Helicopter Pilot

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 30 years to the day after they risked their lives to stop the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, a helicopter pilot and his crew were honored yesterday by the U.S. Army, graying veterans and even former anti-war demonstrators on a quiet knoll above the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.Former pilot Hugh C. Thompson Jr. and his door gunner Lawrence Colburn stood under a bright blue sky while an Army band played. A general recalled their heroism on a morning of madness in a far-off, steamy jungle.

Jack C. Turley, a former Vietnam combat helicopter pilot who was later a Baltimore police officer in the helicopter unit and taught other officers to pilot the law enforcement aircraft from 1980 to 1985, died Tuesday of cancer at his Clinton home. He was 48."He got the biggest joy out of seeing one of his students go solo," said his wife, the former Camille Branch, whom he married in 1989. They met as she trained for her helicopter pilot's license in 1985."He enjoyed the challenge, the precision and the freedom of flying," she said.

Marie Francis Mahrer, 85, homemaker, Orioles fanMarie Francis Mahrer, a homemaker who loved to watch the Baltimore Orioles and listen to games on the radio, died Tuesday of pneumonia at Future Care in Arnold. She was 85.Born in 1913, the former Marie Murray was raised in Baltimore.Mrs. Mahrer particularly looked forward to two times of the year: summers, when the Orioles would play; and St. Patrick's Day, when she celebrated her Irish heritage.She was married to Joseph Mahrer, who died in 1982.

The pilot flying the Baltimore police helicopter that crashed Saturday while chasing a dirt bike on the city's west side reported losing power just before it went down in a park, federal investigators said yesterday.While officials caution that they have not examined the wreckage of the $250,000 craft, they are investigating reports that the pilot, Officer Lawrence Lester, radioed a distress call moments before the accident, claiming the craft experienced a power failure."We have not determined a probable cause yet," said Lorraine Carra, a spokeswoman for the Eastern regional office of the Federal Aviation Administration, which is one of two federal agencies conducting the investigation.

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- On mornings when he hasn't had to fly the night before and isn't exhausted, U.S. Army helicopter pilot Melvin Dixon has been getting up at 6 a.m. lately to catch the previous night's evening network news as it's broadcast here from America."

Harold G. Sommer, a pioneering helicopter pilot and retired Baltimore City police officer, died Wednesday of a heart attack at Stoney Creek Democratic Club in Orchard Beach. He was 79.Mr. Sommer, who had lived for 32 years in Riviera Beach, was one of the first six pilots to graduate from the Army Air Force helicopter school. He flew the first Sikorsky helicopters from the company's Michigan plant during the waning months of World War II, helped test helicopter mail service in 1946, and flew for an Air Force air rescue unit in Newfoundland, Canada.

WASHINGTON -- In a surprising reversal, the Navy is no longer trying to persuade a sexually harassed officer to remain in the service and is moving to discharge her.The decision to end the career of Lt. Rebecca Hansen, 28, who failed pilot training, was made after she declined other Navy job offers and made three demands -- an apology from Navy Secretary John Dalton, the upgrading of her low performance ratings to "outstanding" and a return to flight school.Lieutenant...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. mission in what troops there call "South Moag" has changed for many: Rangers, Delta force commandos and the various intelligence agencies are no longer concentrating their search on warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid.They are looking for one of their own in the streets of south Mogadishu -- Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant. And they are trying to find out how many of the five men who disappeared with the Berlin, N.H., helicopter pilot survived a firefight Sunday.Whatever the case may be, officials say, Mr. Aidid has ceased to be the quarry.

J. Cullen Weadock, retired president of Chesapeake and Potomac Airways Inc., a Baltimore-based company that operates commercial helicopters, died May 31 of cancer at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 70.Mr. Weadock retired and sold the company in 1980.He helped found it at what was then Friendship International Airport in 1957. He became president in 1964, expanding its operations to 11 states.He was elected president three times of the Helicopter Association International, an industry trade group, and was the 1974 recipient of its Lawrence D. Bell Award.

The weekend snowstorm that dumped up to 5 inches of snow on parts of Maryland caused two highway fatalities and led to three sledding accidents, one of them killing an 11-year-old boy in Silver Spring.Montgomery County police said Matthew Hartmann, of the 10200 block of Sutherland Road, rode his plastic sled down a hill about 10 a.m. and went beneath a moving car that dragged him several feet along Southwood Avenue.Police said that the driver, John Bobich of Silver Spring, hit his brakes immediately but that the road was covered with snow and ice at the time of the accident, and he slid several feet.

