Who is Jim Ferguson??

[DOUBLE BOGEY]

Brian, you clearly did not even know Jom and yet still you feel justified in writing ****e that could be hurtful to his family. What is wrong with you people!!!

[Brian Abraham]

DB, no I don't know Jom (your spelling) but had you noticed this thread started over eight months prior to his death. Note the thread title, and please avail yourself of the commentary eg

At best, he's a well connected spotter - at worst, he's an ignorant "Walt' who opens his mouth and lets his stomach rumble

This aint a condolences thread, start one should you desire.

As for

you feel justified in writing ****e

it seems from what I read here nothing stopped Jim writing ****e.

Hurtful to his family? Perhaps they may understand from Francis's post how hurtful his so called "expert opinion" was to some of the subjects of his "expert opinion".

[cockney steve]

In the last year, I've lost both my partner and her daughter.
Painful though it is, I am a realist ad face the fact that the daughter was bought up in an extremely bizarre and disfunctional family environment.
This meant. in turn, she had a deeply flawed personality.
To deny it, or to deny her mother's part in her character, is to deny the truth.

I never met J.F. Nor did I knowingly subject myself to any of his Journalistic endeavours. Yes, he was entitled to an opinion, but the Character-Assasination in which he apparently freely indulged, deserved the vilification it brought forth.

I'm sorry the grieving Relative has been directed to this site and found not solace, not praise, but a catalogue of resentment at their dearly-held 's mercenary attitude to Aviation Casualties.

I'm NOT a pilot, Aviation Professional or even a "Spotter" or "sim-er" Just an ordinary bloke on the street.

Jim caused a lot of grief to a lot of people in, or connected with Aviation.
The evidence is loud and clear in this thread . be thankful that it's in a highly -specialised forum and not in the national media...a grace which was not extended to his victims.

[Angry Relative]

I had no intentions of posting on this site again, but Cockney Steve's comments have driven me to do so.

CS - you freely admit that you are not an aviation professional, nor would it appear that you have any knowledge of Jim Ferguson other than some of the vitriolic opinions expressed here. Jim never had a 'mercenary' attitude to aviation casualties, and to believe that he did simply shows how little you, and many others, knew of the man.

Of course he wasn't universally popular - he was a journalist, for God's sake, and as such will have upset numerous people in his working life. But to claim that he had no consideration or feelings for those affected by tragedy is abject nonsense.

My thanks to DB and others who have expressed balanced views on Jim, both here and in other threads.

As for me, I will content myself, along with the rest of Jim's family, with the very many genuine messages of shock and sympathy that have poured in since his untimely death. A large number of these have come from individuals in the world of aviation, and have expressed huge appreciation both of the work that Jim did, and from those who actually knew him, of the person that he was. They will help to sustain his wife in the weeks and months ahead, and for that I am very grateful.

[Ginipigg]

This is the first I have visited this thread since the passing of 'aviation expert' Jim Ferguson and I'm glad to see other people besides myself do not feel they have to be PC since his death. Perhaps now the media will find someone who knows what they are talking about and does not utter the complete drivel this man did. No, I did not know him and yes, he may have been a wonderful guy, but he talked nonsense and passed himself off as an expert. It was extremely galling to read the praise heaped upon him by the Scottish Parliament and local dignitaries etc.
I had cause to write to my local paper some time back regarding the 'earthquake' felt over parts of Scotland and how it could actually have been a sonic boom(!) This man uttered the following;



''They have to get permission for the sonic bang and it is quite possible it could have been a QRA call, which means they have to get out somewhere quickly.’’
''It could have been a training mission but they don't use them (sonic booms) as often as they used to these days.''



WHAT? 'Use' sonic booms? I don't class myself as an expert, but I'm sure I, and any other enthusiast, could have come up with something better than that!

[DOUBLE BOGEY]

GINNIPIG

This is ROTORHEADS. WTF would we know about SONIC BOOMS???

GINNIPIG by the tone of your post and the total disregard you have for human decency I suggest you drop the GINNI from the first part of your handle.

For the record Jim was correct. You can't go "Sonic Booming" willy-nilly without upsetting someone!

[ShyTorque]

This is ROTORHEADS. WTF would we know about SONIC BOOMS???

So we're agreed that it's not right to make out you're an expert when you're not?

[nomorehelosforme]

Please Gentlemen

Maybe time to chill and think about life's basic rules, one been,don't speak ill of the dead!

[XV666]

Originally Posted by nomorehelosforme

Maybe time to chill and think about life's basic rules, one been,don't speak ill of the dead!

Sure: but everything said was discussed here before Mr Ferguson's death. What would you have the previous posters do, go back and recant all their posts and make out none of it happened? That his kin now feel upset and aggrieved is regrettable but must be seen in the light of when and why such comments were made, before his death.

The issues related by Francis Frogbound put into context why others felt the way they did and are just as valid as the feelings of Angry Relative.

