While investigators continue to look for technical answers regarding Tuesday's helicopter crash, friends of the crew are looking for emotional ones. All three crew members formed relationships in Vilonia through work and play.
Pilot Kenneth Robertson, Flight nurse Kenneth Meyer, and Flight paramedic Gayla Gregory died when
their medical helicopter crashed.
The three were headed to pick up a traffic accident victim when the helicopter went down near Scotland.
The wind whipped through flags all over Vilonia, most at half staff. The town mourns the loss of the three person helicopter crew that crashed in Van Buren County, and it hasn't been easy.
"It's heartbreaking. You know all of us, we all knew these guys. They were like family to us," says Chief Keith Hillman.
A family was torn apart, but they're working to hold it together. With the Vilonia Fire Department sharing a parking lot with the Air Evac Lifeteam, Air Evac meetings are being held inside the department. A department that will move on, but won't forget.
"We'll just have to move on with our lives. Its one of those things that's tragic but we can't stop doing what we do," says Chief Hillman.
The store manager of a Citgo says that all three crew members came in regularly, but especially Kenneth Meyer who loved to play the lotto. The store manager says his favorite game was cash spectacular.
"He'd play lottery. We'd chat. Have a good time, you know," says Citgo Manager Enrique Louis.
They had a good time all of the way up to the last ticket he purchased at the store, which the manager says he kept.
"He laughed about it because he didn't win anything. He wanted his money back," says Louis.
The memory won't soon be forgotten.
"He will be missed. They were good guys," says Louis.
