Andy and I had not been in close contact at all since shortly after my grandfather died in 1992. Grandpa had been predeceased by his youngest son, my father, in 1990. A few years ago, on a sentimental whim, my mother and I discovered that Uncle Andy was living in Florida very close to one of her friends, and she gave him a quick call, but he didn’t seem interested in staying in touch despite our connection to our dad.
It’s sad Uncle Andy died, of course, and in this tragic way, as he was the last member of my father’s immediate family to pass away, but I was definitely not close with him for a very long time, even though I had regular contact with him growing up.
Many of my relatives knew my Uncle Andy as “Corky”. Like my father, Andy was born in Monterey, California, so not all that far from where he died. Despite this he is being described as a Florida man, although he had lived in many places, including Scotland, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Guam, San Diego, Alameda California and Half Moon Bay itself for years. Even more strangely was that my father started dying himself almost 22 years ago from an aneurysm when he was in Half Moon Bay on his fishing boat with my uncle, who drove him to the Saint Rose Emergency Room (in rush hour traffic) all the way to Hayward, California, where I live now and where my mother still lives. It’s kind of creepy how they both faced their death in the same town about ninety minutes’ drive north of where they were both born. My father had his ashes scattered by the Coast Guard, in which he served for 27 years, a bit further up the coast, in Marin County. My grandfather, also a veteran, had the same thing done with his and his wife’s ashes.
Coincidentally it seems like the journalist who wrote some of these article has the same last name as my uncle and me. I will cross-post a few of the articles below.
The first of these has my second cousin, Dr. Kevin Sowles, in Arizona, describing my uncle from his perspective.
Charles Russo/Review
Crash
A salvage crew worker removes the tail fin of Andrew Charles Hayden’s crashed airplane, along the bluffs in Moss Beach in California.
Posted: Friday, October 19, 2012 5:37 pm | Updated: 5:42 pm, Fri Oct 19, 2012.
By Sara Hayden, Half Moon Bay Review
Officials have identified an airplane that crashed Monday morning on the bluffs at Pillar Point in Moss Beach as that of 75-year-old Andrew Charles Hayden, better known as “Andy.” The Punta Gorda, Fla., resident took off Monday morning from Half Moon Bay Airport with the intention of meeting his 79-year-old cousin, Ken Sowles, at the Marana Regional Airport in Tucson. At the time, Hayden was finishing a 6,000-mile trip to visit friends and family across various states before heading home to Florida. Hayden’s wife reported the plane missing that evening, and search and rescue teams were dispatched. The plane was found Tuesday morning by a San Mateo County Parks ranger. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified Hayden on Wednesday.
Cause of death has not been confirmed, but the coroner’s investigation suggests Hayden may have died before the plane crashed, said Sowles. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Fourcrault has said in published reports that the condition of the remains preclude a full examination. Sowles remembered Hayden as his best friend, a good man who was quiet and focused and cared a lot about his family. He also remembered a man with a penchant for adventure. “He went out of this world in a blaze the way he came into this world in a blaze. He was always pushing the envelope,” Sowles said. They were the types of cousins who didn’t have to talk every day to stay close. Whenever they got together, they had fun. Riding horses on an Arizona ranch, surfing in Hawaii or piloting his own plane cross-country were all activities that were part of just another day in the life of Hayden. Though Hayden seldom spoke of it, he was highly decorated as a young man when he served as a member of the U.S. Navy SEAL team. “I would classify him as a hero in my mind,” said Sowles. Hayden got his first taste of ocean life as he grew up in a seafaring family, and after his days as a SEAL, he built a sailboat and traveled by himself all over the Pacific. Skydiving – a skill he picked up in the Navy – was another pastime Hayden enjoyed. “We didn’t do those things anymore, but these are the kinds of things we used to reminisce about, joke about,” said Sowles. When visiting his cousin’s ranch in Arizona, Hayden would take to the land as easily as the sea. “He’d become a cowboy real quick. We’d go off and get in a little trouble every now and then as kids do,” said Sowles, reflecting on their youth. They also bonded in the air. “When he got into airplanes, we had even more of a common denominator,” said Sowles, a former bush pilot. Despite being constantly in motion, Hayden was a man with whom Sowles could sit down, talk and have a beer. Besides Sowles, Hayden was the oldest of his generation on that side of their family. They kept up the family’s history. Hayden is survived by his daughter, a Bay Area resident, and his wife. Plans for services are pending.
Pilot Killed in Aeropro CZ A240 Plane Crash Identified as Capt Andrew Hayden
The Pilot killed in a plane crash after departing from Half Moon Bay Monday morning was identified as the 75-year-old Florida man that the plane was registered to, according to the San Mateo County coroner’s office.Captain Andrew Hayden, of Punta Gorda, Fla., a former U.S. Navy SEAL, was killed when his single-engine Aeropro CZ A240 crashed near Seal Cove shortly after departing from the Half Moon Bay Airport for Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Ariz., around 5:50 a.m. Monday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The plane was registered to Hayden, who was the only person in the plane, according to officials. Cause of death has not been confirmed, but the coroner’s investigation suggests Hayden may have died before the plane crashed.
