Flying with the Angels... Kent Goddard

gyrodeputy

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Total Flight Time
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Sad news to report but our dear friend Kent Goddard has passed away due to congestive heart failure. He is in Heaven soaring with the angels.

RIP my friend.
 
I will miss him.

I will miss him.

I have a lot of fond memories of Kent Goddard.

He touched a lot of my friends too.
 
This really is very sad news! Kent will be missed by everyone that knew him. (and that was a lot of people!) He has truly touched many lives for the better. God Bless you Kent!
 
Yes he will be missed by many! I have seen him grow and develop into quite the gyro nut. I am truly bless and greatful to have been apart of his life and gyro jorney! I wonder if his gyro in heaven will have the topless slogan in the rear seat.
Got ya Kent if you are not smiling before you are reading this now from the other side.

God speed my friend!!
 
Love You Kent, May you RIP!!!!
U were an inspiration to me, and i learnt a lot from you even though u never realized it. Your warm heart touched me, your kindness amazed me, your thoughtfulness and gratiousness surprised me. Never thought for one minute u were suffering; suffering with a heart condition, yet you never failed to follow your dream...May you fly in the skies up yonder, in the heavens up above in your super gyro with tinted windshield and smile down, knowing you did what you wanted to do, you lived your dream, and included in that was that freaking amazing and awesome gyro machine.... May you Rest In Everlasting peace. Bro. You are an inspiration to me....
 
A very special mentor to this newbie pilot in 2014

A very special mentor to this newbie pilot in 2014

He prepared me for this day in a lovely , emotional phone call as I was about to go to Australia last November .. he had made some big decisions with his doctors ... going to live what time he had left to the Max .. it was hard to know that the final goodbye road trip was just a hopeful dream .. he fought the good fight for many years .. but it ended too soon for those that loved him ! Here's to Kent ... a final "cheers" ... I know you & Jim will be kicking up your heels in heaven ... I am blessed with yet another guardian angel 😇!
Peace and BlueSkies/tailwinds - the summer of your gyro-gypsy travels you mentored this newbie pilot into new adventures Thank you my friend ... forever a big part of my gyro journey!
I dedicate my final 5 th flying leg from Kansas to Wauchula tomorrow to KENT Goddard ... the original summer of 2014 " gyro-gypsie".
:rip:
 
Oh no. Such a nice guy. Rest in peace my friend.
 
Kent was a fine friend and no better example of a great man.
 
The best part about being part of the PRA and the personal rotorcraft community is the many friendships made... More than the normal percentage become close friends some on here I've never met yet I feel as if we are friends!!

Kent was my close friend, a good person, and a free spirit who liked to have fun. Each time we were together we were always laughing until our face hurt... I had several adventures with him and many found memories. If I had not made plans to train with Micheal Bruton after ROTR I would have gone with him to fly over Yellow Stone Park... Wish I had now, but back then I did not know he was sick.

If it were not for his health issues he would have continued his 2014 flying adventure to this day.
Only a few of us knew he was in declining health as Kent did not want all of the rest of his friends grieving early.
For a while I had hope because he had decided to go on the list for a transplant, but after consultation with more doctors decided to just say good bye now.

He sold his MTO about a month ago and the last time I spoke to him was only a week or so ago and he was still the same Kent joking and laughing only tired and worried to go to sleep as it was hard to breathe and suspected he may just stop. I stay up late and there is a 3 hour time difference so he could call me and we would talk until it was about daylight back there.


At the end he lived life to the fullest drove to most of the fly in's in 2014 and stayed in many friends homes and harts.

He flew up the Snake River in a flight of 3 with Micheal Burton and I in a Cavlon, Kent in his MTO, and Cammy in her Calidus. He always said it was a flight of a life-time, and I agree!
Kent had not flown much in controlled airspace and felt uneasy about using the radio but as a flight of 3 we would do all the communication on the radio for the group.
With just a flew flights listening to our communication over two days with the group Kent was off by himself talking like a pro from that time on.

I flew with him at most of the fly-in's that year.

Here is a picture of Kent laughing as usual.

For those who do not know the first picture is Kent in the center between the young lady with the thumbs up and Micheal Burton. We were at the Twin Falls Airshow near the snake river.

I'll post more pictures of him flying latter.

:Cry: He will be MISSED!!!!! :Cry:
 

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I met Kent at BD 2014 where we spent hours chatting and watching the comings and goings together.

I was at BD without gyro and waiting for the ArrowCopter to arrive from Baltimore. It must have shown that I was really hurting for getting up in the air. He simply offered me the use of his blue MTO!

I will always remember you, Kent!

-- Chris.
 
When I brought my MTO to Wauchula to finish the build, Kent generously offered up his hanger. So Kent, Larry and I had the 'gated community' hanger with all the Autogyros on the other side from the Morons' hangar. We shared lots of laughs, and a good number of flights, either in his gyro with me backseat or flying two gyros. Kent always took care of me, even flying up to Deland with me a year or so ago when the weather was questionable. Those who knew him, know he was always a bit of a scoundrel, with a zest for life. I was fortunate to spend some time with him 2-3 months ago when he came to the Deland Sport Expo. He was unfortunately struggling then with shortness of breath, able only to walk a few yards at a time. Fly well my friend.
Here are a couple of pics I found quickly, one at BD a couple of years ago, and the other at Deland just as he was returning to Wauchula after flying up to Deland with me in marginal weather.
 

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Kent touched so many lives in a positive way, its apparant by how the news of his passing has moved so quickly through the community. He was such a kind, generous, and gentle man, he will be truly missed by many.

I remember his cross county travels in 2014 when he attended as many fly-ins in a year that he could. Always making sure that anyone that wanted a ride would get the opportunity and asking for nothing in return. We need more "Kent's" in our community, it is very sad and such a huge loss when we lose a person of his quality.
 

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Kent will be missed by Sheri & I . Every time we saw him , he was a ray of sunshine.
Rick&Sheri
 
Sad news, Kent spent a good share of his time at Wauchula with the gang. He was always ready to help anyone with anything. After reading this thread, I began to reflect on Kent as I'm sure so many here have. It dawned on me that he was on a mission, not just with learning to fly a gyro but all that is a dream for most of us.
After getting his ticket and bird, he planned on going to just about every fly-in in the U.S...I wonder how many club's, airports and chapters he visited?
 
I wonder if his gyro in heaven will have the topless slogan in the rear seat.
Got ya Kent if you are not smiling before you are reading this now from the other side.

God speed my friend!!
Here's the back seat slogan I took a picture of when flying with Kent to the Red Neck Yacht Club - New Years weekend 2015
 

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Here are some pic's of the way he lived and flew!
 

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And a few more...
Click through this sequence quickly and it's almost a flicker-book show.

PS:
If there was a farmer on a tractor then at least on this flight up the snake river Kent would fly away form us and give the farmer a personal airshow join in formation latter.
 

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Kent touched so many lives in a positive way, its apparant by how the news of his passing has moved so quickly through the community. He was such a kind, generous, and gentle man, he will be truly missed by many.

I remember his cross county travels in 2014 when he attended as many fly-ins in a year that he could. Always making sure that anyone that wanted a ride would get the opportunity and asking for nothing in return. We need more "Kent's" in our community, it is very sad and such a huge loss when we lose a person of his quality.
Yaw Mon... He was so generous. He donated an Icom radio to Chapter 2 to raffle off at ROTR 2014.....

And for the rest of the story... I won it so I have a keepsake from Kent's generosity!

I'm going to remember him and the party with him!!!
 
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