February 8, 2003 GA PILOTS WERE AMONG 'COLUMBIA' CREW General aviation pilots were among the seven-person crew who died on the space shuttle "Columbia" last Saturday. An AOPA member since 1995, Mission Specialist David Brown, 46, owned a Beechcraft Bonanza and had logged more than 2,700 flight hours, with 1,700 in high-performance military aircraft. He was a Navy captain and flight surgeon. Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, 41, was a Navy commander and a flight surgeon. She joined AOPA in 2002. Brown and Clark were making their first space flights. Another active GA pilot, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, 41, was an aerospace engineer and a certificated flight instructor with airplane, glider, multiengine, and seaplane ratings. She enjoyed doing aerobatics and flying tailwheel airplanes. STS-107 was her second space flight. "We are reminded, in this 100th year of powered flight, that the dangers facing our earliest aviators continue to challenge those who extend our quest for understanding into the reaches of outer space," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. [Reprinted with permission from the February 7 issue of "AOPA ePilot". Article copyright 2003, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.