Ben Springer and Bobby Lee Hayford had a lot in common.
The Snohomish County men loved their families. They knew how to work with their hands. They shared a passion for martial arts and were drawn to the skies.
They died together Saturday as Springer, of Stanwood, was giving Hayford, of Lake Stevens, his first helicopter-flying lesson.
“They just clicked,” Hayford’s wife, Lynn, said, adding the helicopter was purchased just three days before, but he’d owned planes in the past. “He just always wanted to own a helicopter. It was his dream.”
Investigators continue to probe the cause of the crash near the Arlington Airport, and say it could take up to six months to determine why the two-seat Robinson R22 fell from the sky.
Springer, 39, was an experienced pilot for Airlift Northwest who also gave flying lessons.
Hayford, 54, was an intense, hard-working man who pushed himself to perfection, said Robert Martin of Everett, his longtime karate instructor and friend.
“It was his dream to learn to fly this thing,” Martin said of the craft. “It was his first time up.”
Martin met Hayford in the 1970s when Hayford showed up at Family Karate Center in Everett, seeking lessons. Hayford became one of Martin’s first black belts. He continued to train with Martin until his death, eventually earning the rank of sandan (third-degree black belt), and becoming an instructor in Lake Stevens.
Hayford worked as a mechanic and also built and remodeled several homes. In the late 1980s he leased space at the Arlington Airport where he built three hangars and rented them to pilots.
Hayford’s karate reflected his physical strength and his intensity, Martin said. He was known for his piercing stare and the ability to deliver a flurry of sharp punches, followed by a sweep that usually took his opponents to the floor. One day, one of Hayford’s students did the same while Martin looked on.
“Bobby Lee looked at him and said, ‘That’s my student! That’s my student! I taught him that!’ ” Martin said.
Hayford also had a passion for machines and restored vintage cars.
Martin said Hayford was a devoted husband and father to his daughters. Hayford coached daughter Brandy in softball and continued coaching in select leagues in Lake Stevens after she left for college.
“He had a big heart,” Lynn Hayford said.
Springer had been flying for nearly two decades.
He got his first taste of flying while a student at Life Bible College in California. The college was across the street from a helicopter company, where pilots encouraged Springer to take to the air.
“He loved it. He was a great pilot,” his wife, Carol Springer, said Monday.
For seven years, he worked as a pilot for Airlift Northwest, a company that transports patients with medical emergencies to hospitals. The job fit Springer’s personality.
He would drop whatever he was doing to help a neighbor or someone in need, his wife said.
Springer was a member of the Warm Beach Community Church, where he taught Sunday school to young children and helped renovate the church.
He also was key to organizing two missions. The first was a trip to Honduras where volunteers built a church. Recently, he and his daughter, Emily, traveled with the church to Cambodia.
Springer built a stage and puppets for the children there, Pastor Alan Ehler said.
“He also dressed up as a clown. He was a big guy, and the kids in Cambodia thought it was so funny,” Ehler said. “He had a great sense of humor and really connected with the kids.”
Springer always made time for his own four children, Emily, 13, Abigail, 10, Nate, 8, and Betsy, 6, Ehler said.
He was building a tree house with Emily and planning a spectacular fireworks show with Nate. He also did karate with his children, Ehler said.
“He was a great father and a wonderful husband,” his wife said. “It’s hard, but I know that God’s got him up there.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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