WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Davis McArthur will soon celebrate his 22nd birthday. Just days before, he received shocking news that his mother, Andrea, and sister, Rachel, were both killed in a plane crash in Alaska.
"It’s going to be a little different knowing instead of seeing them in a couple days, I’m never going to get to see them," Davis said. "It was basically pure devastation. I didn’t believe it."
Davis said he heard the shocking news from his aunt. Andrea, 55, and Rachel, 20, along with three others were on a sightseeing tour in Southeastern Alaska Thursday. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane went down as the pilot was returning the five passengers to Ketchikan, AK from Misty Fjords National Monument. All six on board were killed.
The victims were identified as pilot Rolf Lanzendorfer, 64, of Cle Elum, Washington, and passengers Mark Henderson, 69, and Jacquelyn Komplin, 60, of Napa, California; Janet Kroll, 77, of Mount Prospect, Illinois and Andrea and Rachel McArthur. The passengers had been on a Holland America Line cruise ship before boarding the plane.
It took two days for crews to recover the bodies, having to navigate around wilderness, steep mountains and bad weather. The NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration are still investigating the cause of the crash.
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"Once we get all that information from the on-scene phase, then we go back and we gather more information, weather information, analyze the maintenance records," Heidi Kemner, NTSB senior air safety investigator, said. "If we need to take off components from the airplane and have them tested we can do that."
Andrea was a flight attendant with Delta for over 30 years and an advocate for her son, who struggled with mental health.
“I'll always remember her warrior-like spirit, always strong no matter what the situation was," Davis said. “If you prune a bush down to nothing, it grows back. You do that so it grows back bigger and better. That’s every time something happened. No matter what it was, she’d come up and go above. She’d rise above.”
Delta released a statement Sunday night, saying: "The Delta family is mourning the loss of one of our own and our hearts and thoughts go out to the many who knew, worked with and admired her.”
Davis said his sister liked horses, nature and adventure. A graduate of Living Science Academy in Woodstock, Rachel had been studying security intelligence at Coastal Carolina University. Davis said she was always willing to help others, just like her mother.
"She always used everything normal people would use an excuse, and she used it to better herself," Davis said. "My mom and sister, they were very dedicated, devout, just always in the church, donating to ministries, donating to good causes and things. I know for a fact my mom and sister are in heaven."
The family has set up an online fundraiser for funeral expenses.