PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (WJTV) - People in Philadelphia, Mississippi, are mourning the loss of Dustin Pope. He is one of the three crew members who died in Monday's medical helicopter crash in Madison County.
Drew Robertson said he knew Pope for years. He described Pope as a man who was energetic and outgoing.
Pope, 35, died alongside Jakob Kindt, 37, of Tupelo; and Cal Wesolowski, 62, of Starkville. Pope was the base supervisor for AirCare in Columbus and a flight nurse.
Robertson said he worked with Pope for several years in the emergency room at Neshoba General. During that time, Robertson said Pope talked about becoming a flight nurse.
“He always talked about it a lot before he got into it. And, you know, you could always see it on him whenever he would come to pick up a patient or anything. He was always very... you could tell that he was doing what he wanted to be doing," Robertson said.
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), said AirCare 3, based in Columbus, had flown to the Medical Center to transport a patient and was returning to Columbus when the accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. on Monday. No patient was on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the crash.
According to Robertson, Pope is survived by his wife, three children, two brothers and his parents.
“It's kind of been a restless, a little sleepless. My wife and I both was close to their families. They, it's just been hard to really figure out what's going on. Just still... can’t come to a realization of it, how to go forward without Dustin here in the community," said Matthew Burks, a friend of Pope.
Pope's funeral will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 16 at Macedonia Revival Center in Philadelphia. Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m.