People don’t just wake up in the morning and decide they’ll go watch a plane crash. You don’t plan these things. They just happen. And when they do, it’s not something you will ever forget. I know, because I was watching last month when a single engine plane tumbled from the sky into a neighbor’s yard.

It was an ordinary Sunday morning. My mom was running a little late, so my dad and I went to the car to wait for her to leave for church. As my dad and I sat and listened to the car radio, we noticed a strange shadow just over the treetops in the backyard. At first I thought it was a large bird circling high in the air. Your brain tends to rationalize what doesn’t make sense, so I suppose that’s why I thought I was seeing a bird.

When the strange shadow circled back around, my dad and I simultaneously leaned forward to get a better view. Not more than 50 yards in front of us and just above the top of the pine trees was a blue and white airplane with its right wing pointed toward the sky. Within seconds we realized the plane had clipped a tree and crashed two houses down from ours.

Almost instantly my dad yelled “Crash! Go call 911. Get your mother. I’m going down there.” His tone was one I’ve never heard him use before. It was very stern and serious, so I knew I needed to act quickly.

With adrenaline pumping, I rushed inside my house where I found my mother putting on her coat, obviously unaware of what had just happened outside.

I remember thinking “Did I just see that or am I dreaming?” just before I yelled to my mother, “Mom, a plane just crashed out back, we have to call 911!”

It took me a moment to collect myself and dial 911. My mom instructed me to hand her the phone, which I did without hesitation. I then grabbed my cell phone and called my best friend and quickly told her what had happened. She rushed over on her bike. While I waited for her, I took a few photos from my yard of what I could see. Both of my parents were now at the crash site along, and some people who had been riding bikes were also watching from the other side of the woods.

When my best friend arrived, I called my mom from our yard to find out if we could go to the scene or not. I didn’t want to run down there to find a dead body or a severed limb. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I put my camera away, then ran down to the plane. One or two police officers were there assessing the situation and talking with my dad, who had been the first person on the scene. At this point my mind caught up with my body. I began to realize the seriousness of the situation.

Two men who had blood on their faces were seated on the ground outside the airplane. They looked dazed, in shock. Of course they looked in shock. Who wouldn’t look that way after what they had been through? It’s not like they knew that the wind was going to catch their plane at just the right (wrong) moment, causing it to make an unplanned U-turn, go upside down and then turn sideways.

When we reached my mom she explained that my dad had pulled the windshield off of the plane and helped the passenger escape. About that time another man who had witnessed the crash came through the woods, so he helped get the pilot out.

I ran home, got my camera again and then returned to the scene of the crash. Emergency vehicles were lining the block and it seemed like the entire neighborhood had rushed to see what had happened. Before long, the pilot was on a backboard as rescue workers prepared to get him into an ambulance. I took a few pictures, like a good journalist would do, but I mainly stood observing the scene in shock.

I remember thinking “those poor people”, when I realized that a set of unfortunate circumstances had changed their lives and mine forever. About 20 minutes after the crash, my mom, best friend and I decided to head to church. Sure, we were going to be a little late, but we all knew that church would help us process all that had happened.

Later that day, my mom and I watched the news report of the accident on television. There on the screen was my dad, talking to a WAVY News 10 reporter and giving his account of what had happened that morning. It was surreal, and I have to admit that I laughed to see my father on TV.

I also have to admit that I watched the news report with different eyes than maybe I had watched news before in the past. Having taken Introduction to Publications last semester, I have seen and read a lot of news stories. But I realized that day just how different it is when you are in the news or if you were there when the news event happened.

When you are there as a witness, you aren’t looking for the facts the way a reporter looks for them, because you already know what happened. But here I was watching to see my dad’s interview, the interview I had seen recorded earlier in the day. I was watching to see how they edited it all together, whether or not they spelled his name right, and whether or not they got all the facts correct. It was so weird to have already seen the images in person that I was now seeing on TV and to already know what my dad had to say. It gave me a new perspective for writing news stories.

And from now on when I watch the news on TV, I will have a better understanding of what it’s like to be a witness to a life-changing event.

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