Video: Base, Community Honors Schafer After Reaching ‘High Flight’

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (Press Release) — Columbus Air Force Base held a memorial service for Maj. Rick “Tracer” Schafer, 49th Fighter Training Squadron Instructor Pilot, Sept. 19 in the Kaye Auditorium.

Schafer passed away Aug. 31 along with his brother, Matthew Taylor Schafer, after their personal plane crashed following take-off in Abilene, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Ashley, and their children, Avery and Rachel.

The memorial service included an invocation and eulogy by Lt. Col. Brian McCormack and was followed by remarks from Lt. Col. Paul K. Carlton III, 49th Fighter Training Squadron Commander.

Billy Ferguson, the Senior Minister of the 7th St. Church of Christ where the Schafer family attended church, offered words of comfort to the crowd before they adjourned to the Gene Smith Plaza for the Aviator’s Tribute. The tribute consisted of the words from the poem, “High Flight” and a missing man flyover demonstration by the 49th FTS.

Schafer was known by his friends and fellow pilots as “Tracer,” and is a decorated Air Force Veteran with over 2,000 flight hours in the F-16 and T-38. He graduated at the top of his class from pilot training at Laughlin AFB, Texas, back in 2002 after graduating from the Air Force Academy in 2001. Following pilot training, he attended training for the F-16 at Luke AFB, Arizona, in 2003. His first assignment after training was the 555th Fighter Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy. Following his assignment to Italy, Schafer came back to the United States and became an Instructor Pilot who taught Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals at Moody AFB, Georgia; Sheppard AFB, Texas; and twice at Columbus AFB, Mississippi.