Butch Austin has scratched

Hi Sandy.

It was shortly after 8 AM as Annie knocked on the door of my room and woke me up. She told me that the guy from Colorado has scratched. And I asked her, whether she was talking of this man that had this big accident during his ride to Alaska and she replied: Yes, that's he is.
I asked her, whether she has already talked to him or not and if not so she can tell him we will fly him to Anchorage, if he wants.

During breakfast she returned with Butch Austin following straight behind and he asked me, whether I can fly him to Big Lake, because he will stay in Martin Buser's home. I said, that this would not make such a big difference. I told him that we will leave then around 09:30 and that was fine with him.

It was short before 09:30 as he arrived with Annie at the Bell 412 and we started to load everything into the helicopter. I knew Annie had asked him already, but I wanted to know as well why he has scratched, and he replied it was because of his accident. Injuries were probably more serious then he might have thought of. So he decided to scratch from the race at Finger Lake this morning.

At 09:36 we took off and left for Big Lake Airport and it was an uneventful flight at 2000 feet following the 088 radial of BGQ VOR.

We arrived at Big Lake at 10:10 and unloaded everything from the helicopter. Butch was already awaited by some of his friends and so it was time to say good bye to him and wishing him all the best for the future and maybe he will have more luck next year...

Flying time: 34 minutes

Christian