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Lone survivor of plane crash that killed 3 co-workers: 'Those were my best friends'

By Wendy Corona, WSB-TV
By Wendy Corona, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — The lone survivor of a plane crash that killed three people in December is talking to Channel 2 Action News about what happened for the first time.

Channel 2's Wendy Corona talked to Brittany Whitener, 29, who is still recovering at the Shepherd Center after the crash in Union County on Dec. 19.

Whitener told Corona that a group friends from work had gone on a night flight to see Christmas lights from above. They were returning to an airport near Blairsville when the plane went down.

Robert Atkinson, 56; Renea Greiner, 55; and Michelle Seay, 50 were all killed on impact. Atkinson was a pharmacist and Greiner and Seay were nurses.

Whitener was pulled from the wreckage and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Whitener said it was only the second time she'd ever been on a plane.

"I don't remember how we landed, how we hit or anything," Whitener said. "We could see the runway because it was lit up and that's the last thing I remember

She said she and her friends were excited about the impromptu adventure she called "out of the blue." Atkinson was piloting his single-engine Piper back toward Blairsville when the tragedy struck.

"I just know we were coming in to land, and then the next thing I know, I was hollering and I could see the rescuers in the woods," Whitener said.

Rescuers cut Whitener out of the plane and flew her to Gainesville Medical Center where she had emergency surgery. That's where she learned she was the only survivor.

"It was really emotional," Whitener said. "Those were my best friends."

Now, 28 days later, she is hopeful she will walk again.

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"At first I couldn't feel anything, and a few days after my surgery, it went down to my knees," Whitener said.

She now has full movement of her upper body and can feel down to the inside of her ankles. She works hard at rehab every day, her physical therapist, Sarah Leonard, said.

"There's been tears. There's been some struggle. But never a lack of will," Leonard said.

As she continues to recover at the Shepherd Center, Whitener is working to get past her survivor's guilt with the help of friends and family.

"They told me not to feel that way," Whitener said. "So that made me feel a lot better just communicating with them."

Whitener said she has had round-the-clock support from those left behind.

"For everybody to rally behind me, people I don't even know, that's more than words can express," Whitener said. "I'm very hopeful. If I survived a plane crash and made it this far, I'm surviving."

Friends and family have set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for her medical expenses. There is also a benefit planned for Feb. 16 at the Union County Civic Center.

Cox Media Group

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