Fellow Pilot On Loss Of Flight For Life Pilot: 'It's An Absolute Tragedy'
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) - Vietnam-era pilots gathered in Golden Saturday evening to remember one of their own who died in a Flight For Life helicopter crash in Frisco on Friday.
Two crew members survived the crash and were transported to hospitals in Denver, but updates on their conditions haven't been released.
The pilot was Patrick Mahany, 64, a Vietnam War veteran. The missions he flew were called "hunt and kill." He'd hunt for the enemy, draw gunfire, and then peel off so other helicopters could fight back. But after the war he had a better mission -- saving lives.
"His job was to locate the enemy, and the way he did that was to hover over the jungle and draw enemy fire," said Dale House, a fellow Vietnam War helicopter pilot who knew Mahany for 40 years.
CBS4 viewers met Mahany in 2005 when he showed off night vision equipment in a story on CBS4 News.
Mahany came home from Vietnam with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He would go on to fly civilian helicopters, saving lives in the Flight For Life program for about 27 years. That's what he was doing Friday when his helicopter spun out of control after takeoff at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco.
"We heard the helicopter take off, it started to spin uncontrollably, then crashed; big explosion and the debris actually came at me," witness Jason Bogner said.
For now fellow helicopter pilots are reluctant to speculate what went wrong.
"He knew all the ins and outs, he was an excellent pilot, it's an absolute tragedy," House said.
The irony of surviving war, only to die decades later while helping others, is not lost on fellow pilots.
"We can go through the most trying conditions in wartime only to in later years die in a tragic accident -- it happens," House said.
Friends say Mahany of Silverthorne was planning to retire in about a year.
