The pilot that died in this crash had been flying helicopters since the Viet Nam war.

[Ptah]

And he was the pilot in this Carmona episode:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_028ebe50-2d6a-11e0-8e05-001cc4c03286.html

Leonberger was a state Department of Public Safety pilot in 1992 in a dramatic rescue in which
he hovered expertly above the crash of Medivac helicopter that had smashed into a a rocky,
snowy cliff in the Pinaleno Mountains near Safford. Susan Ben-Asher Newton and Dale Matthews,
the nurse and pilot of the Medivac, were killed.

Glenn Velardi, a medic who survived the crash, spent the night waiting for rescue.

In dramatic fashion, then-deputy Tom Price and Dr. Richard Carmona rappelled to Valardi's side.
Price helped Carmona rig himself into a harness with Velardi. Al Quezada, a DPS flight medic,
helped direct the operation from the helicopter, which flew Carmona and Velardi, dangling and
spinning from the end of a 75-foot line, to a safe landing site about a mile away.

Carmona went on to become U.S. Surgeon General.



--------------------------
Edit to add:

[Flubadubya]

1. An uncle of mine was a helicopter pilot in Nam...

and then went on to be a commercial pilot for United Airlines. Fortunately, he is now retired. I always thought it was a "risky business". Just glad we still have him.

RIP Mr. Leonberger.

(Please check you link :))

[Ptah]

2. Thanks to your uncle.

Thanks to you for the link fix.

:thumbsup:

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Short haul is never fun

and it takes an expert.

RIP

[Ptah]

4. I imagine the weather conditions deteriorated quickly.

:cry: