Hook Dupin

Really sorry to hear about this. His recent post about his school really showed his love for what he did. RIP and condolences to the friends and family.
 
Bummer. A good mentor is a rare find, and I’m sorry for your loss as well as for all the other folks for whom he was a friend, teacher, coworker, etc.
 
wow.
Shocking and very sad. Such an insightful guy and always brought a great point of view to this forum. Tailwinds to our friend Chris on his flight west and condolences to his family and friends. Please let us know what we can do to help.
 
I had the privilege of knowing Chris and working with him at a flight school from 2014-2015. He was a very skilled and talented pilot, and one of the most popular instructors at our school. He was well liked by both students and other instructors. He personally helped me out with a few challenging students when I was a new instructor, and I would often use him to give students of mine "mock check rides" right before they went on the actual ones.
He was an exceptional pilot, instructor and mentor. This is truly a sad loss for the aviation community. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
 
I think the last active JCer to die in a plane crash was Ben Hill.

Doesn't get any easier.

I actually called him this afternoon to let him know I had given my first hours of Dual today...he was already gone at that point.

The torch has been passed. We all try to live up to the example that good teachers and mentors place before us. By all accounts, Chris was one of those who actually cared about helping other pilots, I have no doubt that you will follow his example.
 
I think the last active JCer to die in a plane crash was Ben Hill.

Doesn't get any easier.



The torch has been passed. We all try to live up to the example that good teachers and mentors place before us. By all accounts, Chris was one of those who actually cared about helping other pilots, I have no doubt that you will follow his example.
There was that dude Neil who was in the Ace Air crash.
 
Damn, was he flying out of Eglin AFB also? I remember his posts about his new school.

As busy as it is, flying in FL is a small community. Condolences.
 
I ferried a Champ Chris owned awhile back. It was one of the nicest Champs I have ever flown, I could tell he really had pride in owning and maintaining that airplane.
My heart goes out to his family and friends.
 
I don’t have any words for those of you who knew him well. If anyone needs an ear to bend shoot me a PM for my contact info or ask around. Don’t be afraid to lean on friends for help.

Most of all, be careful out there. From all accounts, Chris was a great pilot. Proof it can happen to any one of us lesser aviators.
 
Damn. Why is it always the good ones to go? RIP, Sir! Fair winds.

Condolences to those who knew him personally. As others have said, send a PM to me, or anybody that offers it, if you need to talk.
 
I awoke to the news this morning of Chris’s passing. I am at a loss for words and in shock over his passing. Chris was an amazing man and given all he had done in his life it is unbelievable that the man would go in such a simple accident like this. Chris was one of those guys that men look up to. At times goofy but at the same time intimidating with his intelligence. Chris was just a great American. The type of guy you envision when you think what a great a American would look like. Chris was a WSO on F15s and had served time in the Middle East fighting our enemies. He was a test pilot school graduate and had just completed his MBA course work. Chris had just been promoted to Lt. Col in the Air Force. When I met him originally he had just applied to NASA to be an astronaut. He had made it further than anyone else I had ever known. Chris was just the type of guy you see in the movies but in real life.

Chris was my friend and business partner in a startup airline in the PNW. When my previous airline had filed for bankruptcy Chris knew I was involved in management and had access to the owners of the aircraft that had been repossessed. He was consulting with another 135 airline at the time to source airplanes and though they could grab the 208s that Seaport had lost. Some of the other Seaport employees and I were starting a small 135 airline and I thought Chris would be an awesome addition. So I offered him an equal partnership in the company. We were stuck waiting in line for the FAA to start processing our 135 application, a two year minimum wait. Chris came on board like a tornado. He had all these amazing ideas and they worked. We bought another airline for peanuts because of Chris. The type of deal that never happens in real life. All because of Chris suddenly we were a real airline. I remember the morning I got the wake up call at 4am from Chris that the deal had gone through. Suddenly I had gone from an out of work FO at a bankrupt airline to CEO of a new one with a bright future and our first airplane.

We didn’t always see eye to eye. Chris thought big, was a blue sky type of guy. While I was trying to figure out how we get an airplane we could fly passengers on and get our 135 certificate approved, he was thinking about buying aircraft technology as an investment. There was a FIKI STC that he wanted to buy and resell. We didn’t have the money for either option. Chris was always coming up with these fantastic ideas. And he was the type of guy who could make it happen. Sometimes willing to go to extremes.

When we were having trouble getting the bank to approve our loans, Chris called me up one day with his “Pirate plan”. We were both pirate enthusiasts. We used to jokingly call each other Capt. Hook and Capt. Jack. He was going to mortgage his house and put his full retirement into funding our airline on the pirate plan. We went back and forth on the idea. He was going to just go an buy an airplane and we were going to start flying passengers. It was an unbelievably stupid idea and we were likely going to lose our shirts (and Chris's house and retirement) but Chris was all in. His wife April was looking at jobs out here in the PNW and he was even looking at retiring early from the Air force. Chris was willing to uproot his entire life and just jump into our little startup.

There were lots of reasons the idea failed but Chris was always looking for a way to make it happen. And he always had great ideas. Ultimately Chris had taken the money he had invested into our little airline and put it into his flight school. Chris was a great instructor and a great mentor and there was no better place for him to be than molding future aviators. It's tragic that it had to end this way.

Chris and I had a lot of arguments about how to do things with our airline. We didn’t see eye to eye but he was always patient and never held a grudge after our arguments. He was passionate and focused on the goal and never had time for holding a grudge. Heck even after we went our separate ways he came to my defense when I was being attacked here in another thread. I was regularly intimidated by who he was. Chris was my hero. He had lived the life I wanted to lead and was such a down to earth guy. He was funny and goofy, and so amazingly intelligent. I am truly fortunate to have known him. And we have all lost a very valued member of the aviation family.

Blue Skies my friend.
 
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That's terrible to hear, condolences to his wife and everyone that knew him. Sounds like he had a positive impact on so many, remember the good times & rest in peace.
 
Oftentimes the good do die young.
Condolences to the family, RIP brother, didn’t have the pleasure of acquaintance, but that’s my misfortune.
 
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