ANN Contributor Kevin R.C. "Hognose" O'Brien:
The phone call came in from Jim... I
snapped it up. I greeted him happily, but he was clearly upset.
When Jim said, "I've got bad news for you," I wasn't expecting what
came next.
"We lost one of the Oshkosh crowd." Oh no. We've had a great
team over the years at the show. My mind raced through the
possibilities... some of us serve in the military. Some fly
high-performance aircraft. But my mind didn't race to the name and
grinning face of our own Happy Warrior. "Derrick Vogt's gone," Jim
said, his voice barely in control. "He had a heart attack."
Aviation is a small world, and it is smaller today than it was
February 12... the last time Derrick sent his many friends an
eye-opening email.
Derrick was an amazing human character, a former Cessna worker
who showed up every year at Oshkosh to string for us... but he was
so much more than a stringer. Yes, he could get a couple of
stories; and yes, he could take competent photographs; and he could
tell a P-51D from a P-51H at 3,000 meters.
Derrick's personality was most remarkable for his good nature
and sportsmanship. We need someone to volunteer to drive a cart.
"I'll do it!" We need photos of the powered parachutes flying
at the crack of dawn, and we're all going to be up writing until
the wee hours. "No problem, I've got it! Anything I can do to
help."
That was Derrick.
That same good nature made him welcome among every one of the
thousand little cliques and fiefdoms that make up sport aviation.
We'd pile out of the company van, bleary-eyed yet excited, our day
ahead a tabula rasa, and there'd be Derrick. Grinning. "Hey Pete,
these guys in Camping are doing something that would make a great
podcast. Hognose, a couple rotorheads and your Army buddy were
looking for you. Rob, there's a new LSA I think you'll like."

Derrick didn't have any secret means of information gathering...
he was just a friend to all he knew, and if he met you once, that
was good enough. You'd have to be a sociopath not to like him (even
they usually liked him, actually.) He had the gentle decency of
another era, and the gentle decency of his native Midwest... so you
could say he was a nice guy, squared.
Unlike most of us Aero-Newsniks, Derrick wasn't a pilot. But he
loved flying machines and he loved flying people, and he always
brought a fresh eye that showed us a new way of seeing things. That
will be missed.
Derrick worked many years in various Cessna plants. I recall he
did a lot with windows and windshields. The next time you strap
into the best seat in a Cessna, whether it's a bug-smashing 152 or
a record-smashing Citation X, you might just be looking at the
world through one of Derrick's windshields.
Do you ever think about the thousands of skilled hands that
worked on your airplane? If Derrick is typical, they were thinking
of you when they built it.
His knowledge of Cessna's culture led us to one scoop after
another, and he connected us to enough insiders that the scoops
Aero-News owes him will continue for decades. He insisted on being
anonymous, and uncredited; partly out of modesty, and partly out of
a desire to avoid trouble for his friends still at
Cessna.
At one time, a flight school suffered storm damage that grounded
much of its flightline... until Cessna swung into a multi-shift,
superhuman effort to get the student pilots back into the sky.
Derrick spent two hours on the phone with me, explaining exactly
how the replacement parts would be made, inspected and shipped.
Cessna did exactly that.
I wrote the story... and promptly got an earful from a
Cessna exec for my "inaccurate" report. And who was giving me
such "bad" information?
It DID turn out the information we received was accurate.
The Cessna executive (who now works for another firm in our
industry) graciously corrected herself... and still wondered who
our source was. Well, now we can tell you, as he's beyond the reach
of anything except, perhaps, our prayers: it was Derrick W.
Vogt.
ANN Senior E-Media Producer Pete Combs:
As the guy who brought Derrick into
the ANN fold several years ago, I guess I was among those of us who
knew him best. A former Cessna production worker, Derrick had been
laid off some years ago. He always kept up with developments at the
Wichita planemaker (as Kevin can attest), and was always there with
the up-to-the-second news tip.
But more than that, Derrick was a friend. He took good care of
his mother in Venice, FL, driving down every winter from Wichita to
watch over her. He was a witty, gruff kind of guy, his sense of
humor touched with the sort of wisdom born of experience. I'm
terribly saddened to learn of Derrick's demise. I hope his family
and his close friends accept my best wishes and share my fond
memories of him.
ANN Managing Editor Rob Finfrock:
Derrick was the second ANN staffer I met, on that first cool,
rainy day at Oshkosh 2005. I met Derrick before I met Jim. I was a
"stringer," then, too... same as Derrick, technically. But it was
clear to me immediately how vast his knowledge was, far eclipsing
mine... and I realized quickly if I wanted to hit the ground
running at AirVenture, it would be in directions Derrick pointed me
towards.
At AirVenture 2006, Derrick selflessly assumed the
responsibility of being our chief "go-to" guy -- if anyone needed
to "go-to" somewhere on the field, Derrick would shuttle us there.
This was in addition to what Derrick loved doing best: talking to
people. Getting "the scoop." He wasn't in it for the money -- to my
knowledge, he refused any gesture of compensation. Derrick did it
to just be part of the story... the most important part, actually.
The guy who FINDS the story.
In addition to his vital role in our Oshkosh coverage, Derrick
was also one of the most prodigious News-Spies to ever grace the
ANN Inbox. I can't count the number of times I've awakened early,
to get a head-start on the day's news... only to find three or four
(or six) stories Derrick had already emailed to me.
He was still showing me where to go, in which direction to head.
He will be sorely missed.
ANN Contributor Lisa Kondrick:
When Rob gave me the assignment to find someone for an
interview for ANN, Derrick volunteered to play chauffeur. We
covered the entire length and depth of the airshow looking for him.
Behind the wheel, Derrick reminded me of Moses and the Red Sea, as
the ocean of people parted for our little golf cart to pass.
He was a kind, gentle, vibrant, wonderful human being. I am so
fortunate to have met and worked with him, and I extend my sincere
condolences to his family. Please know that tomorrow, there will be
a ton of pilots at McVille Airport who will lift a glass of iced
tea to his memory at our luncheon. He was a talented photographer
and a GREAT friend to aviation enthusiasts and aircraft
everywhere.
ANN Associate Editor Mark Sletten:
What a sad, sudden loss... I didn't know Derrick well; I only
met him once, at OSH last year. We spoke just a few times, but I
got the impression of man with a keen intellect and even keener
wit. He always seemed to know more about what was going on than me
(there's a surprise), but was able to answer my questions without
seeming the least bit condescending. Derrick appeared to enjoy
himself and what he was doing very much, even when he wasn't
feeling well.
The best thing I can say about Derrick, is I wish I'd had the
opportunity to get to know him better.