Crew of air ambulance to be honored

LIHU‘E — The Hawai‘i Life Flight team invites everyone “to gather in honor of the three crew members from Hawai‘i Life Flight N13GZ,” who disappeared last week in waters between Maui and Hawai‘i Island.

“Wherever you are, whether in a group or alone, please take a moment to observe three minutes of silence — one for each our crew members,” the HLF invitation states.

On Kaua‘i, the gathering will take place at the Hawai‘i Life Flight crew house front lawn at 4480 Kuene St., across the street from Wilcox Medical Center, from 5:30 p.m. The three minutes of silence and illumination of lights are from 5:49 p.m. to 5:52 p.m.

“If possible, please use a source of light to remind us that the memory of our crew members still burns brightly,” the invitation said. “United together, we will simultaneously honor the crew so that their families feel the support of not only the global medical response family, but the air medical community and all the communities we serve across the country.”

Many of the air bases in Hawai‘i will be following a schedule that includes a time of gathering, and a three-minute time of silence, with the illumination of lights, HLF said.

“If you have video or photos of your event, please send them to light4hawaiilifeflight@gmail.com so that we can gather them to share with the families,” HLF said. “As a reminder, please continue to refrain from sharing names of our crew in respect to the families’ wishes.”

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported the Hawai‘i Life Flight’s Beechcraft King Air 90 twin-propeller plane was on a flight from Kahului Airport on Maui to the Waimea-Kohala Airport on Hawai‘i Island when it dropped from radar contact on Dec. 15. It was on a mission to pick up a patient when it went missing in weather the U.S. Coast Guard described as “foul” with some wind and rain.

Following search efforts that covered about 2,400 nautical square miles of ocean, the efforts were suspended on Saturday evening, Dec. 17.