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As John Krogh lay in a Missouri hospital bed Thursday - bruised and broken after surviving a harrowing commuter plane crash that killed 13 others Tuesday night - eight of his family members crossed the country, eager to embrace their husband, father and grandfather.
Krogh's wife, Karen, told The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday night that spirits were high among the group as they landed in Kansas City around 5 p.m..
"He's doing OK," she said. "He aches a lot." Krogh will need hip replacement surgery, and suffered compression fractures in his vertebrae, along with cuts and bruises.
"It will heal, but it will take some time," Karen Krogh said.
The twin-engine Corporate Airlines commuter plane went down about 7:45 p.m. as it approached the airport in Kirksville, a town of about 17,000. The plane clipped treetops before crashing.
Krogh, 68, of Wallsburg in Wasatch County, and Wendy Bonham, 44, of Spanish Fork, were the only survivors of the fiery crash, which killed two crew members and 11 passengers.
Among the dead was a third Utahn, osteopath Clark Ator, 39, of Alpine. All three are from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM) in Orem.
The captain and co-pilot had been working for nearly 15 hours before the crash, according to the member of the National Transportation Safety Board at the scene, the New York Times reported. The crew was on its sixth flight of the day, the safety board member said.
Thirteen seconds before impact, the pilot said he had the airfield in sight - the last words taped by a cockpit voice recorder, the Times said; the flight data recorder registered a steady rate of descent for the last 70 seconds, with a small gain in altitude in the last four seconds, NTSB said.
John Krogh talked about the crash in a telephone interview recorded Wednesday by Kirksville television station KTVO and reported by AP.
He said that moments before the crash, he was talking with passengers, setting his watch and grabbing a mint. The landing gear was down and the plane seemed to be turning. Then, Krogh felt some sort of bump - a mild one at first, apparently the plane hitting treetops - and then a series of jarring impacts.
A fire broke out in the rear of the plane, and blue-black smoke filled the cabin. ''I knew I had to get out of there,'' Krogh said, according the AP.
He realized his left hip was broken, so he crawled to an opening and discovered the plane was stuck in the trees, about 8 feet above the ground. Krogh flung himself out.
The plane was in flames, which raged on above as Krogh dragged himself through thorny brush until he couldn't crawl anymore.
Lying on his back about 25 feet away, Krogh said he was blinded by the flaming fuselage above him and transfixed by the waning screams of those trapped inside.
''I didn't know anybody else had survived,'' Krogh said. ''I was sure that no one had.''
Then Krogh saw a body tumble to the ground from the aircraft doorway.
Krogh said it seemed like an eternity before he heard sirens in the distance and then, finally, voices. ''Confirmed sighting of aircraft,'' he remembers hearing.
It wasn't until he reached Northeast Regional Medical Center that he learned the person he watched fall from the plane was Bonham, the AP said.
Ator leaves behind a wife of 16 years and seven children ranging in age from 7 months to 14 years old. He served as the bishop in the LDS Church's Mountainville First Ward.
Ator's sister-in-law, Kim Jacobsen, described him as a man devoted to helping others, whether through his clinical practice in Pleasant Grove, his church service or just by being friendly.
Ator met his wife, Karlene, while the two attended Brigham Young University. His family lives in Farmington, while Karlene came from Arizona. Jacobsen called him a devoted father.
"He was a doctor and served people all day, but the first thing he did when he got home was spend time with his kids," Jacobsen said Thursday in an interview with The Tribune.
Ator attended medical school in Kirksville, and Krogh was one of his professors. When Krogh retired to Utah, the two became friends, family members say.
Bonham suffered a compound fracture of her right arm and burns on about 8 percent of her body. She remained in fair condition at a Missouri hospital on Thursday.
Family friend Dan Davis said Bonham's husband, Russ, joined her Wednesday evening.
The couple plan to "take their time" getting back to Utah, because Wendy Bonham has "no interest in flying right now," Davis said.
"I'm sure they are holding each other tight and thanking God for the greatness he has provided," Davis said.
But he said the Bonhams were also in mourning over the loss of close friends.
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Tribune reporters Matt Canham and Matthew LaPlante contributed to this story.