COLUMBUS, Ind. — Local
aviation enthusiasts have formed a tight-knit community whose members
watch movies together, restore vintage aircraft and provide help for
people building their own planes.
About 40 of the local flight
devotees attend monthly meetings of the local chapter of the
Experimental Aircraft Association. Some of them like tinkering with
motors and machines, some have flown planes for decades and others
simply love the more romantic aspects of aviation and its allusion to
independence, freedom and exploration.
So when members of that
community come to harm, as they did in an accident in Columbus on
Thursday, the community tends to react with uniform sadness, said Mike
Foushee, a local pilot and retired Cummins mechanical engineer.