Fallen pilots remembered

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/NewsEn...a=68-807233-64



"Larry Baier, 53, one of two Kalispell men who died when their mail plane
crashed Tuesday night in the Little Belt Mountains, loved flying and
teaching people to fly, according to his family. "He taught a lot of people
in this valley how to fly," said Angela Baier, who is married to Baier's son
Jesse, 29, also of Kalispell. "It was just something he loved to do."
Larry Baier also is survived by his wife, Catherine, of Kalispell; daughter
Sara, 26, of Melbourne, Fla.; and sons Kace, 13, and Dakota, 11, of
Kalispell. Larry Baier's co-pilot on Tuesday, Scott Kiral, was once his
student. The two had formed a strong friendship that had lasted for years,
Angela Baier said. Baier, a flight instructor for about 26 of the 30 years
he had been a pilot, liked to do "fun-filled" things, Angela Baier said. In
addition to flying, he and son Jesse owned Applied Explosives, a local
blasting contracting firm that operates statewide. Larry Baier was teaching
his son to fly. "Dad and Jesse were working on getting" Jesse Baier a
pilot's license, Angela Baier said. Kiral, in his 30s, worked for
Installation Technologies in Kalispell. Owner Butch Keith described Kiral as
"one of a kind." A husband and stepfather, Kiral was "very intelligent" and
capable of flying a plane, driving a water truck, fighting fires, building a
computer and working on computer networks, Keith said. He said Kiral also
worked for Coldwell Banker from 2002-04. The two men had been flying from
Billings to Kalispell in a twin-engine Beech 99 airplane loaded with mail
when the aircraft went down near the top of Big Baldy Mountain, about 40
miles southeast of Great Falls. Baier had been flying the mail route for
five years for Alpine Air Express, a Utah-based U.S. Postal Service
contractor. The accident is still being investigated, but initial reports
said neither man had reported any trouble, and the plane's emergency locator
beacon did not transmit a signal. The first-class and priority mail on the
plane was bound for ZIP codes that begin with 599, which covers Flathead and
Lincoln counties. If any of the mail is salvageable, it will be released
after the National Transportation Safety Board finishes its investigation,
according to Ted Blazina, manager of marketing for the Montana district of
the U.S. Postal Service."


Larry, I did not get a chance to meet your friend Scott but I knew you very
well as my primary flight instructor, mentor and friend since 1990. Your
soft spoken words of flight direction always seem to surface when problems
arise.
In my mind, You will always be in the right seat.

Tail winds forever,
Pat Thronson
Babb, MT