian aviation.

Ben Sandilands will be really missed.
 

Every day I would check to see his interesting and sometimes provocative view on a whole range of subjects and knowing he was ill wondered how he could even follow up on very technical ones such as the disappearance of MH370 and astronomy.
So sad.
C B

I am so sad Ben's voice has fallen silent.

In the course of some exchanges with him I learnt we were both "soixante-huitards" -- '68ers', those (at the time) relatively young people who had been in Paris during the "events of May" (the student demonstrations), he as a journalist.

Though very sick, he in recent weeks gave me some invaluable help with info for the second edition of my book. I intended to send him copies to give to friends visiting him. If his daughters would like to contact me at [email protected], I would be glad to send them to them instead.

Not only did he cover aviation but also many other topics such as astronomy. An inspiration, though you had to be careful not to be too carried away on some hobby-horses if yours were similar.

Folks,
The death notice for Ben was in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

A private cremation has been held, but there will be a memorial service at a date to be announced, this will also be notified in the SMH.

I sincerely hope there will be a big turnout for the memorial service.
LeadSled.