KUCHING: “Mommy, Daddy balik kan esok? Sofia rindu Daddy.” (Mommy, Daddy will come home tomorrow, right? Sofia misses Daddy.)
It was a child’s simple question — one that carried the weight of a loss she may still be too young to fully understand.
In the aftermath of the Flying Doctor Service (FDS) helicopter crash near Long Lellang, Baram, tributes have poured in for its pilot, Captain Zainol Afiq Bee Sham, painting a picture not merely of the man who sat in the cockpit, but of a loving father, husband, loyal friend and familiar voice to those who shared Sarawak’s skies with him.
His wife, who posts on Threads under the username @izzatisyamimi, shared the heartbreaking question from their daughter Sofia, who wondered why so many people were around their family and whether her father would be coming home.
“Mommy, daddy balik kan esok? Sofia rindu daddy. Kenapa orang ramai dengan kita? (Mommy, Daddy will come home tomorrow, right? Sofia misses Daddy. Why are there so many people with us?)” the little girl asked.
Her mother could only reassure her.
“Sofia, mommy daddy sayang Sofia. Mommy pun masih berharap yang daddy akan balik. Kita kena kuat. Anak-anak mommy semua kuat (Sofia, Mommy and Daddy love you. Mommy is still hoping that Daddy will come home. We have to be strong. All of Mommy’s children are strong.)” she wrote.
In another brief post, @izzatisyamimi asked the public to remember the family in their prayers.
She also asked members of the media to respect her and the family’s privacy.
Her words resonated widely on Threads, drawing thousands of reactions and messages of sympathy.
The heartbreak was made even more poignant by an earlier post she had shared about Sofia — written before tragedy struck.
In it, she recounted an innocent conversation between her daughter and a cousin during the school holidays, with Sofia proudly talking about Sarawak, the hornbill and Borneo.
The light-hearted post later took on a very different meaning for those who returned to it after news of Zainol’s passing.
One commenter wrote that reading the previously cheerful post again had brought her to tears, noting how nobody could have imagined what would happen just hours later.
Among the messages on the family’s subsequent posts was also one from an air traffic controller, using the Threads username @nyssssaa71, who had regularly communicated with Zainol during his FDS flights.
She said she had spoken to him over the radio even on the morning of his final flight.
“I am one of the air traffic controllers who regularly communicated with the late Captain Zainol when he operated FDS flights, including on the morning of his final flight,” she wrote.
For @nyssssaa71, it was his familiar voice that remained etched in her memory.
“His usual ‘Thank you ma’am, see ya’ is something I will always remember,” she wrote.
The brief sign-off was perhaps routine for a pilot and controller.
After his passing, it became a memory.
“It was an honour having him on my frequency,” she added.
She also expressed her condolences to Zainol’s wife and children, saying there were no words that could adequately describe the weight of the loss they were experiencing.
Another deeply personal tribute came from Zainol’s friend, who posts under the username @azrmhdzn.
He described Zainol as one of the best people he had ever encountered in his life.
Both men came from Senawang, Negeri Sembilan, although their paths only crossed later when they worked at AFJETS Sdn Bhd in Subang.
What stood out about Zainol, he wrote, was his character.
“He was a very kind-hearted and generous person, always performed his prayers early and regularly encouraged his friends to do good,” he wrote.
His friendship was also felt most strongly when those around him were struggling.
When @azrmhdzn lost both his mother and father eight years ago, Zainol was among the people who helped him find the strength to carry on.
“Zainol was among those who constantly gave me encouragement and strength during that time,” he wrote.
Now, the friend who once helped him through grief had become the friend he was grieving.
He said Zainol’s character could perhaps best be understood by asking the people who knew him.
“Mention his name among his friends and there is hardly anything bad they could tell you about him. Everything they would say is good because he was a good person,” he said.
He also remembered Zainol’s wife as someone who was kind and always generous with her smile, saying he could not imagine the grief being endured by her, their children and the rest of the family.
The tributes emerging on Threads offer glimpses of different sides of the same man.
To an air traffic controller who knew him through a headset and radio frequency, Zainol was the familiar voice that ended with: “Thank you ma’am, see ya.”
To @azrmhdzn, he was the friend who encouraged others to pray and do good, and who offered strength when life was at its hardest.
To the communities served by the FDS, he was among those entrusted with carrying healthcare workers into some of Sarawak’s most remote areas.
And to @izzatisyamimi and their children, beyond the cockpit and the responsibilities that came with flying, he was husband and Daddy.
A father whose little girl still wondered when he was coming home.
Perhaps Sofia’s innocent question captures the family’s heartbreak more powerfully than anything else could.
For the adults around her, it is a question with a painful answer.
But through the memories now being shared — of his kindness, faith, friendship and the voice that became familiar over the radio — they are also preserving an answer to another question his children may one day ask: What kind of man was our Daddy?
By the accounts of those who knew Captain Zainol, he was a good one.
