WALKER MILL REGIONAL PARK, Md. (WUSA9) -- When a killer is on the run, or a car crash victim needs to be flown to the hospital, we rarely consider the risks to the helicopter crews that race in to help.
Now we have a vivid reminder the dangers are all too real. It's a memorial just unveiled for the four people killed in 2008 when the Maryland State Police Trooper Two chopper crashed in the woods in District Heights, Maryland.
The families said they are really touched that people still pay tribute to those who died: Pilot Stephen Bunker, Medic Mickey Lippy, EMT Tonya Mallard, as well as patient Ashley Younger.
On a spectacular autumn day, hundreds gathered to remember a horrible Fall night. Trooper Two lost its way in the fog and rain and smashed into a tree just 3.2 miles short of the runway at Andrews.
"I lost someone I truly love," Tonya Mallard's aunt tearfully told reporters that day. And Cheri Douglas says her heart still aches. "Every time I go up and down the street, I say hi to my baby. Tonya I miss you."
Medic Mickey Lippy's daughter Madison was just four months old when the State Police Superintendent came to tell her mom that her dad was dead. She's seven-years-old now, and came with her family and the families of the other victims, to unveil the seven foot stone plinth in Walker Mill Park.
"I feel very honored to represent my son, and Steve Bunker, and Tonya Mallard. It's just wonderful," said Lippy's mother, her voice breaking.
Some of the families are still angry Trooper Two was flying that night.
"That helicopter had well over 100,000 miles on it. It should never have been in service," said Douglas.
The state police chopper fleet has been replaced now with ten new $12 million aircraft that have two pilots and the latest safety systems. But the crews still take risks.
"It's safer, but nothing is perfectly safe," said Maryland State Police Superintendent William Pallozzi. "I wish we could get to where everything is perfectly safe."
The families walked a half mile back into the woods to a second monument, and the scene where the helicopter actually crashed.
"It's peaceful. It's beautiful. I love the monument. I'm very grateful," said Jordan Wells, who was the only survivor. She lost her best friend. And spent two and a half hours pinned in the wreckage with injuries that nearly killed her too. "I can plant flowers every year that won't die. And help their memory live on," she said, staring at the memorial.
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EMT Tonya Mallard climbed on to the helicopter to care for the second patient. Her aunt says it was the first time she'd ever flown. Her colleagues at the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department helped raise the money to pay for the monuments.
The NTSB blamed the pilot for the crash. But also criticized the air traffic controllers at Andrews. The last controller to talk to Trooper Two -- the one who said she did not have the training to help with a blind landing -- she remains on duty at the air base where the President lands.
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