Hayden’s wife said he had intended to make a fuel stop in Apple Valley, Calif., and she reported the aircraft missing when it did not show up on schedule at Marana, according to Gregor.
After a search effort led by the U.S. Coast Guard and aided by the Civil Air Patrol and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, a ground-based search crew found the wreckage around noon Tuesday, about 400 yards west of the Half Moon Bay airport, Gregor said. FAA investigators were at the scene Tuesday, and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were expected to arrive today.
Plane crashed, found in Moss Beach
Speculation centers around Monday flight
Wreckage was found Tuesday less than a mile from the Half Moon Bay Airport. Authorities found a body at the scene late in the day and were working to identify the pilot.
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2012 3:41 pm by Sara Hayden
Searchers found the wreckage of an airplane along the craggy coast of Moss Beach on Tuesday morning. By afternoon they had recovered a body believed to have been the pilot.
Investigators were not yet ready to confirm whether the body was that of 75-year-old Andrew Hayden of Florida. Hayden was reported missing Monday evening after an early-morning flight from the Half Moon Bay Airport.
Hayden took off in a light, single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft at about 5:50 a.m. Monday. He was due to refuel in Apple Valley before continuing on to Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Ariz. His wife reported him missing to the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center shortly before 6 p.m. Monday.
The Coast Guard San Francisco Sector launched a search by sea and air, and searchers returned to the area Tuesday morning.
At about 11:35 a.m. Tuesday, a San Mateo County Parks ranger discovered wreckage at Pillar Point Bluff in the vicinity of Bernal Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. From the position of the wreckage, it appears the plane crashed into the side of the bluffs, which are within a mile of the airport.
The aircraft was burned beyond recognition. Hayden’s aircraft tail number was N72AH, but the tail numbers were no longer evident in the debris of the airplane found Tuesday morning. It was hard to determine the color of the airplane, but there appeared to be bits of orange and white amid what was otherwise a metal frame.
By Tuesday afternoon, authorities had yet to confirm whether the debris was once Hayden’s Aeropro airplane.
An Air Force spokesman confirmed that the last known location of Hayden’s plane was just off the Half Moon Bay coast. Pilots of such small aircraft may file a flight plan, though they are not required to, according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Operators at the Marana airport report that Hayden left no such plan.
Late Tuesday, Federal Aviation Administration officials confirmed they had found the remains of one body in the plane. An investigator with the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office was en route to identify the body. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Detective Rebecca Rosenblatt said recovery efforts were temporarily suspended as crews on the scene awaited investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board. Sheriff’s officials said the federal authorities would take over the scene once they arrived.
Reports from the scene indicate that Hayden and his wife were visiting their daughter, who lives in the Bay Area.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing. Anyone with information on Hayden or the plane should contact the Coast Guard command center at (415) 399-3547.
Andrew Charles Hayden Identified As Man Killed In Half Moon Bay Plane Crash
San Mateo County Times, Calif. | By Joshua Melvin Posted: 10/19/2012 2:24 pm EDT Updated: 10/19/2012 3:02 pm EDT
HALF MOON BAY — Authorities on Thursday confirmed the remains found among the charred wreckage of a small plane belong to a Florida man missing since he took off from Half Moon Bay Airport Monday.Andrew Charles Hayden, 75, of Punta Gorda, Fla., was identified through dental records because his remains were badly damaged by fire, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said. The burned frame of Hayden’s plane was found Tuesday about a mile north of Pillar Point Harbor and less than a mile west of the airport in a broad dip on a coastal bluff.
Authorities have not said what may have caused the single engine Aeropro CZ A240 to go down. But the wreckage’s position at the crash site appears to indicate it might have been headed back toward the airport. The crash remains under investigation by Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board authorities, officials said.
Hayden took off around 5:50 a.m. Monday and when he didn’t arrive at his destination — Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Ariz. — his wife reported him missing. Efforts to reach Hayden’s family have been unsuccessful.
Foucrault said Hayden’s cause of death is undetermined because there was not enough left of his body to perform a full examination.
Hayden’s plane was discovered by a San Mateo County park ranger who was part of the search effort launched after the pilot’s disappearance. The Coast Guard carried out air and sea searches.
Man Killed in Plane Crash Identified
The pilot was identified as Andrew Hayden, the registered owner of the plane.
Andrew Hayden, of Punta Gorda, Fla., a former U.S. Navy SEAL, was killed when his single-engine Aeropro CZ A240 crashed near Seal Cove shortly after departing from the Half Moon Bay Airport for Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Ariz., around 5:50 a.m. Monday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The plane was registered to Hayden, who was the only person in the plane, according to officials. Cause of death has not been confirmed, but the coroner’s investigation suggests Hayden may have died before the plane crashed.
Hayden’s wife said he had intended to make a fuel stop in Apple Valley, Calif., and she reported the aircraft missing when it did not show up on schedule at Marana, according to Gregor.
After a search effort led by the U.S. Coast Guard and aided by the Civil Air Patrol and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, a ground-based search crew found the wreckage around noon Tuesday, about 400 yards west of the Half Moon Bay airport, Gregor said. FAA investigators were at the scene Tuesday, and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were expected to arrive today.
—Bay City News