The Passing of a Kindred Spirit

From Germany, the sad news of the passing of a kindred spirit.
Jorg Steber was the man who bought my first open cockpit biplane.
(Waco YMF-5 #N50YM)
He owned and flew this beautiful creation for many years
until he sold it recently to another lucky German pilot.

Although I never met Jorg Steber, never spoke with him,
never comminicated in any way, I think I can understand
what sort of man he was, simply because we shared a love of
that magnificent flying machine.

Jorg Steber fell from the sky in his Dehaviland Beaver,
equipped with floats, while giving a sight-seeing ride
to several people, including the 12 year old boy whose
birthday present it was to see Hamburg by air.

I feel certain that, given the choice,
Jorg Steber would have made the decision to have had
thousands of hours of adventure in the air,
a lifetime of aerial poetry,
and to pay for it all in a few brief final moments of pain.

When we mere mortals presume to fly,
to be with birds and spirits and gods,
we cross into a place where we are guests,
and we must realize that sooner or later,
we must return to earth, one way or another.
It is a sad truth.
But we should all be as fortunate as Jorg Steber,
to have savored so much of Life.

The News Story in English