More detail on this person: UH-1M helicopter
crash
Newspaper article from Alamogordo Daily News,
Alamogordo, New Mexico
Beloved balloon pilot passes away By Michael
Shinabery/ Staff Writer, Alamogordo Daily News,
Oct 15, 2004, 07:46 am
One of the Tularosa Basin's most giving balloon
pilots has died.
Terry Drake, 61, was killed at 8:45 a.m. on
Thursday, on Fort Bliss, southeast of Orogrande.
He was flying a routine helicopter proficiency
flight, required for pilots to maintain
licenses.
Drake was pronounced dead at the scene. The
cause of the crash is unknown.
His wife, Mary Jo, two sons and a daughter survive
him.
Drake, of High Rolls, was well-known for also
piloting the handicapped-accessible balloon
Rainbow's Amigo. His wife owned the balloon. The
couple founded their non-profit foundation Fly The
Rainbow, Inc., to take Rainbow's Amigo to the
disabled. They drove cross-country at their own
expense so the disabled could see the world from a
new perspective.
"I think we get more pleasure than the people we
help," said Drake in 2001, flying tethered flights
to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the White
Sands Space Harbor.
At the time, Rainbow's Amigo was one of only three
balloons nationwide modified to accommodate
wheel chairs. The FAA, which regulates
balloonists, must approve modifications.
In the balloon's life, by mid-2001 Drake had taken
Rainbow's Amigo through 287 flights and, for the
handicapped, 125 mostly tethered flights. He also
set up to fly tethered rides at the Alamogordo
Senior Center.
Drake was a familiar face at the annual White
Sands Balloon Invitational, working alongside many
including one of the organizers, Ed Brabson.
"There are not many people that you would jump
into a foxhole with, but he's one that I would,"
Brabson said. "He would give his all and expect
nothing in return."
"I know the man's going to be missed," said Phil
Runnels, who owns Alamogordo radio stations
KRSY AM and FM, and KNMZ FM The Stealth. "He
did a lot for the community and in the community.
Those kind of people are missed by everybody."
"I loved him," said Dwight Harp, a familiar face
around the Balloon Invitational, and the Small
Business Development Center director. "He was
such a quiet and calm and strong man all at the
same time. He was confident in himself. Of course
you don't get a Distinguished Flying Cross and
then be braggadocios, and he was anything but
braggadocios. He was so quiet and so calm and so
assured and so strong.
"We will miss him."
On Thursday, Drake's Huey UH-1M went down five
miles southeast of Orogrande Range Gate, and a
half-mile west of US. 54 according to a Fort Bliss
press release. Drake was a contracted helicopter
pilot for Lockheed Martin, based at Holloman Air
Force Base. The incident also injured a coworker
who came to Drake's aid. Bonnie L. Bonnell, 38,
sustained injuries and was transported to William
Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. He was
treated and released.
Fort Bliss Safety Office personnel have started an
investigation and are awaiting the arrival of a
formal invstigation team from the U.S. Army Safety
Center in Fort Rucker, Ala.
"Immediately after the crash, a MEDEVAC
helicopter was dispatched from Biggs Army
Airfiled. Soldiers and Range Riders from McGregor
Range Complex secured the area pending arrival of
crash investigators," the release stated.
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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