SAYING FAREWELL TO A GOOD FRIEND IS NEVER EASY
(Posted 02nd November 2017)
(Jean-Michel’s Facebook picture … he just loved flying)
Following the huge success of the Uganda Paramotor Tour 2014 (https://atcnews.org/2014/12/23/23-december-2014-0221/) did Jean-Michel Hausmann earlier this year begin his planning in earnest to do a similar aerial tour of Rwanda, again to showcase the destination and again with the aim to show the final video on the Brussels Airlines flights to Kigali, just as it happened in 2014/15 with his documentary of Uganda.
While I was away on assignments did Jean-Michel arrive in Rwanda and commence and complete his filming tour before just a few days ago deciding to add on time and revisit some of his best liked places in Uganda.
I had hoped to see Jean-Michel before my next trip, after he did actually return for some paramotoring in Uganda following the completion of his Rwanda Paramotor Tour 2017 (https://www.facebook.com/parwanda2017/)
https://www.facebook.com/pg/parwanda2017/videos/?ref=page_internal
I followed the exploits of his tour and saw his last pictures from Queen Elizabeth National Park through his Facebook posts. I was excited that he was able to fly over places he came to love so much when he was stationed in Kampala and which he made popular for the rest of the world to see with his Ugandan documentary.
That reunion though, very sadly, was not to be as he crashed earlier today in still unclear circumstances.
He leaves behind a heartbroken family and equally heartbroken friends, in Belgium but also here in Uganda.
I knew Jean-Michel as a man of integrity, a gentleman par excellence and as a careful flyer – in 2014 we twice postponed an aerial filming session of the RainForest Lodge when adverse wind conditions made flying too dangerous.
His tragic accident reminded me, and for a good reason, how short life can be and how unpredictable it often is.
Tonight I mourn Jean-Michel’s passing but I also celebrate his life, well lived and in his retirement doing what he liked to do best – flying his paramotor. You will be missed but you live on in my memory, in our all memory …
This one is for you Jean-Michel https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=UG&v=TPJ5kqjEQlc&hl=en-GB
