They both loved to fly.<\/p>\n
Both were addicted to the sound of a prop being started; to that moment when the wheels left the ground and it was just them, the aircraft and the sky.<\/p>\n
One had well-developed wings tempered by years of experience; the other was confident in his young skills and ready for further development.<\/p>\n
The Cessna crash a week ago yesterday near the Beach Lake Road not only claimed the lives of two in the local aviation community; it also zapped the transfer of precious knowledge and flight safety training via one from the older generation of Alaska aviators to one representing the next upcoming generation.<\/p>\n
Ended are two legacies: One deep and lengthy; another just developing but ripe with potential.<\/p>\n
Gone due to the crash are George Kobelnyk, 64, and Christian Bohrer, 20.<\/p>\n
They represent more than two lives snatched away by circumstances crash investigators have yet to pinpoint. Their loss leaves a gaping hole in the heart of the Birchwood Airport community and creates the abrupt, tragic end to a mentor\/mentee relationship rarely found.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge was like an aviation father to Christian,\u201d Mark Bohrer, Christian\u2019s father said in a phone interview the morning of April 22.<\/p>\n
Kobelnyk had a resume young aviators dream of achieving their careers: U.S. Army flight, ground and maintenance training, plenty of time in the seat as a private pilot, a lengthy stint as a National Transportation Board Safety crash scene investigator, a manager at the Federal Aviation Administration and an abiding, driving desire to see constant improvement in safety standards within the aviation industry. He looked for a young person to whom he could pour his experience and knowledge.<\/p>\n
He found it in Bohrer \u2013 an ambitious and eager, yet polite 2014 graduate from Chugiak High School. The younger aviator gladly following in Kobelnyk\u2019s shadow like a sponge in water absorbing the wealth of mastery and skills the elder aviation statesman shared.<\/p>\n
Bohrer\u2019s career was certainly zooming along on a steep trajectory within the local aviation community. He began taking flight lessons during his junior year of high school and earned his private pilot\u2019s license at the end of May 2014 just shortly after graduating high school. A year later, Bohrer added his commercial license and by Sept. 2015 \u2013 just 18 very short months after getting his first licensure \u2013 Bohrer qualified for his flight instruction license.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge gave Christian quite a few of his trainings and ratings and check rides,\u201d Susan Kobelnyk said in an evening phone interview April 21 from the family\u2019s Chugiak home. \u201cBoy Wonder was his nickname between George and I. That is how he introduced me to Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nickname was a bit of a mystery to young Bohrer, who told his parents of the moniker Kobelnyk had given him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told his mother, \u2018Mom, George calls me Boy Wonder. I don\u2019t know what that means, but I guess it is a compliment,\u2019\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n
Indeed it was.<\/p>\n
Susan said her husband was \u201camazed\u201d at what a fast-forward thinker and fast learner Christian was.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge said Christian was a very capable pilot and he thought a lot of him,\u201d Susan said. \u201cHe wanted to help him reach his dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair \u2013 separated by decades in age but close and well-connected contemporaries around aircraft \u2013 flew together \u201ca lot,\u201d Susan said. She has the records, but the night after an afternoon visit to the scene where her husband\u2019s Cessna 172P crashed was not the time for her to count numbers.<\/p>\n
Yet there was a momentary lightness in her otherwise weary, grief-stricken voice as she talked about the delight George took in working with Christian.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw the future of Alaska aviation in Christian,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Thus, that morning flight out of the Birchwood Airport with two passengers in the back and Bohrer in the co-pilot\u2019s seat was considered a routine event. It was supposed to be a short aerial survey flight.<\/p>\n
At 9:05 a.m., the flight ended far too quickly with the Cessna crashing through the heavily-wooded birch and spruce trees on the dog mushing trails of the Beach Lake Recreation Area between the Beach Lake Road and the David Blackburn Road leading to the Birchwood Camp.<\/p>\n
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board spent most of Wednesday, April 20, and Thursday, April 21, at the crash scene. Debris and the broken up plane were removed around noon on Thursday morning and taken to a secure location in the Valley for further investigation.<\/p>\n
Susan knew what that meant.<\/p>\n
In her husband\u2019s many years working with the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, Susan accompanied him to many crash scenes. Sometimes knowledge isn\u2019t comforting.<\/p>\n
As she waits along with the extended family \u2013 biological and those within the aviation community \u2013 for investigators to determine what went wrong Wednesday morning, she reflects on her husband\u2019s decade\u2019s long career that began with the U.S. Army, saw stints in private aviation and work within government agencies and his goals for training the next generation of pilots.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge learned about safety and flying in the military and he never forgot what he learned,\u201d Susan said. \u201cHe was very specific and had high standards. He wanted the industry to get back to that and he was passing that on to Christian and to any others who would listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently, Christian was listening and had gained Kobelnyk\u2019s respect and trust.<\/p>\n
