With Great Regret

[Sky9pilot]

This is a copy of the announcement of the passing of "RATZ'" Dave host of HPA. He will be missed!
Greetings all Hip Pocket Members,
This is Bruce (Sundance12)
I am writing this post to inform our membership that we have lost our administrator Dave (Ratz) over the weekend. It's my duty to post this notice as I will be taking over as Administrator for Hip Builders Forum. When you See Ratz as a log in on the forum it's really me, (Sundance12). I will be taking the helm of the forum for the time being. I will be making no changes to the forum as I try to grapple with the details of forum operation. We all know how much work Dave put into this endeavor. The plan printing service of his is not in operation so those with open concerns let me know by PM.
Dave and I were pals nearly my whole life. He was a cornerstone in who I am today and what I do in life. I received guidance and mentorship in all things 'life' from Dave, especially his support for my aviation career. This forum was Dave's contribution to model aviation, he did it tirelessly. I know that many of you understood that Dave was dealing with some health challenges, and it became a surprise that we lost him over the weekend. We felt that he was out of the woods. So in the meantime, the forum will be running as is until I can get a hold of the steering bar. It's going to take a bit of homework on my part. I have some decisions to make about the future of the forum and will be having discussions with many to see what I can do to keep it all up. We have been operating the forum for a long time now, the community of model builders has been fantastic. I will be making some posts here from time to time as to my progress and opportunities. I will be asking some support from the hip community for general advice moving forward.

I have big shoes to fill here and I may not have the answers promptly.

In the meantime the forum is up and running as is.

Thanks to everyone for the understanding.

Sundance12
Bruce Feaver

Sky9pilot/Tom from S&T

[Bargle]

And now the forum part of the site has crashed. Hope you can get it back soon, Bruce.

[Balsa-naut]

I’m so sorry about what happened to Dave. Please accept my deepest sympathies during this sad time.