The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

An excellent article about a recent crash that killed three people.



Couple that befriended crew before fatal crash hopes to contact families
By DEBORAH BUCKHALTER
Jackson County Floridan
Friday, January 6, 2006


Last Saturday night Steve Egee saw a helicopter land in the yard of his home church, situated just 400 yards or so from his house near Brewton, Ala.
A volunteer firefighter, Egee figured it might be a craft on a medical mission and walked over to see if he could assist the crew.

Three men emerged from the red and white R44 Astro. They'd landed to wait out a heavy fog, the pilot said.

With little open at 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve in tiny Brewton, Egee invited them to his place for a home-cooked meal and offered to put the pilot and his two passengers up for the night.

They had supper with the Egee family, but declined an offer to stay overnight in his in-laws' vacant motor home.

Instead, Egee drove them 20 minutes or so to the hotel his wife, Robbie, had searched out and arranged for them to stay in.

They'd had a nice visit with the family before they departed, and had contacted their parties to let them know they would be a bit delayed and that they planned to start out again the next day.

Egee felt good when he heard the pilot tell someone on the other end of the phone that they were being well taken care of where they were.

Egee said he learned from the pilot that he was delivering the helicopter to its owner in south Florida, having departed from a town in Louisiana.

They also chatted about various other things, becoming fast friends in the few hours they spent together that evening.

The next morning, Egee drove back to the motel, picked them up, and took them back to the helicopter in the church yard.

The pilot waited on the morning fog to lift, and then for Egee's preacher to release the congregation because he didn't want to disturb the service with a noisy lift-off.

Besides, there were some pint-sized fans he wanted to meet and greet.

After church, the children poured out of the sanctuary at Pine View Holiness Church, fascinated with the helicopter and its crew.

The three men were all too glad to indulge their curiosity and posed for pictures with their host community.

Brewton and its smaller outlying community of Pineview are located about an hour north of Pensacola, where an unexpected helicopter dropping down for a visit can cause a stir.

As he left, the pilot promised to take an aerial photograph of the church and send it back to the congregation.

Egee bid the crew goodbye, warmed by the encounter they'd had. He watched as the pilot circled the church, sure that the man was at that moment keeping his promise about the photograph.

But Egee's spirits started to sink when he learned that a helicopter had crashed in another rural community, just a few hours from his home some 50 miles north of Pensacola.

He and his wife launched an information-gathering campaign, trying to find out if their new friends were aboard that doomed craft.

The more they learned, in bits and pieces, the more heartsick they became.

The helicopter that crashed near Grand Ridge in Jackson County was red and white, like the one that landed in Egee's community. It was an R44, again matching with the helicopter they'd encountered.

There were three men aboard, they learned.

The couple's final confirmation came Thursday afternoon when they learned the name of the pilot in the crash.

"They were a nice bunch of guys, just great," Steve Egee said.

Robbie Egee said she and her husband are now concerned about the families of the men, and are trying to make contact so they can pass along the last pictures taken of their loved ones.

"I know, I believe very much, they'd want to have them," she said. "We had three or four people taking pictures, and what I think they'll show is that these men were happy in their last hours.

"I'd like their families to have the comfort of seeing that," she said. "I'm so sorry that this was them."

The Egee family is making arrangements to make sure those survivors have a way to reach them so they'll be able to deliver that comfort.

This story can be found at: http://www.jcfloridan.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JCF/MGArticle/JCF_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128769129687&path=!frontpa ge

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

You allways post such happy things! If it isn't about somebody getting killed, it's about an aircraft's or a company's shortcomings. I can't say that I've ever read a positive post from you.

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Rusty,

I would suggest to you the "good" is reported within the article. The story of some helicopter people who were very nice folks....encountered some very nice folks who took them into their homes and hearts.

That it ended the way it did makes it doubly tragic.

The article should remind us of the importance of living our lives to the fullest for we never know when we will be called from here.

The article keeps pointing out how strangers looked to the needs of others...what can be said about that but how "good" that is.

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

That´s certainly a different view.

To bad these guy´s ended their trip this way :(

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Rusty, I disagree with you. I had to make a weather diversion in a light aircraft in North Carolina at the most unsociable time of the day, and time of the year. I was taken in by a local family and fed and watered and given a bed for the night. I will never forget the generosity of people like those and others I met across small town America. It was also a big adventure for me as a young person, as mundane as it probably seemed to them. I felt a very strong connection with them.

