Kathy Kunz

Hello Bob, Memories are what keeps us going . I agree with you that the tragedy will always be a part of those memories .Thank God we do have wonderful memories of Chris. God Bless you too .

Thanks Trish . Yes , God is merciful . Please keep our family in prayer , especially his wife Donna & sons Ryan and Jordan and my Dad . God Bless Kathy

Dear Trish , Thank you for your kind words and sharing with me . My deepest sympathies on the loss of your grandson and his mate . What a loss - so young . We are yet to receive the coroners report which we have been told will take around 3 -6 months. Most of the time I want to know what caused the accident and some of the time I do not want to know as I fear that the the report might cause more pain . My daily prayer is that God was merciful when the impact happened and that Chris and Michael did not suffer . We rest on that hope and know for sure that Chris is at peace with his Maker whom he served faithfully . Once again thank you and God Bless Kathy

Thank you .

Thank you for sharing your loss with me . I am having nightmares too and your explaination of the oxygen being used makes sense and that is what I have been praying for that that they would have "gone to sleep" quickly . I am reaching out and trying to find out about the accident and came across this site and saw that the crash was discussed and decided to register . I am glad I did because you guys are helping me understand . Please accept my sincere apologies if I have brought back bad memories for you . Thank you so very much once again for sharing..

David thank you for this input. I had gone into the ATSB site and had read the update for the 9th and then on the 18th but having no aviation knowledge I can only make a guess . I did not know that the only means of escape in the Trinidad was through the roof canopy . Sadly that sealed it for them . Thank you for thinking of Ryan and Jordan . Please keep me in the loop .

Thank you so much . We are trying to move on as best as we can Happy and safe New year .

Thanks for the tip . I hope I have got it .

Thank you Maj . That was a good outcome as you say for that father and son .Your story did lighten my load . Cheers and all the very best for the New Year

Thank you for your kind reply .I guess there will be a lot of 'Ifs and whys and therefores ' in all of our lives at one stage or the other . I take comfort in all of your kind thoughts .Thank you for allowing me to participate in the forum , even though I am not a pilot . God bless and enjoy your flying .

Thank you David for taking the time to reply to my post . I do know Hayley from when she lived in Sydney. He was stoked to have been asked to give Hayley away at her marraige to Lance. Chris was so excited about learning to fly . That was his dream when he was a young man in his twentys. The purchase of his plane was a secret from us all as I believe that he wanted to surprise us by flying it down to visit us .I will certainly stay in touch and I have taken it upon myself to keep you pilots on this site in my prayers . I will call you sometime .God Bless.

Hello David , I am new to this and I am not a pilot . I am Chris Bowles's sister . Thank you for all the lovely things you have said about Chris .Thank you for being his friend .Were you from the flying school or a business associate ? As for you , it was a shock to me when I received the call to say he had passed on and as a family are still trying to come to grips with what may have happened to Chris and Michael on the the day . I visited the site of the accident a week after it happened( the day before we said our farewells to Chris) . It was sad to envision what might have happened . As I said I am not a pilot but this is what we saw. The aircraft had come down into the paddock and had travelled for approx. 130 metre before going through a barbed wire fence . There was at this point a very marked impression of a left wheel tread( I guess this is the side Chris would have been on ) and this is where we think it went crazy . Just ahead of them were 2 concrete blocks (we think they were old feeding troughs ) protruding from the grass . This is where we were told they impacted and then flipped over into a gully .It is so sad to think if these were not there,possibly there would have been a slim chance of them getting out . I am so distressed to think what happened after this and can only hope that this tragedy will have never happen again . We cannot express how we feel - the loss immeasurable .I know Chris always told me he felt like a great big bird flying way up high and that he felt free !! You guys out there, pay heed to what your loved ones are saying .I would love to keep in touch as I need to to know more and understand what and why ??Perhaps this will be a closure for me ???????? or not. Thank you once again.