Vale Chris Tarry 14.07.2019

A year ago today we all lost a bloody great mate in Chris Tarry.

Chris was one of those blokes that you could just count on for a laugh, an impromptu chat, a heart to heart. I actually can't recall a time that he didn't pick up a call from me. He was always around for mates. And he had many.

I first met Chris and the lovely Maggie in September 2015 where he joined us on his first Bali Tour. Not getting many hours up in WA after completing his student course, there were many firsts on that tour for him. @1:41s of the video I'm interviewing him moments after calling him in for his first top landing. He was moved to tears. He absolutely loved flying.

He just kept progressing from there, joining us on back to back multi-week Bali tours, and in 2018 toured Europe with us. Chris then sadly passed away from post-surgical complications following a flying incident last year in Turkey which was the final stop of a dream Euro trip away with some great mates, Richard and Arjay.

To say that he's left a hole a mile wide is a deafening understatement, and I know this can be said for many of us.

Chris: one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do in my entire life is to trawl through 400+hours of yours and my GoPro footage, watch these wonderful memories, and realise that we will never get an opportunity to make anymore. I will only get to hear that laugh again on video. The tears have been many. I've worked on this until I couldn't anymore, regrouped days/months/weeks later, did some more, etc.

Until today. It's done.

Because this has basically taken the whole last year, it's fair to say that all I'd like in return is that you lock down the best pub up there for the day I arrive because it's going to be a hell of a session. Oh, and it's your shout!😉

Of course, it goes without saying that we give unending love and warmth to Maggie, Kyal and Rachel, Luke, Leander, Helen, and the rest of their respective families. Thank you also to the lovely Jo Maher for being there for Mags with the Hamster post-incident.

To quote a very beautiful human, "Sometimes you've just gotta pinch yourself and say is it all real?". We still can't believe it is, mate.

Thanks to the following pilots for their assistance with the Bali memorial flight: Geoff, Bryn, Darran, Paul, Nathaniel, Soner, and Cristina.

#straighttothepoolroom #therewillbebeers #cloudbasefamily #missed