A fallen hero

In loving memory of my wonderful father, ED ELDER (5/4/38 – 9/22/00), who died while doing what he loved best ~ flying and saving lives. Dad was a founder and the President of “Flights For Life,” a humanitarian organization that transported needed emergency blood supplies and aided in all areas of medical emergencies in the state of Arizona and throughout the southwest. Many lives have been touched and saved by the efforts of these men and women who volunteer their time, planes and loving concern for all. On the night of Sept. 22, 2000 my father went along on such a mission to transport needed blood for a waiting patient in the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. He was passenger on that late nights flight to keep the pilot company, as the Flight Team members often do. They never made it. The plane was declared “missing” late that night and a search began early the next morning. The plane’s wreckage and the bodies of my father and the pilot were found that afternoon, crashed on a mesa in a remote part of the Painted Dessert, just 1 1/2 miles from the airstrip. Why their plane crashed? We may never know. But I do know that my dad is in a better place now, maybe flying with his own wings. I pray everyday that God had a reason to take these two fallen heroes from us. I pray that they are continuing to save lives, in a new way, wherever they are. My dad may be gone from our sight, but he will live forever in my heart! 

Daddy, I love and miss you so much! I am proud to be your daughter, and I will always carry on your message and works of good will. Please watch over me.
Love, Your Daughter

Teresa Bennett lost her father aboard a “Flights for Life” crash

 

Posted in Memorial Story

OUR NEW BOOK

Surviving Sudden Loss: Stories from those who have lived it

Book proceeds benefit ACCESS
Purchase Here

Families We Have Helped:

Below are some of the air disasters that we have responded to:
Private Plane - 9/26/12
Rockingham County, VA
Private Plane - 2/27/11
Abu Dhabi
Private Plane - 12/22/10
Barrington, NY
Private Plane - 7/17/10
South Portland, ME
Air India Express 812 - 5/22/10
Mangalore, India
Afriqiyah Airways 8U771- 5/12/10
Tripoli, Libya
Ethiopian Airlines 409 - 1/25/10
Off of Na'ameh, Lebanon
Air France Flight 447 - 6/1/09
Atlantic Ocean
Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 - 2/25/09
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Continental Flight 3407 - 2/12/09
Clarence Center, NY
US Airways Flight 1549 - 1/15/09
Hudson River, NY
Aeroflot Flight 821 - 9/14/08
Perm, Russia
Spanair JK 5022 - 8/20/08
Madrid, Spain
TAM Airways JJ 3054 - 7/17/07
São Paulo, Brazil
Comair Flight 5191 - 8/27/06
Lexington, KY
Airbus A320-211 - 5/3/06
Off Sochi, Russia
Bellview Airlines - 10/23/05
Nigeria
West Caribbean Airways 708 - 8/16/05
Machiques, Venezuela
Air France Flight 358 - 8/2/05
Ontario, Canada
Kam Air Flight 904 - 2/3/05
Pamir Mountains, Afghanistan
Corporate Airlines 5966 - 10/19/04
Pettis Township, MO
Kish Airlines Flight 1770 - 2/10/04
United Arab Emirates
Georgian Express Flight 126 - 1/17/04
Ontario, Canada
Flash Airlines 604 - 1/3/04

Red Sea

Turkish Airlines 634 - 1/8/03

Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey

US Airways Express/Air Midwest Flight 5481 - 1/8/03

Charlotte, NC

American Flight 587 - 11/12/01

Queens, NY

The events of September 11, 2001

Private Plane - 12/3/00
Milltown, WI
Singapore Airlines 006 - 10/31/00

Chiang Kai-shek Internat'l Airport

Gulf Air Bus A320 - 8/23/00

Persian Gulf, Bahrain

Air France Concorde 4590 - 7/25/00

Gonesse, France

Alaska Airlines 261 - 1/31/00

Pacific Ocean

Egypt Air 990 - 10/31/99

Atlantic Ocean

American Airlines 1420 - 6/1/99

Little Rock, AR

Swissair 111 - 9/2/98

Atlantic Ocean

Private Plane - 8/4/98
Phillips, WI
TWA 800 - 7/17/96

US Air 427 9/8/94

Allegheny County, PA

Long Island, NY

Pan Am 103 - 12/21/88

Lockerbie, Scotland

TWA/United Airlines - Mid-Air Collision- 12/16/1960
Brooklyn & Staten Island, NY
and hundreds of other private, commercial and military air disasters

See Full List