January 11, 1995 - Emergency Obstetric Medevac

I still remember Danny as a cute little guy at at age 5 - looking up at me with that freckled face - smiling that wide toothy grin.....holding up a paper with a picture he drew for me....a plane floating in the sky.

Oh, my! Danny...that is gorgeous! Is it for me?? I took the picture and inspected it carefully.

Sparkle in his eye - "yup" he said in his shy little way, pleased that his artwork made a hit.

"Thank you soooooooo much.  I am going to keep it forever."  I gave him a big hug. "One day....I am going to marry you....you are so cute!!  I'll wait for you!! Okay??"

At age 13, you can promise anything.

My dad had been best man at his dad's wedding.  His oldest sister was my best friend.    Every summer they would stay at our Resort and when work was done, us girls would sit on the steps in that warm summer dusk and chatter on about everything from boys to ....well, whatever was important to 13 year olds.

Danny had always been special.  The apple of his daddy's eye.  His mother had prayed for another little boy after they lost one years earlier.  His sisters doted on him.   As much attention as he got - he never acted "spoiled".

Years passed and I would meet with Danny on occasion - when I was in Vancouver visiting his sister  - we would go out for dinner.  By that time, he had a failed marriage and he was well on his way to fulfilling his dream of becoming a pilot.  He now liked to be called Dan, but I still called him "Danny".  I kidded him about my promise years ago.  He would laugh, and we would talk about what we both wanted in life.

I moved to California and Danny would call on occasion and see if I could meet him for lunch or dinner. By this time he was flying Lear jets for customers all over North America.  When his plane was scheduled for the Bay Area,  usually he would call if he had a stopover.  He was still single and so was I. We would still laugh about "our getting married" and chat about how life wasn't quite what we expected it to be.

When I moved back to Canada, he would still come and visit when he flew into town.  In the fall of 1994 - I had him over for lunch at my new condo and we talked about old times.....he told me how he would fly medevacs all over B.C. - emergency transports - some out of my hometown, and from our unit.

 I told him how I was afraid to fly in small planes, and that he couldn't get me in one of those for anything.  He laughed at me when I told him how relieved I had been, after a patient I had accompanied to the airport to be transferred out by Medevac hadn't needed me after all -  because of the receiving crew of flight paramedics.   He thought it funny - because flying was his life. 

He had just been upgraded to Captain at the company he worked for, after flying Learjet for 5 years. He was described as a quiet, compassionate, meticulous individual,  and regarded as a conscientious pilot, well respected by his peers and supervisors in the company he worked for.

January 11, 1995 - I was working a night shift on our Labor Delivery unit when one of the other nurses came up to me at approximately 3 am.

"Have you heard???" she whispered.

"Heard what?"

" A medevac Lear jet just went down north of Massett.  They were heading there to pick up a woman in labor.....and they disappeared off radar. There was a doctor and two paramedics on board. They think that it crashed into the ocean."

My heart sank and I felt nauseated.  I don't know how I knew.......but I just knew. 

It was Danny.

Investigation reports by Transport Canada later cited possible cause was the possible incorrect setting of the altimeter causing a CFIT.  The details were never confirmed.

Massett airport lighting was only low intensity portable battery lighting that could not be seen at 800 feet therefore there would have been no warning that they were at too low of elevation.  There was no GPWS on the Learjet to automatically warn danger of the aircraft too close to the earth's surface.  There had been a  GPWS on this particular Learjet - but was never replaced after a previous accident with the landing gear years before - because this type of plane was not required to be equipped with it.

Danny's body was the only one of two that they found.

All I can say is that every January 11th, I think back and remember that little boy I once knew, his smiling boyish face looking up at me with drawing in hand outstretched......and a few involuntary tears fall - still - 16 years later -  as I listen to this song: