Triumphant Tragedy

If you have read this magazine for a while, you know I was in a crash landing event early in my career.* This article is a footnote to the stories published in the Winter 2021-2022¹ and Winter 2015-2016² issues of The Mobility Forum.

The Air Mobility Command Safety Directorate received a phone call from Mr. Alan Taylor. At the time, he worked for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company in St. Louis, MO. He asked if I worked there and told his story. In 1989, he was a 20-year-old Security Forces member assigned to (then) Pope Air Force Base, NC. We discovered he was a first responder at the event and arrived shortly after the crash, helping provide security to the scene. As you can imagine, this was an intense event to experience. He recalled seeing the body of the deceased Loadmaster. Over the years, particularly after his Air Force days, he researched the history of the crew. He was surprised to find me in his local area and wanted to arrange a meeting, which we did a few weeks later. At that time, he presented me with a collage he made based on an old newspaper photo I had and his memory of the event, titled “Triumphant Tragedy.†He was famous at Pope for making these art pieces and did it often for farewell events. It was a weird experience to meet a stranger, but it turns out we shared this event in history. We talked about our lives during lunch and the irony of crossing paths 34 years later. It is a small Air Force.
*1989 C-130 crash landing at Pope AFB, NC, during airdrop operations.

1. Alward, Kathy. “Crash Landing Contributes to Improvements in Procedures.” The Mobility Forum 30, no. 4 (Winter 2021/2022): 10–11.
   https://themobilityforum.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/TMF_3004_Winter2021-2022_120221_508.pdf ↩︎
2. Sluss, Kevin. “There I Was.” The Mobility Forum 24, no. 4 (Winter 2015/2016): 10–11. https://themobilityforum.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/tmf_2404_winter15-16_120215_final_508-1.pdf ↩︎