We lost a great member of the hobby this weekend. Rene Gotiear lost his battle...

We lost a great member of the hobby this weekend. Rene Gotiear lost his battle with cancer.

Rene and I had a very frank conversation two weeks ago and even given the challenges, he had a great attitude. Rene recently got to fly his dream heli, the Mi-24 from HeliClassics after he and his wife, Rachel drove to my house to get it last year. He told me two weeks ago that he was thrilled that he finally got her off the ground (after wrestling with the programming). Thanks to Rusty Cahall who helped him through that (and I'm sure there were others). I am arranging with Rachel a special tribute to Rene that will take place at ScaleHeliStorm 2025 inside the National Museum of the United States Air Force. I'll have more details in the coming weeks.

Rene was a super kind, creative and bright man who brought a ton to the hobby. We will definitely miss him!