Kobelnyk, owner of Alaska Aviation Adventures, had hired Bohrer to fly for his company\u2019s sight-seeing adventures and provide flight instruction. Three students were ready to go starting this week.<\/p>\n
Bohrer\u2019s quick ascent within the local aviation industry was no surprise to his high school teachers. They remember him as someone who knew his future was certainly \u201cup in the air,\u201d but in a good way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was well known among friends and staff here at CHS that Christian had a passion for flying and pursuing a career in aviation,\u201d Stephanie Thornton, a teacher in the school\u2019s World Discovery Seminar, said. Bohrer was one of her students in the specialized program aimed at creating a tight-knit academic community within the school focused on the use of classic historical and literary documents. \u201cHe loved having the opportunity to share his love of aviation with other students whether in conversation or the chance to take someone up in a plane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, one of those \u201csomeone\u2019s\u201d was his mother, Patrice.<\/p>\n
She admits she had reservations \u2013 after all, it wasn\u2019t like she could just tell her son to pull over and let her take over the wheel like in a car. Still, she knew flying was his passion and despite her concerns, she wanted to share that with her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was bizarre,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, here I am, flying with this kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a moment she now treasures as she too reflects on what her son meant to Alaska aviation and ponders what more his relationship with Kobelnyk could have yielded.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristian had such respect for George and his knowledge. They really clicked,\u201d Patrice said. \u201cHe felt very fortunate to have George in his life. We feel tremendously blessed that this man with so much knowledge chose to take our son under his wing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark echoes much of the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a conversation about flying with Christian that did include something like, \u2018and George did this, and George said this, and George told me this and George said to do it this way,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cGeorge invested in Christian. I am so thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Christian\u2019s parents never met the man who for the past year has spent countless time in the hangar, on the tarmac and in the pilot\u2019s seat to the left of their son in the co-pilot seat.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d been meaning to. They had tried a few times.<\/p>\n
Mark went with Christian to the hangar on and off to check security of the airplane with the Alaska Star Flying Club that Christian belonged to and that Kobelnyk mentored. But each time, Mark just missed George. And to some extent, Mark and Patrice knew their son was spreading his adult wings and they didn\u2019t want to helicopter parent him. Thus, that meet and greet never came to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt saddens me having not met him,\u201d Mark said. \u201cPatrice and I hope to connect with his family and get to know them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wants to know about the man that saw his son\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were buddies. My son would come home and talk endlessly about George,\u201d Mark said. \u201cAt the time, I did not understand the full gravity of the relationship between the two and the transfer of information and knowledge that was transpiring. But it was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, the Bohrer family says they take comfort in the fact that Christian died doing what he loved and that he was with his mentor, George, when that occurred. For the Kobelnyk family, the irony surrounding George\u2019s death looms far too large. The question of how their husband, father and grandfather \u2013 a man who dedicated so much of his professional life to air safety \u2013 could die in such a horrific crash is one they\u2019d like answered. The notion that \u201che died doing what he loved,\u201d is not something they accept or find any solace contemplating.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad thought that was \u2018expletive\u2019,\u201d Tyler Kobelnyk, George\u2019s youngest son, told The Star.<\/p>\n
It was because of his years as an NTSB investigator, George saw far too many ugly scenes. \u201cHe had to talk to far too many widows,\u201d Susan said.<\/p>\n
For now both families cherish two facts: Each time George sat in the pilot\u2019s seat, years of experience came along for the ride. Each time Christian sat in the co-pilot\u2019s seat, it barely contained his enormous passion and willingness to learn.<\/p>\n
\u2022 This article first appeared in the Chugiak-Eagle River Star.<\/p>\n
Editor’s Note: This story was revised and updated by the Chugiak-Eagle Star with additional information on Monday afternoon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They both loved to fly. Both were addicted to the sound of a prop being started; to that moment when the wheels left the ground and it was just them, the aircraft and the sky. One had well-developed wings tempered by years of experience; the other was confident in his young skills and ready for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":23082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23081"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}