Semper Paratus, Farewell Sticks Episode 226

About this episode

Farewell Sticks is the hardest episode we’ve ever had to record. On August 20th, we lost our friend, producer, and co-host John “Sticks” Hall in a small plane crash near Bristol, Maine. His son Tyler was flying with him and survived with minor injuries. We’re not speculating on cause. Actually, we’re not speculating on anything about that day. What we can tell you: it was a Diamond DA20, Sticks bought it last spring, and that’s where the facts stop for now. Farewell Sticks: The Man Behind the Mic Sticks was a true unrestricted aviator, qualified in both fixed wing and rotary wing. Furthermore, when the Coast Guard tried to send him fixed wing in flight school, he threatened to drop on request unless they let him fly helicopters instead. That stubbornness paid off. He spent his career as a Coast Guard rescue pilot, flying a hundred feet off the water, a hundred miles out, at night, in weather nobody sane would choose. Consequently, he pulled people off sinking ships when it mattered most. Sticks was also a nurse practitioner who prided himself on being an outstanding diagnostician. He didn’t clock out when he left the office, either. Friends of the show can tell you he talke