[jerry]

I knew George from the Refuge forums. He hosted a trap shoot we started last year and decided to go anual with. George will be missed indeed.
Local pilot of experimental airplane dies in crash
Last Updated 7/7/2006 5:58:18 PM
By JAYETTE BOLINSKI
Staff Writer
A 54-year-old pilot was found dead Friday morning amid the wreckage of his kit-built airplane in a cornfield in western Sangamon County.
The man was identified as George D. Moon of Loami.
Illinois State Police found the wreckage at 9:06 a.m. as troopers flew over the area to help Sangamon County sheriff's deputies who were trying to find the plane, which had been missing since Thursday night.
The site was in a cornfield 50 feet off Berlin Tower Road, about a mile west of the Pleasant Plains-New Berlin blacktop.
Authorities believe the plane crashed sometime after 8:15 p.m. Thursday, according to Sheriff Neil Williamson. Investigators are trying to determine what happened.
Representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. FAA officials were at the site Friday.
According to the FAA's aircraft registry, the craft was a fixed-wing, single-engine airplane, model RANS S-14, built in 2003. It was classified as an experimental plane and was "amateur built," though it was not clear Friday who built the plane.
Such planes typically are constructed from kits, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, spokeswoman for the FAA's Great Lakes Central Region, based in Chicago.
County deputies were alerted to the possibility of a plane crash about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, after the pilot did not return to a landing strip just inside Morgan County.

[N2914J]

I am truly sorry to hear that, Jerry. I am familiar with the aircraft he was flying. That ultralight has a great reputation, as does all of the RANS family. A lot of people will say that Ultralights are dangerous, and they are indeed, but flying one is unlike any other airborne experience. They are the go-karts of aircraft. My most enjoyable flight experiences have taken place in ultralights. It always hurts a little more when you find that a fellow aviator has passed on. I hope his friends and family find the strength to get through this tough time.

[Apollyon67]

May he Rest in Peace Jerry. I wonder what he is flying now.

[jerry]

Thanks guys. He's either flying or in the duck marshes.

Here is a write up one of his close friends did on him.

little more about DODH ( George Moon)

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When the DNR and Common Wealth Edison opened the site known as Sangchris(thus named as it is partly in Sangamon County and partly in Christian County) George was one of the first guys I met duck hunting in a field near there. The Lake, at that time, was not open to hunting....only fishing.
A small handful of guys with "State Connections" laid the groundwork for getting waterfowl hunting started by the DNR not too long after and several of those original individuals still hunt there every year. In the beginning, we held the drawings out on the parking lot at the East Boat Ramp....using a little "outhouse" for signing up and doing the actual drawing for blind stake locations right out in the open. It truly was an old-fashioned "poor boy" type of arrangement and George was almost always there to run the drawing.

Not too many years back a bunch of the "regulars" got together and built the building that is now used as the sign-in station. They were carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers and, of course, Ol' George.

DODH was far from being just another "dumb old duck hunter". He knew the lake well and was versed in playing the wind, being pretty successful on most days when there were birds available. He was also known for his "antics" and sometimes not using very good judgement about what he did or said to someone. I remember Dove hunting in a staked field there years ago and George walked right out across the open field, while guys were shooting, to a guy to my right and said "What do you think you're doing, shooting at my stake?!" The guy was a stranger to the Site and was actually going to move to another stake until I told him to stay where he was as it was a first come, first served arrangement. It wasn't uncommon for him to pull stuff like that with a "newby" to Sangchris and it backfired on him as people couldn't tell when he was joking or serious. Here just recently he buzzed a guys decoy spread in that Ultra-Lite plane which brought him a strict repremand. He just grinned when he talked about it like nobody should have gotten upset about it. Yes, he could be downright goofy but I'm sure gonna miss him.

I drove out to Sangchris Friday evening at sundown, to the Check Station at the East Ramp, walked up and placed my hand against the door and then went to the lake bank just 23 paces west. Looking out across the lake I thanked George for all he had done to make duck and goose hunting what it had become at that Site.....and wished him God Speed into the Big Marsh in the sky. It won't be the same without him there this season

[Chris]

I heard something about that on the news I do believe. Sorry to hear that about George. God speed in deed, sir!

[Dale]

Jerry...sorry to hear about your loss.

It's never easy...gets harder with age, too.

Hang in there as I know you will.

[Shaun]

Jerry sorry to hear about your loss, I know what its like loosing a friend -- Hang in there bud

[jerry]

I'm not dwelling, but here are some more interesting reflections on George. He was an interesting character. You can't make this stuff up.

I guess careless might be the best word for some of ...

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....his actions.
I recall him raising 7 kinds of !!!! with 3 young boys who were having trouble backing their duck boat down the Ice covered ramp one morning. The boys finally got the boat of into the water and got up out of the ramp. George, in a fit of rage promptly slid his ENTIRE RIG, TRUCK, TRAILOR, BOAT AND ALL sideways down the ramp! Those same "DUMB 3 PUNKS" as he called them spent the next 45 minutes of their duck hunt helping push his rig back up the ramp.
Just last year he pulled up, backed down the ramp, dumped his boat and pulled on out. The boat, meantime, just floated freely out into the bay. We fetched it back to the dock and when he came down, unconcerned as usual, he simply said "I knew you guys would get it for me." Many times I've seen him back his rig down, tie the boat off at the dock and pull out.....as the boat slowly took on water. Yep!...forgot to put the drain plug back in. That was George to a tee.
He was a wealth of material for riballed Cartoons but I liked him too well to do such a thing. As a member of our Hunter Safety Education Team here in Springfield he was terrific at making the kids laugh while still getting the point across.
Just George. One of a kind.
__________________
Dan




Today, 07:02 PM #29
liver gsp
Senior Refuge Member

Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Springfield, IL.
Posts: 647 Onry cuss!!!

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That is my description of George.
He was one of A kind.
I didn't think much of him my first few encounters, but he kinda warms up after A while.

He did the ole drop the boat in the water trick w/ out tying it off last year w/ us too, and he said the same thing..."I knew someone would get it, or I would be swimming!"
He was tough on newbies that is for sure.
He didn't mind telling folks how he felt either.
I have known of dodh for about ten years, but only in the last two years really took A liking to him and his "my way" ways.
Gonna miss huntin' in the next blind over and watching birds set in his decoys while he hides in his boat and doesn't fire A shot. Sometime not even uncasing his shotgun.
He was A character for sure!

God speed George and I'll make sure all the newbies at the first draw this year know what they are missing.

Dan, Did anyone call duckpoor or Ed(last name slips my small mind) maybe Ed crager???, does the draw at Sangchris???