[Brian Abraham]

the total disregard you have for human decency

Absolute nonsense. He is free to say whatever it is he wishes to say, as heli notes

Sure: but everything said was discussed here before Mr Ferguson's death. What would you have the previous posters do, go back and recant all their posts and make out none of it happened? That his kin now feel upset and aggrieved is regrettable but must be seen in the light of when and why such comments were made, before his death.

The issues related by Francis Frogbound put into context why others felt the way they did and are just as valid as the feelings of Angry Relative.

Be thankful that you live in a democracy and are able to break out the champagne and dance in the street when a Prime Minister dies.

As I said before, this is not a condolences thread.

[DOUBLE BOGEY]

Brian, the trouble with democracy is it allows people to speak their minds without thought or care for the consequences. Being deliberatley insulting and unkind about an individual who has passed away, knowing full well that persons family is reading this thread is nothing short of disgusting and utterley unforgivable.

It mixes up the proffessional with the personal and that is not, in my view, the true spirit of aviation or common decency.

That fact that majority of the negative posters have never even met the man heaps insult onto this family's injury.

Jim was a journalist. He did not always get it right and he was the first to admit he was not expert. He filled a void that was there and for the most part he did a reasonable job. The many so-called-experts on this thread who speak if as if they have the divine right to trash the guy need to look inward. They need to imagine what it would be like if they passed on and their own few iniquities (and we all have them) were so publically aired as to cause such pain to their family.

It is not rocket science, really! If you have nothing good to say then say nothing at all.

Shame on them all!!

DB

[bigglesbutler]

May I suggest we close this thread as the original subject is now no longer valid. Anything said now will simply be infighting and will likely get even nastier as people get "hot under the collar".

For what it is worth I don't believe in dancing on people's graves whoever they are, and singing the witch is dead is plain sickening (Thatcher). Yes we had issue's when Jim was alive but please lets move on and more importantly let him and his family do so now.

I vote for the Moderators to lock the thread.

Si

[heli1]

Hmmmm....I wonder how many of the critics are experts in every facet of aviation/rotary wing subjects and how many offered their services to the media as commentators because they felt they could do a better job than JF ?

Well now's your chance because you can be sure the newspapers ,tv.and radio will be looking for "expert" comment immediately following the next air accident or other newsworthy story.
Who is clever enough not to be trapped into giving them what they are after,a sensationalist story?
Who out of the posters in this thread is going to volunteer first?

[jumpseater]

Hmmmm....I wonder how many of the critics are experts in every facet of aviation/rotary wing subjects and how many offered their services to the media as commentators because they felt they could do a better job than JF ?

I doubt many of us who have posted here are experts in every facet of aviation, and in my time on the professional side of aviation, every company bar one had a specific section in my T&C's, no unauthorised talking to 'media', from the days of scribblers and snapper to todays social networking. I bet that most of the 'pro' community from whatever field (mines not flying) have that same or similar clause.

Well now's your chance because you can be sure the newspapers ,tv.and radio will be looking for "expert" comment immediately following the next air accident or other newsworthy story.

See above re T&C's. I do however occasionally do free lance scribbling and snapping for newspapers and mags and local and national level.

Who is clever enough not to be trapped into giving them what they are after a sensationalist story?

That's easy, all you have to say is I can't answer that without further research, and I'm not prepared to speculate. You won't get asked back though. Where the wheels come off is when the talking head carries on. My only experience/knowledge of JF was seeing him on a number of telly interviews, where even for me as a heli specific industry outsider, it was clear on those occasions he was to put it politely, 'making it up' as he went along. I'm happy to acknowledge he may have written and provided good copy over the years and was a really nice bloke, but his appearances on TV didn't give me that assurance, least of all on the London accident.

Who out of the posters in this thread is going to volunteer first?

Last year based on his knowledge of my experience and that he knows me as an acquaintance, one of the regular contemporary BBC news reporters asked if I would be prepared to be an 'expert' for them on aviation. Contractual issues aside, I still said no thank you, as even with over 25 years 'in the game', I don't consider myself an expert, even in my own fields, I'm always learning.

[cockney steve]

Who is clever enough not to be trapped into giving them what they are after,a sensationalist story?

That is the nub of the debate and why I made my possibly tactless "mercenary" comment.

JF volunteered himself as an Aviation/ Helicopter EXPERT
And a professional journalist.
He apparently was not an Expert, but took the Media's shillings, nevertheless.

A likeable rogue?- Maybe. The issue, is the damage his ill-found pronouncements made to other ,PROFESSIONAL Aviators' friends, families and reputations,

Yakking about things in the confines of PPruNE is one thing, Publishing same to the international public-at-large is another thing entirely.

[Brian Abraham]

the trouble with democracy is it allows people to speak their minds without thought or care for the consequences

And there's the rub DB.

The issue, is the damage his ill-found pronouncements made to other ,PROFESSIONAL Aviators' friends, families and reputations,

You can't have it both ways DB.

[Fareastdriver]

He's dead now; it's all over. He's history, let him rest.