This was one of my planes, tail # 6016. I flew on her, performed maintenance on her and prepped her for so many flights. Now she's laying upside-down on some island in Petersburg, and two of the people I used to fly with are recovering in the hospital.
Fortunately the crew survived, and the ones remaining in the hospital have had their conditions upgraded to fair. I know the flight mech and one of the pilots. Still haven't gotten in contact with them, I'm sure they're up to their necks between recovering and getting visited by "Big Coast Guard". There were a few days where we were all in the dark, including a few of us vets who have gotten out in the last year. Definitely a helpless feeling. We still don't know what caused the crash but weather conditions were not good. There were times I flew in similar conditions, or helped send a helo full of my buddies out into similar conditions. You learn to shove down the intrusive thoughts.
I'm doing a little better today. The shock has worn off some, but I still feel like I haven't woken up from what used to just be one of my nightmares. Tail # 6017 went down returning to the same air station in 2010, killing 3 crew. We lived with that in the back of our minds constantly. It has been encouraging to see the CG community come together in support, as well as the amount of support coming in from outside. More than anything, I am relieved that I am not preparing for a funeral because I honestly did not know for a while there, and am relieved for the sake of the crews families who came so close to losing their loved ones.
Here's a photo I took of 6016 back in June after pulling her out for a flight on a rare sunny day. For all of my fellow vets here who have been through similar or worse, please check up on your buddies and be there for them no matter how long it's been.
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