AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2023 - 4

PRESIDENT 'S POSITION
Remembering
Richard
Reflections on a leader, mentor, friend
BY MARK BAKER / President and CEO
AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
AS I DO AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR, I collect my thoughts and give
you my perspective from the year past and give you a sense of what
we have to look ahead to during the next year.
There was a lot I was prepared to say about the wonderful
events, important initiatives, and gratitude I have had for my team
and our members over the past year. As you can imagine that all
changed October 1.
That was the day I lost my colleague
and friend Richard McSpadden, and
the general aviation community lost
an incredible educator, valued mentor,
and amazing aviator (see " Richard
McSpadden Mourned, " p. 24).
A lot has been said by a lot of people
about Richard over the past few weeks.
My team and I have received hundreds of
heartfelt messages from across the country
and around the world, messages from
those who wanted to remember Richard
as a valued teacher and guide, those
who shared a personal memory of being
with him at an airshow or other aviation
event, or those who wrote just to say they
shared our sorrow for an amazing man
taken from us far too soon.
And while I use this column every
month to share my thoughts with
you, today I want to do something a
bit different. I want to use this space
to highlight your voices-to give you
the chance to let all of us know what Richard meant to you. It
would take the entire magazine to print everything wonderful
said about this amazing person, but I'd like to share a few of the
warm words you shared with us about Richard:
" He was an accomplished gentleman, making significant
contributions to improving GA flight safety. He will be sorely
missed and will be hard to replace. "
" I can't even imagine what you all are going through right now.
He truly was a great guy and a great pilot. "
4
AOPA PILOT / December 2023
" I wish I would have had more time to get to know him and
hear his stories. My deepest condolences to you and the entire
AOPA family. "
" My mind is totally consumed with the loss of Richard
McSpadden. I am so saddened. A great loss to AOPA and the
aviation world, he was a friend to all of us. "
" Sorry for the unimaginable loss
of such an incredible man to the GA
community, and especially to those who
had the good fortune to know him. "
" We believe the general aviation community
is a better place with pilots and
instructors like Richard McSpadden. "
" He was a friend, a prince of a guy,
and a great aviation safety advocate. "
" Simply put, he was the calm in a sea
of histrionics. He was like the aviation
father I wish I could have had. "
These words from you sum up
Richard McSpadden and Mark Baker shared
many flying experiences, including landing on
ice in Baker's Cessna 185.
everything that made Richard one of the
most remarkable people we have had the
pleasure of knowing-a wonderful man,
a true leader, a trusted colleague, a good
friend, and an amazing husband, father,
brother, and son. To Richard, safety was
a team sport; he was quick to deflect
personal praise and credit his great team.
That was the true measure of the man.
At the close of the celebration of
Richard's life we held at our AOPA home,
I shared some words from the wonderful poem by Linda Ellis,
called " The Dash: "
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love,
And how we spend our dash.
May God continue to bless Richard
and his family with blue skies.
mark@aopa.org
MARK BAKER is
a commercial pilot
with single- and
multiengine land and
seaplane ratings and
a rotorcraft rating.
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - December 2023
