One of our Arkansas pilots died this week He had signed up in August of 2001 but had not flown a mission for us yet. Details on the memorial forthcoming. Below is correspondence regarding the crash. Be careful out there.

Beth, 

 According to news reports this morning Dr. Jim Arnold and his wife were
killed yesterday in the crash of their Cessna Conquest near Arkansas
City, KS, leaving two boys ages 5 and 7.
That will also effectively remove Stan Sence from the pilot list as he
flew Dr. Arnold's other airplane.

Don

Beth --
   Following is the FAA preliminary accident report on Dr. Arnold's 
crash. The report says he told air traffic control he had lost his 
autopilot. The loss of an autopilot alone surely would not have 
caused him a serious problem. It sounds to me like he experienced a 
failure of his attitude indicator and/or his directional gyro -- 
possibly his entire vacuum system, but that latter suspicion is just 
speculation on my part.
   The report suggests he had been assigned a block altitude between 
27,000 and 28,000 feet on an IFR flight plan enroute to Rifle, 
Colorado from Springdale. The weather at the nearest reporting 
station at 1:45 p.m. CST indicated freezing rain was falling beneath 
a 1300-foot overcast. Radar contact was lost 70 nautical miles 
southeast of Wichita at 2:10 p.m. CST.

Brian Bragg

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
   Regis#: 441AR
   Make/Model: C441
   Description: 441 Conquest, Conquest 2
   Date: 01/30/2002
   Time: 2010
   Event Type: Accident
   Highest Injury: Fatal
   Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
   City: ARKANSAS CITY   State: KS   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
   ACFT ADVISED OF LOSS OF AUTOPILOT IN IMC AND THE PILOT REQUESTED NO-GYRO
   VECTORS TO VMC, THE ACFT THEN DESCENDED RAPIDLY UNTIL RADAR/RADIO
   COMMUNICATIONS WERE LOST, THE ACFT CRASHED AND WAS DESTROYED, THE 2 POB
   SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES, OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN, ARKANSAS CITY, KS.

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                  # Crew:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:
                  # Pass:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:
                  # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:

WEATHER: KWLD 1954Z AUTO 00000KT 4SM FZRA BR BKN010 OVC013 M01/M02 A3001

   Departed: SPRINGDALE, AR
   Dep Date: 01/30/2002
   Destination: RIFLE, CO
   Flt Plan: IFR
   Last Radio Cont: 70 SE ICT
   Last Clearance: ALT ASSIGN FL270B280