Passing of Derek Piggott

I was privileged to meet Mr. Piggott in 2000 at the SSA convention in Albuquerque. He was to give a presentation, and had informally inquired of the planning committee (of which I was a small part) as to the possibility of us providing a couple of hundred dollars to help defray expenses. He was travelling on his own funds, and one of the committee members asked if this request was really warranted. I spoke up, "His talk is entitled 'Fifty Years of Gliding Instruction.' He is obviously broke."

The funds were authorized, and Derek laughed delightedly when I related the story to him. A true gentleman, and a mighty influence in the world of gliding. Thank you for all of your input.

On Sun, 06 Jan 2019 13:41:28 -0800, markmocho53 wrote:

I was privileged to meet Mr. Piggott in 2000 at the SSA convention in
Albuquerque. He was to give a presentation, and had informally inquired
of the planning committee (of which I was a small part) as to the
possibility of us providing a couple of hundred dollars to help defray
expenses. He was travelling on his own funds, and one of the committee
members asked if this request was really warranted. I spoke up, "His
talk is entitled 'Fifty Years of Gliding Instruction.' He is obviously
broke."

The funds were authorized, and Derek laughed delightedly when I related
the story to him. A true gentleman, and a mighty influence in the world
of gliding. Thank you for all of your input.

I met him a few times and he was, as you say, a true gentleman. In a past
life he was also a competitive free flight model flier. Among many other
exploits, he test flew the replica "Colditz Cock", a glider that was
designed and built by WW2 POWs in Colditz Castle. I knew he'd had flown
it and asked him about that. It turned out this was at RAF Odiham, a long
narrow field, on a day with quite a cross wind. He said it was nice to
fly but the day wasn't really soarable, adding that he'd almost got away
in one bump, but decided he'd better land due to the wind direction.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

I pored over Mr. Piggott's book before I bought my glider in 2001. I also went to the Albuquerque Convention where he spoke. He was a great instructor and speaker. I also got to meet him for a couple of minutes. He had a great sense of humor. The gliding world has lost a great man!

Chuck Zabinski

On Sunday, January 6, 2019 at 4:41:30 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I was privileged to meet Mr. Piggott in 2000 at the SSA convention in Albuquerque. He was to give a presentation, and had informally inquired of the planning committee (of which I was a small part) as to the possibility of us providing a couple of hundred dollars to help defray expenses. He was travelling on his own funds, and one of the committee members asked if this request was really warranted. I spoke up, "His talk is entitled 'Fifty Years of Gliding Instruction.' He is obviously broke."

The funds were authorized, and Derek laughed delightedly when I related the story to him. A true gentleman, and a mighty influence in the world of gliding. Thank you for all of your input.