More detail on this person: Robert H.
McKeegan died in a motorcycle accident on Sept.
14 near his home in Pioneer, CA. He was 54.
McKeegan was wounded and decorated while flying
with DMZ Dustoff as "Dustoff 713" in 1969-70.
After the Army, he was the first pilot to fly for
Jacques Cousteau. He spent more than three years
with the Cousteaus aboard the CALYPSO and was
seen on many made-for-TV documentaries from
Antarctica to Alaska in the early 1970s. McKeegan
also worked for Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing
company for more than 19 years, starting as a
Hughes 500 production test pilot and rising to
chief production test pilot for the AH-64 Apache
program. During those years, McKeegan was seen
performing aerobatics in Apaches and Hughes 500s
in movies and at many international air shows and
"agility" tests throughout the world.After leaving
Boeing, McKeegan flew for Erickson Air Crane as a
firefighting Skycrane pilot. This job also took
him all over the United States and to many far-off
parts of the world.McKeegan had friends and
colleagues all over the world and everyone who
ever worked with McKeegan knew him to be very
humble man, especially given all of his knowledge,
experience and accomplishments. He is survived
by his son, Micheal; daughter, Megan; and brothers
Tim and Tom. He was the greatest friend a friend
could have and all who knew him will miss him.
From: Russ Whipple, Charliehorse 34
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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