Chief Warrant Officer 4 Erik Halvorsen, 40, also a pilot, was a career officer who joined the Army in 1986. His sister, Ingrid Halvorsen, said he left service briefly to try his hand at commercial aviation.

“He didn’t like it and went right back in the Army,” she said.

Married and divorced, Halvorsen served in Korea, Bosnia and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. But this time, his mother and three older sisters had a bad feeling. Halvorsen had sold his house in Georgia and tied up the loose ends of his life. The subject of war was avoided at a family reunion during Christmas.

“We were always worried, but this time it was much different. There was a sadness about my baby brother,” she said. “We all had this feeling that something was going to happen.”