Sister Of Hanson Plane Crash Victims: 'I Can't Be Weak Yet'
HANSON (CBS) -- Chelsea Landis is torn between laying one brother to rest and fighting for another's life. Last week, a plane carrying two of her brothers crashed into a pond near Cranland Airport in Hanson, killing one man and paralyzing the other.
"It's leaving me so divided because I'm so upset about Scott but I can't break down. I can't be weak yet," Chelsea told WBZ-TV.
Scott Landis, 34, who was flying the plane, died a few hours after the crash. Now, Chelsea's younger brother Patrick is in a hospital bed, unable to move from the waist down, and communicating with pen and paper.
"He said I love you back and I asked him if I could kiss him on the forehead and he said yes," Chelsea said. "The most awful thing. He knows about Scott. The first thing he wrote on the paper was, 'How's Scott?' and it's hard to read but oh God."
Scott was a decorated Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot. The Cranland Airport owner said there appeared to be engine failure on takeoff. The brothers were flying to spread their father's ashes who had passed away a few weeks prior from cancer.
Adam Proulx, Scott's best friend, called Scott a hero. "I was extremely proud of Scott. I was extremely proud of him and I told him that all the time. And he was my best friend. He was my best friend. Scott had many best friends but he was mine and I'm going to miss him tremendously," he said.
Scott leaves behind his wife, Staci and a 15-month-old son named Jack.
Now the Landis family is left grieving and trying to channel Scott to get through this together.
Chelsea explained, "I know that if he was here, he would be the rock."