http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57341979/army-copters-crash-on-wash-base-4-dead/
News like this is so sad to all of us in the aviation community. The loss of a soldier is sad in itself but we often take training missions for granted. Jared has not flown since he broke his ankle and last night was the first night he was flying again with an IP they flew in from Arizona and another pilot. The news flashed about the crash just as Jared pulled up the driveway and my heart sank but also a sigh of relief. It is a sad reminder that their job is dangerous rather they are here or deployed.
During deployments people would always say don't you worry, he is in such danger. Really the biggest worry I had was that I didn't get that immediate, I am on my way home or I am flying today message, although with Skype that improved with the last deployment. He wasn't on the ground and that made me feel a little safer about deployments. His job is dangerous. Flying in a little tin box, with exercises like night vision flying and the weather here at Ft Lewis can be challenging with fog and lots of low clouds. It amazes me that these things don't crash more often. Have you seen this thing torn apart when they do maintenance? It is like a mess of cords and metal. The other worry I have as a wife of a Helicopter pilot is he is an IP (Instructor Pilot) so he flies some of the newer pilots and gets them trained to fly and progresses them through different phases. It always made me nervous when he would fly with someone that I may have met at a party who seems overconfident or careless, this wasn't very often in his current career path but more with the younger soldiers that had just come out of flight school. Sometimes he would share that he didn't like flying with so and so because they don't make good decisions and that is a bit nerve racking to hear when you know they will fly together again.
Whatever the reason for the crash it is still very sad. I think now that Jared is a daddy with another on the way he can put it into perspective more than I have heard him relate to a crash before. He said, "Some one's little kid isn't going to see their daddy anymore, that would be so sad if M woke up and I wasn't here anymore."
Breaks your heart because it is close to home, we know families that have lived with this pain and now there are more that have to experience this loss.
I'm a WILMA!
