A friend of mine died recently when his airplane crashed. He was returning to his home airport when the engine failed and his plane crashed short of the destination. Brad “Launchpad” Marzari was what I call a stone aviation junkie, as evidenced by his frequent, enthusiastic presence at major air shows like Sun ‘n Fun and AirVenture, which is how I knew him. He loved flying and the people involved in it, both of which are in abundance at those events. I didn’t know Brad as well as many others—we never flew together, for example—but we occasionally traded emails on one topic or another. He traveled to Germany frequently and always had some German chocolate to share. I still have some.
About this time a year ago, we discussed the annual inspection on his Focke-Wulf FWP-149D, a German-built copy of the Piaggio P.149, a four-seat piston single designed in the 1950s for military liaison and training. Brad’s airplane was manufactured in 1960, according to FAA records, and he acquired it in 2019. Our last email exchange commemorated his first experience with an annual inspection. The airplane was previously registered in Canada, and its U.S. airworthiness certificate was in the Experimental-Exhibition category. The NTSB recently released the preliminary results of its investigation and…it’s sobering in a number of ways.
