Colleagues Remember N.M. Air Medical Team Killed in Crash

Aug. 10--ROSWELL -- Emergency medical crews who typically handle crisis situations with calm grew teary-eyed Thursday at a memorial service for three colleagues who died last weekend in the crash of a medical transport plane near Ruidoso.

The crash Sunday night in the Lincoln National Forest about five miles east of the Sierra Blanca Regional Airport took the lives of three employees of Las Cruces-based Southwest Med Evac -- pilot Ricky Byers, 56; nurse Brian Miller, 44; and paramedic Deanna Palmer, 40 -- all based in Roswell.

Also killed was Ruidoso resident Tracy Smith, 41, and her 15-month-old daughter, Lily Smith, the patient who was being transported to Albuquerque for treatment at University of New Mexico Hospital.

At Thursday's service at the Church on the Move, pastor Troy Smothermon hailed Byers, Miller and Palmer as three people ''who were moved by compassion to help others,'' like the good Samaritan in the biblical story who helped a stranger.

''What a way to live -- helping other people -- what an honorable way to live,'' Smothermon told the gathering of about 300 people. ''It's an honorable way to live, and an honorable way to die.''

Joining the roughly 100 employees of Southwest Med Evac were dozens of colleagues from at least four other private air ambulance companies and paramedic crews from half a dozen southeast New Mexico towns as well as Lubbock.

Roswell firefighters provided an honor guard and presented folded American flags to relatives of the Southwest Med Evac employees who were killed.

Rob Campion, Southwest Med Evac vice president, said there was nothing he could say ''that will fill the hole left by this tragic event.''

But he told the grieving employees that the spirit of their three co-workers lives on in the many people they have helped through their work.

''They dedicated themselves to a healing art and touched so many lives doing so,'' Campion said. He added, ''Don't stop doing what you're doing. It's noble work.''

Byers was an experienced pilot who had worked for Southwest Med Evac for about a year, and Palmer joined the company about a month ago. Miller, a Roswell native, joined the company in 2006. The three are each survived by three children.

In brief remarks to the gathering, Lisa Smith, Tracy Smith's sister-in-law, expressed her family's condolences to the families of the plane's crew and gratitude for their service.

After remembrances that included a video collage of the three Southwest Med Evac employees, the service moved outside the church to the parking lot. While ''Amazing Grace'' was played on bagpipes, a Southwest Med Evac helicopter flew overhead, paused, dipped its nose once in a farewell gesture, and flew away.

A memorial service for Tracy and Lily Smith is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Lodge at Sierra Blanca, which adjoins the golf course, The Links at Sierra Blanca, where Tracy Smith worked.

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