'Sole Survivor' film gives Comair crash families pause

• Documentary shares stories of single survivors of four plane crashes
• Comair Flight 5191 co-pilot James Polehinke was the only one to live through the Aug. 27%2C 2006%2C crash
• Film director Ky Dickens began work on the documentary after meeting sole survivor of Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crash in Reno%2C Nev.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For David Combs, the raw pain of losing his brother and sister-in-law, Homer and Diane Combs, in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 is something that comes back to him frequently, sometimes with little prompting.

So it was with great anxiety, Combs said, that he came to Lexington's Kentucky Theatre on Thursday night for a screening of "Sole Survivor," a documentary that includes the story of co-pilot James Polehinke, who was the only one to live through the crash of Aug. 27, 2006.

"We came to learn more," Combs said. "And to try to get a little more closure. It did add to the closure, but the closure will never be complete."

The documentary features four plane crashes, each with a single survivor. It tells the stories of those survivors and the struggles they have faced with the complex emotions of guilt and grief. It is the first time Polehinke has talked at length about his experience and, for many family members of those who died, it was the first opportunity to learn about the man who was flying the plane that morning.

Film director Ky Dickens, who did not attend the screening, said she wanted to screen the film in Lexington as part of her promise to show it in the cities where the crashes occurred. Screenings have already been held in Detroit and Minneapolis. No screening is planned for now in Paris, where the fourth featured survivor lives.

Dickens began work on the documentary after meeting George Lamson, who was the only survivor of the Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crash in Reno, Nev., which killed 70 people in 1985.

Lamson had never reconciled what happened to him and wanted to meet other survivors, to see if they experienced the same feelings of guilt and pressure to make something out of their lives that he did. Lamson agreed to let Dickens document his search for other survivors.

Over time, as Dickens met other survivors, the film expanded and now includes the three others, including Polehinke.

Also in the film is Bahia Bakari, who was 12 when she clung to the wreckage of a Yemenia airline flight in the Indiana Ocean after 152 people were killed in a crash north of Comoros Islands in 2009. And the film features Cecelia Chichan, who was 4 when her Northwest Flight 255 went down on takeoff in Detroit 25 years ago, killing 156 people.

Matthew Snoddy, who was in the film, said he felt relieved that it has been shown and that he was able to see it with his three children. Snoddy's father, Timothy Snoddy, was killed in the crash after the plane tried to take off from a runway that was too short.

During the film, he said, "you could feel the tension come over the theater the first time Mr. Polehinke came on." But he said he believes the documentary was very moving and is glad that it was made.

He also said it was important for him to bring his children. "I wanted for them to realize how big this crash was. It wasn't just grandpa."

Snoddy said people who lost loved ones need to make their own decisions about seeing the film, because it is difficult to revisit the memories. "Everybody's on the same emotional roller coaster," he said.

Todd Henson, a former Kentucky State Police officer who came to watch the film, had responded to the crash scene and said the documentary brought back a lot of memories.

"It was a particularly difficult scene," he said of the crash, especially because of how large it was.

Over the years, Henson saids he has wondered about Polehinke.

"I was glad to hear his side of it," Henson said. "I knew it had to be difficult for him."

Polehinke suffered multiple injuries in the crash, including losing a leg, paralysis and a traumatic brain injury. He and his wife talk in the movie about their efforts to cope with both the physical and emotional anguish the crash caused. They moved from their home in Florida to Colorado because of the number of opportunities for Polehinke to participate in adaptive sports programs, particularly skiing.

Combs said the film was helpful and balanced in its depiction of Polehinke. He said there is a balance of hatred and pity when he thinks of Polehinke and the film helped to put that in perspective for him. "I'm just glad I'm not there," Combs said of Polehinke's situation. "But I wish my brother was. I miss my brother."