Chris Cline died in a helicopter crash in the Bahamas today. He donated $8.5 million to Marshall for the construction of the IPF and sports medicine facility. He dropped out of Marshall and went to work as an underground miner. Fourty years later he had built one of the largest mining companies in the U.S., which he took public and sold a controlling interest for $1.4 billion. His net worth was listed at $1.9 billion at his time of death.

He was a guy that never forgot his roots and had a foundation that gave scholarships to WV HS graduates. The helicopter was his and was being flown by a friend. I heard one of his children was also on board.

A little bit about Cline.
https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht-mine-games.html

Sorry to hear about that. Obviously, the University meant a lot to him, and he meant a lot to Marshall. Condolences to his family and to his Marshall family.

RIP

I'm so sorry. Marshall has experienced enough death. Prayers for the Cline family and the Marshall family.

Chris's father was a coal mine operator, but he taught Chris the value of hard work. Chris was very generous to his home state and his college.

FWIW Dept: The Edwards family were the "biggest benefactor" to MU. They gave about $38 million for the Medical School; expansion of Cabell Huntington Hospital/MU Med School Cancer Center and Children's Complex; Performing Arts Center and the Football Stadium. The Edwards also gave generous donations to the Episcopal Church and The Huntington Museum of Art. There total contributions were over $40 million. Brad Smith also gave $25 million to Lewis College of Business at MU.

Condolences to the Cline family and to Marshall. I saw the story of the crash online, but didn't realize he was a Marshall benefactor.

What a terrible tragedy for the entire Marshall family. You have my sympathies.

Helicopters are much more dangerous than airplanes. Terrible if one of his kids was also on board.

(07-05-2019 12:33 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Helicopters are much more dangerous than airplanes. Terrible if one of his kids was also on board.

Someone on reddit said his daughter, 2 or 3 of her friends, and a mechanic were akso on board.

(07-05-2019 12:33 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Helicopters are much more dangerous than airplanes. Terrible if one of his kids was also on board.

Don't know about that. Auto-rotation down under no power and a small landing footprint give them a huge advantage over airplanes aside from non-engine mechanical failure. Plus generally more aviation knowledge and training required by pilot to fly helis.

So sorry to hear this. Peace to him and condolences to his family and friends.

(07-05-2019 07:19 AM)Flat Tire 2 Wrote:  Chris's father was a coal mine operator, but he taught Chris the value of hard work. Chris was very generous to his home state and his college.

FWIW Dept: The Edwards family were the "biggest benefactor" to MU. They gave about $38 million for the Medical School; expansion of Cabell Huntington Hospital/MU Med School Cancer Center and Children's Complex; Performing Arts Center and the Football Stadium. The Edwards also gave generous donations to the Episcopal Church and The Huntington Museum of Art. There total contributions were over $40 million. Brad Smith also gave $25 million to Lewis College of Business at MU.

The Edwards have been gone for a while and Marshall benefitted from the typical end of life philanthropy as did Cabell Huntington Hospital and many others. Cline was generous with his money, but hadn't hit that older age where people typically start giving chunks. His pie was significantly larger than that of the Edwards and I expect his life time giving would have far exceeded the Edwards.

(07-05-2019 08:28 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 12:33 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Helicopters are much more dangerous than airplanes. Terrible if one of his kids was also on board.

Don't know about that. Auto-rotation down under no power and a small landing footprint give them a huge advantage over airplanes aside from non-engine mechanical failure. Plus generally more aviation knowledge and training required by pilot to fly helis.

My mother was friends with a doctor in Bowling Green that liked to fly helicopters as a hobby and died in one. Anecdotal I know. But it seems like you hear all the time about a helicopter crashing. Sight-seeing helicopters, military helicopters, the news helicopter in Seattle, etc. I can't remember the last time I head about a fixed wing military craft crashing. And you would think that there would be a lot more flight hours for fixed wing craft than helicopters. I could be wrong but I think helicopters are more dangerous. As the article below points out it is difficult to compare because they are used in different conditions for different reasons:

https://www.slackdavis.com/blog/are-heli...airplanes/

(07-05-2019 12:58 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 12:33 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Helicopters are much more dangerous than airplanes. Terrible if one of his kids was also on board.

Someone on reddit said his daughter, 2 or 3 of her friends, and a mechanic were akso on board.

It was Chris Cline, his daughter and 2 of her friends. The pilot of the helicopter was a life long friend of Cline's from Kermit WV.

Chris would have been 61, the next day July 5th. His daughter had just graduated from LSU. I assume they were in the Bahamas celebrating his birthday and her graduation.

They were on their way back to Ft Lauderdale FL to head back to WV when the copter went down.

(07-06-2019 08:04 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 08:28 PM)MUther Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 12:33 PM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  Helicopters are much more dangerous than airplanes. Terrible if one of his kids was also on board.

Don't know about that. Auto-rotation down under no power and a small landing footprint give them a huge advantage over airplanes aside from non-engine mechanical failure. Plus generally more aviation knowledge and training required by pilot to fly helis.

My mother was friends with a doctor in Bowling Green that liked to fly helicopters as a hobby and died in one. Anecdotal I know. But it seems like you hear all the time about a helicopter crashing. Sight-seeing helicopters, military helicopters, the news helicopter in Seattle, etc. I can't remember the last time I head about a fixed wing military craft crashing. And you would think that there would be a lot more flight hours for fixed wing craft than helicopters. I could be wrong but I think helicopters are more dangerous. As the article below points out it is difficult to compare because they are used in different conditions for different reasons:

https://www.slackdavis.com/blog/are-heli...airplanes/

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. The places which helicopters can go puts them at some risk for sure. The FAA require a fixed-wing license before gaining a helicopter license, not sure about the military. But at the flying 747 level commercial I'm sure they've had more training.

My dad's a fixed wing pilot and knows a lot of other pilots. Many of them have had crashes. You just don't hear about them because they aren't over urban areas. It's usually short on landing or something of that nature.

Wasn't trying to be argumentative, just pointing out that each has benefits and risks and most of the time the safety is on the pilot, not what they're flying in.

I noticed that POTUS retweeted the governors comments on Clines passing as well as issuing his own tweet calling Cline a "wonderful man and a great Republican!".

This is a very good article on Cline and how he made his fortune. Worth a read. Kind of sad now knowing the island he was buying at the time was the one he was returning from when the crash occurred.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopher...5f75f66097

God rest his soul and bestow grace and mercy upon his family.

Condolescences to the Cline family and Marshall University.

Sorry Marshall. Major Loss to the Herd. Obviously, the man was a great contributor to your success.