Decades Apart, Father and Son Die in Similar Accidents

Tim Newman and his crew chief died last week when their helicopter crashed near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Newman was a second-generation pilot for theN.C. Division of Forest Resources(NCDFR) -- the second in his family to die in a crash.

Newman's dad was also a pilot for NCDFR. In 1973, Marshall Newman died in a similar crash.

Flying for the Forest Service was a job the younger Newman's co-workers say he always dreamed of.

Many of the division's employees, including Dianne Beasley, knew both father and son. As she writes a letter to a family that has experienced this grief before, she cannot help but remember.

"I felt like he wanted to do that because his dad did. He was so proud of his dad," she says.

"It was an ability they had, to apply flying and firefighting together," says NCDFR's Derryl Warden. "They gave their lives and saved many lives of firefighters on the ground with the support they gave from the air."

Tim and Marshall Newman are among eight of the division's pilots who have died since 1950.

Crew chief Mike Fossett of Fayetteville also died in the crash. He was stationed in Lumberton and will be buried Friday in Spring Lake.