Kim Merriman still remembers the nights when she and Thomas Brandan McCombie used to sit and talk with friends at Sports Café, 244 W. College Ave., back when it was still called Sportscenter Café.

She also remembers what a great person he was.

"It was the greatest friendship I'd ever had with anyone outside my own family," she said.

Merriman, a 2000 Penn State graduate, along with many others, suffered a tragic loss when McCombie, a 25-year-old Navy pilot and fellow Penn State graduate, died in a plane crash Sept. 10. He was a State College resident.

Lt. j.g. McCombie, often called Brandan by those close to him, was one of three crewmembers aboard a Navy jet that crashed during a training mission off the coast of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. The plane, an S-3B Viking that refuels fighter jets mid-air, was reported missing around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 10.

The next day, the U.S. Navy reported that it had recovered wreckage and remains from the jet.

McCombie's sister, Shannon McCombie (sophomore-international politics), found out about her brother's death when she was in class on Sept. 11.

"I've been heartbroken ever since," she said.

McCombie graduated with honors from Penn State in December 1998 with a major in finance and a minor in military history. He participated in Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon and played both intramural and club soccer.

McCombie was also a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program at Penn State. His lifelong goal was to become a pilot.

"It's been his dream ever since he was a little boy to fly," Shannon McCombie said. "He was always looking skyward."

She also said her brother had an amazing ability to make friends, and that his friendships extended far beyond the reach of State College.

"He never met a stranger," she said, adding that her brothers had friendships across the world.

Jillian Parry (junior-biobehavioral health), who had become good friends with McCombie this year, remembered him as "always smiling, always out for adventure."

Parry said that when McCombie was moving from California to Florida, he stopped in Philadelphia to pick her up from the airport because he knew she was there.

"He's just so sweet," Parry said

Merriman said that McCombie was a selfless person who cared for his friends and family tremendously.

"He was so proud of his family," she said.

McCombie wanted to make his father, a Navy SEAL, proud, Merriman said.

"His dad was his hero, his idol," she said.

She added that McCombie was the only person she knew who was determined enough to accomplish every goal he set out for himself.

"His drive was amazing," she said.

Katie Glesner (sophomore-mathematics) met McCombie through ROTC. She said he helped encourage her ambitions of becoming a pilot.

"He was so enthusiastic about it, and it made you want to do it," Glesner said.

Glesner also spoke about the lengths McCombie would go to cheer her up during sad times.

"I'm a better person having known him," she said.

Shannon McCombie said more than 500 people attended her brother's funeral, and friends found a way to fly in from across the country.

"The amount of people he touched in his short life is incredible," she said.

She said her brother's reception took place at Tony's Big Easy, McAllister Alley, because that's where he would have liked it.

The cause of the crash, which also claimed the lives of Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey J. Gray, 40, and Lt. Cmdr Michael D. Chalfant, 36, is still under investigation.

Although the loss of her brother hurts very deeply, Shannon McCombie said her brother died doing something he loved.

"He looked out for me so much," she said. "He was my best friend."