Reported by: Deb Silverman
Photographed by: Tyson Thorp
The fatal mid-air crash in Sharonville has drawn together the tight-knit aviation community at Blue Ash Airport, where both pilots involved in the crash were very well known.
9News has learned that Neils Harpsoe, 64, of West Chester, was flying the Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft that crashed on Kemper Road.
9News spoke with some of Harpsoe's friends about how he will be remembered.
Friends say Harpsoe started flying more than 15 years ago.
They say he was always happy. And they say if you asked around, 100 people would call him a best friend.
Friends describe Harpsoe as energetic, kind and fun.
He was so popular, many of his friends were half his age.
He's also a father and a grandfather.
"He was my best friend. He was everyone's best friend," said his friend, Thad Reinhard. "He was one of a kind. I think everyone would say that about him."
Reinhard says the retired GE engineer was known to be very meticulous and that's what made him a good friend, and a good pilot.
Reinhard says Harpsoe owned the plane he was flying on Friday.
"He had flown the route he did today 1,000 times," said Reinhard. "I just don't see it being an operator error."
"Its been tough to ask what he was doing today, but I think he was just getting it out, gassing it," said Reinhard. "It was a beautiful day to be up in the air, so he was probably just out cruising."
Harpsoe would have celebrated his 65th birthday next month.
As friends gathered at his home in West Chester Friday night, most say they're too upset to talk on-camera.
But, they tell lots of stories and their tears are mixed with laughter as some tell 9News they were with Harpsoe as he shot his best round of golf in his life at Wetherington golf course last night.
They say he called his wife at every hole, he was so excited.
But they say he would get just as excited when it came to helping others.
He was also part of "Angel Flight," a group of pilots who fly people who can't afford airline tickets to other cities for medical treatment.
"There's been tears but there's going to be days of it but we all sit in there and we still think he's going to walk in the door."
There were dozens of people at his home Friday night.
His family just too upset to talk, but his friends just wanted to be sure everyone knows how much he'll be missed.