How is that relative? Well I can imagine how those people would have felt afterwards had something happened to me.

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Rusty Bifilar,

I also disagree with you.

Sassy, apart from being a typical old bearded helicopter grump as we all are!!, he has been around [thats not discribing his girth] on Prune for many years, and has had many informative and worthwhile posts.

You are here for all of one [1] post????

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

SASLESS- Keep them coming.:) Oh and Happy New Year!

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

I do not wish to appear to be ganging up against Rusty Bifilar, however I am sure that SASless has many readers who can pick the positive aspects of the irony in many of his posts.

Life is not all roses and we must learn from tragedy. I am sometimes astonished when I talk to pilots about safety and see how their perspective can be changed when you remove them from the scene and focus on the effect that incidents involving them will have on their relatives and close friends; and not just emotional effect but often extreme financial hardship.

I frequently find that a pilot who feels that, for example, crew duty and flight time limits are for wimps, or that flying within the height / velocity envelope is what they were born to do, will change his/her mind when you start to discuss how their parents, wives and / or lovers would feel if they heard this view expressed, especially if they understood all the implications.

In this case Mr. Egee’s friends got it right the first time and ended up above ground in a churchyard, however something happened not long after that was to change all that.

If SASless’s post has made anyone stop and think about how they would handle involvement in a similar scenario, the effects that a similar accident would have on their family and friends, and how such a flight full of issues should be handled, then to me the post is a winner.

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Sasless,
Another good and informative post and thanks, I quote a paragraph in your reply that I feel sums up feelings that certainly I have looking back on ones life:

“The article should remind us of the importance of living our lives to the fullest for we never know when we will be called from here”

Keep up the good work and “Happy New Year”:ok:
Outhouse.

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Rusty Bifilar,

You, sir, are beginnining to sound like an a**hole. SASless is all those things that Red wine describes, plus more. Sorry for you that he does have an understanding of what is going on in the workplace and in the world...he has also been flying for a pretty long time in a multitude of theatres. I haven't seen anything of SASless's post on Rotorheads with which to disagree so if there is anything with which you factually disagree, then perhaps you might like to share it with us...in the meantime old lad I suggest you crawl back to your stone and soak up the heat.

Thank you,

NC43

Sassless, My account no. is now........

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Check is in the mail Nutcracker!

Diversity is what makes life what it is....in all things including opinons I reckon. It eases life a bit if we accept the concept that we all leave our mark upon those around us. Sometimes it is for the good...sometimes not so good. Despite over a half century of dealing with people...I still try to see the good in each of them...even when it takes a bit of searching.

It has been said, and I subscribe to this...."When one takes the measure of a Man, one should take a full measure." As I tried to explain to Rusty, that article showed some genuine goodness in several folks that came into contact with one another quite by chance....and all benefited from it. The reporter did a good job relaying that course of events to us.

The sad part of the story is we would never have known about it if that ferry flight had gone as planned....but at the same time maybe some good has come of the telling of it by that reporter.

I know it made me stop and reflect upon some aspects of life as a result of reading the account.

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Well written NC 43.
outhouse

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Whilst Sasless's post of course relates to a tragic event, I think it is refreshing that the angle this time is the kindness shown by strangers, rather than just normal information about another accident. In an increasingly selfish World it is nice to hear of altruistic actions especially when directed towards aviators in trouble. I am sure we would all hope to meet someone like those kind people were we to be forced down by weather.

If there is an accident anywhere it is always posted on Rotorheads by someone, it's not fair to criticise Sasless for that, its just whoever comes across the news first.

(I have found many of Sasless's posts to be positive - especially the one where he referred to me as a "Teenager"!! It had a very positive effect on me, even though my elder son laughed out loud when I told him!)

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Rusty
FWIW, I think you misunderstand SASless.
IMHO his posts are always interesting, often thought-provoking, sometimes provocative ( :ok: ) and, when appropriate, show a wonderful dry sense of humour.
I see him as one of the 'elder statesmen' of the forum.
Okay, 'statesman' might be pushing it a bit but you know what I mean. ;)


FL

Re: The People Side of a Fatal Crash
 

Flying Lawyer.

We are talking about SASless here are we not...This is the same SASless, right? I hope he doesn't pay you any more than me. Trouble otherwise!

NC43