"Blue Skies Forever Mike Taylor"

These things are never easy.

We received word today from fellow Biplane racer, Jeff Lo, that our friend Mike Taylor had lost his life in his Pitts Special last week. Little is known of the cause of the crash as yet and in the end, it does not matter why. We have lost someone we knew and admired and we are saddened by this loss.

Mike was one of the special people that you meet at Reno. Our first encounter with Mike was when he attended the Reno Air Racing Association’s Pylon Racing Seminar in 1999, where he was training to enter the '99 Biplane events upcoming in September.

Many pilots who eventually wind up racing at Reno are exposed to it long enough to finally be bitten by the bug to race. Mike was different. His first air race would be his first air race. Mike was at Reno for the first time in his Pitts Special, in training for his first time at Reno.

We will never forget Mike's enthusiasm for the sport. As the day wore on and the two AAFO.COM reporters sat "on station" with cameras ready, where Mike would appear beside them, cell phone in hand, as he dialed up his friends back home so they could hear what he was hearing - the sound of racing planes on the course at Reno. The excitement in his voice as he yelled out above the noise, "Did you hear that!?"

Mike was indeed, a special breed apart. Mike was about family, friends, flying and competing.

Other men will go out tomorrow, suitcase in hand, work their 9 to 5 lives tediously, 365 days a year, and never come to know the thrill of a showdown with six other men.

They’ll never come to know the excitement of racing along in an aerial ballet, performed some fifty feet above the ground, aircraft to the left and right, all throttles pushed forward to the max, winds swirling about their heads, the smell of the fuel-oil mixture shooting from the exhausts, the thunder of the pistons as they pound away just beyond the firewall, sagebrush and terrain seemingly rushing beneath them, a checkered flag waving in the sky just ahead.

…but Mike Taylor knew.

Mike knew what it was to cross a finish line. Few men in the world today know that feeling. Few men ever will, but Mike Taylor knew.

"With heart that beat a charge he fell
Foeward, as befits a man…"

-- Lowell

Fly on in blue skies forever Mike Taylor. The snows will fall on Stead tonight - a white, wintry curtain, brought down on the grandness of your life…

…and sir, you are missed.

Remembering Mike Taylor

Former Pictures of the Week

10-15-01 "Taz" CLICK HERE	10-29-01 "Double Feature" CLICK HERE	11-05-01 "The Little Guy" CLICK HERE