Carla Parke, 61, and Jon Bernhoft, 63, were doing something they both dearly loved: Flying in the Cessna 182 aircraft that Bernhoft owned with another pharmacist in Sequim.
"You know they were a good match," said Larry Van Dyk. Parke was married to Van Dyk's brother, who was his caregiver as he battled colon cancer. But, he says, she was about to embark on a new life with Bernhoft.
Both of them cared deeply about her grandchildren, 9-year-old Logan Echevarria and his 5-year-old sister, MacKenzie.
"When Jon put the plane in the shop for the annual inspection, he had bubble windows put in the back so that the kids could not only look out but could look down," said Van Dyk. "And they absolutely loved to fly."
Last Thursday, air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft 44 minutes into their flight from Boeing Field in Seattle to the Port Angeles airport. Chopper 7 located the wreckage in rugged terrain near Hood Canal in the Dabob Bay area. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Van Dyk said Bernhoft was an avid, expert pilot.
"I never, ever questioned, and still don't, his ability to pilot a plane," said Van Dyke.
But hardest of all, he said, will be learning to live with this tragedy.
"Oh, I will," Van Dyke said when asked about missing the children and Parke. "I've been missing them since they've been gone, and I'll be missing them forever. I mean, they took a chunk of me with them."
Van Dyk says his faith is helping him cope with what has happened.
The NTSB lead investigator says it could take a month before they announce a preliminary cause of the crash.
Cox Media Group