A nearly 20-year-old Maryland State Police helicopter that crashed in darkness and fog over the weekend, killing four people, was not equipped with an advanced electronic system that helps prevent pilots from slamming into the ground in low-visibility conditions, federal transportation officials said yesterday. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said they were still working to determine the cause of the crash in Prince George's County, the deadliest incident in the 38 years state police have been flying medical evacuation missions.

Rhonda Fish returned Monday night to the White Marsh hotel where she has been living to find that her beloved Yorkshire terrier had run away. The 44-year-old woman was devastated. The not-quite-3-year-old pooch named Reilly is like a son to her. Fish, her fiance and their friends prowled the area for hours but did not find Reilly. Their efforts transcended the realm of the typical missing-dog search yesterday when they called in private investigators. And then the helicopter pilot. And then the psychic.

James Hildebrandt Sellors, an entrepreneur who built and flew his own airplanes, died in his Woodstock home June 24 of unknown causes. He was 79. Born and raised in Baltimore, Mr. Sellors graduated from Polytechnic Institute in 1946. While there, he formed the Delta Theta Pi social club, which he remained involved in for the rest of his life. Mr. Sellors graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 1950 with a degree in industrial engineering. He went on to become a certified public accountant and later attended the Mount Vernon School of Law, which later was absorbed into the University of Baltimore, eventually becoming a member of the Maryland Bar Association.

KIEV, Ukraine - Elated by the early returns but wary of last-minute subterfuge, tens of thousands of supporters of presidential candidate Viktor A. Yushchenko gathered in Independence Square last night to sing, dance and wait for word of their candidate's fate. The official results weren't expected until today. But Yushchenko declared victory early this morning, telling supporters, "Today, Ukraine is beginning a new political life." With ballots from just over 87 percent of precincts counted, Yushchenko was leading this morning with 54 percent compared with Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovych's 42 percent.

In Baltimore City Toll facilities police collect 6,000 items for Toys for Tots Maryland Transportation Authority police have collected 6,000 toys for distribution to underprivileged children through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots campaign. The new, unwrapped toys were donated by motorists at Baltimore-area toll facilities Dec. 10 to 12, and delivered to a Marine Corps Reserve base in Northeast Baltimore on Monday. In announcing the toy tally, the police agency thanked those who made donations.

Craig Thompson and Walter Kerr wasted no time getting their helicopter ready to leave the blue hangar at Martin State Airport. It was a recent Monday afternoon, and a few miles away was a man who had slashed his stomach in a fall from a 15-foot ladder. Now, with an injury that had torn his intestines and threatened infection, the man needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Thompson sat in the righthand driver's seat, flicking the switches that started the twin engines, as Kerr steered the small yellow car that would tow the helicopter from the hangar and onto the runway area.

A former Calvert County man whose lifelong ambition was to become a helicopter pilot was one of four men killed when a U.S. military helicopter crashed in Afghanistan on Thursday. Chief Warrant Officer Thomas J. Gibbons, 31, who grew up in Prince Frederick, was part of an elite Army aviation team - the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment - based at Fort Campbell, Ky. The helicopter was on a training mission. Chief Warrant Officer Mark S. O'Steen, 43, of Alabama; Sgt. Gregory M. Frampton, 37, of California; and Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Kisling Jr., 31, of Missouri were also killed in the crash.

Age and experience have become issues in the District 30 state Senate race, as incumbent and longtime delegate John C. Astle faces a congressional aide who is making sharp accusations about his performance. "He has really failed Anne Arundel County, issue after issue after issue," said Andy Smarick, the 26-year-old Republican challenger who calls Astle's legislative record "sad." "He is just not doing the job," Smarick said. Astle calls Smarick the most "critical" opponent he has ever faced.

On Sept. 10, 2001, William R. Ruth, newly installed commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10076 in Mount Airy, ran the group's monthly meeting for the first and last time. Today, as the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America approaches, the members of that post will remember him. They plan to dedicate a Patriot Day ceremony at Pine Grove Chapel in Mount Airy to Ruth, who died Sept. 11 in the attack on the Pentagon. The program culminates a year in which Ruth's fellow vets have mourned the loss of the former Marine helicopter pilot who survived hundreds of combat missions in Vietnam and served in Desert Storm, only to die in an assault on American soil.

WHEN COUNTY police Officer Mark Braswell deals with kids about juvenile problems on the playground, the streets or at their homes, he tells them to call him "Officer Mark." If the youngsters remember his name the next time he sees them, they have earned "Braswell Bonus Points," a technique he uses to help the children view police in a positive light. Braswell's efforts to forge a good relationship between police and the community led him to be named the Severna Park Elks' Police Officer of the Year.