Closer to Home
Last Tuesday a memorial service was held for seven helicopter crash victims here in Flagstaff1. This town is both big and small at the same time. While you might not recognize everyone that you see here everyone is connected to everyone else and there are many stories about the people involved and more untold about this event.
The crash occurred Sunday June 29 at around 3:45pm.2 Investigators combed over the crash scene for almost a week. They collected pieces of the choppers to send to Phoenix to reconstruct the scene.
I have heard a few stories regarding the crash and some of the people involved. (all second hand of course) There’s Michael McDonald the firefighter who needed emergency treatment for an adverse antibiotic reaction, whose crew mates reportedly left the fire in the Grand Canyon upon hearing about the crash. One of the the pilots seemingly knew he was going down and had begun to unstrap and remove the fire extinguisher in his cockpit but was unable to use it. The flight nurse hung on for several days at the Flagstaff Medical Center in critical condition while hospital staff held very little hope that he would survive. On one of the helicopters a crew member got out at the Flagstaff airport due to weight limits unknowingly saving his own life and setting himself up for the condition known as survivor’s remorse. Although flights were grounded, the remaining employees and crew members insisted on being allowed to get back to work flying.
One commentator has said that we don’t say thanks enough to these heroes in the sky. We probably don’t. They fly in, grab someone who needs serious medical attention and fly off with them in the space of minutes. It is a dangerous job for which they receive a little extra pay that may or may not make up for the incredible amount of stress and levels of high adrenaline that tend to be maintained throughout the entire flight.
