Dann Carlsen, a seven-year veteran of Comair, was considered among Comair's best. Capt. Carlsen, 42, was so good that he was an instructor who taught other pilots how to fly the company's jets.

But he recently left that work, returning instead to flying the twin-engine turboprop Embraea Brasilias. With the flight simulators for the jets in Montreal, teaching kept him too far away from his wife, Barbara, and their home near Dry Ridge in rural Grant County, a co-worker said.

Rather than flying the company's bigger jets, Capt. Carlsen preferred the flexibility of turboprops. He could choose his flights, his days off and layover locations.

Capt. Carlsen had flown for Comair almost seven years.

David Buck, a fellow Comair pilot, paid Capt. Carlsen the highest compliment: ''I wouldn't have hesitated to get on an aircraft headed to Detroit with him, or to put my family on.''