More detail on this person: Lama crash while
working for Helimar SA, a Bolivian helicopter
operator in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Buried 23 Aug 92
in Brosville, VA.This is a newspaper article from
our local newspaper dated February 5, 1968. Bill
Hyler was my brother in law he married my sister
as shown in the attached picture. We when in the
Army about the same time he went to flight school
and I didn't. I take this article out and look at
it every so often, he was a good man never met
anyone who didn't like him. We lost him about 8
years ago while he was flying for an American oil
company in Bolivia. Work was hard to find for a
chopper pilot awhile back, 8 years ago so he took
the job in Bolivia working in the jungle. He would
work so long over there and then they would send
him home to rest for 3 weeks and then go back, on
his last trip home which took him 3 days from
Bolivia to get back home for the rest. But on his
last trip home on R&R the day he walked in the
door the phone was ringing wanting him to come
back because they had an expensive piece of
equipment they needed moved in the jungle and
they wanted him to do it. He was sick with
pneumonia and on medication and exhausted but
they talked him into coming back right away. That
was his last trip. He was lifting the piece of
equipment out of the jungle when the cable caught
the skid and flipped the chopper upside down and
he died instantly. They did not have any flight
helmets for them to use over there even though it
was still a requirement. One of my Hero's. He is
gone but never forgotten.
From: Jim Minson
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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