MACHIAS – Dave Leeman remembers yelling to two of his fellow search and rescue volunteers that help was on the way.
The Gold Bar firefighter and the two women had been participating in a helicopter search and rescue training mission in Olympic National Park that ended in tragedy. Michael O’Leary / The Herald
Just after takeoff, the helicopter’s tail rotor clipped a tree and slammed into the side of Mount Baldy in 1997. The helicopter rolled 1,300 feet down the mountainside, ejecting Leeman and six other search volunteers.
The two ejected women died on the steep snow slope, and the pilot died inside the aircraft.
Leeman suffered a broken arm and leg and head injuries. It took him about a year to fully recover.
The crash changed Leeman’s life, leading him toward an unusual choice: He learned to fly helicopters.
“Surviving it inspired me to make a difference,” he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the crash to human error, concluding that the pilot shouldn’t have lifted off in the dense fog and clouds.
“I want to prevent that from happening again,” Leeman said.
Along with being a volunteer firefighter with Fire District 26 in Gold Bar, Leeman is a volunteer pilot with the Snohomish County sheriff’s aviation crew and a helicopter flying instructor at Harvey Airfield in Snohomish.
“I know it’s an unlikely choice. It definitely was a challenge,” said Leeman, 33, talking at a training site in Machias.
He didn’t take another ride in a helicopter until more than three years after the crash, in which the sheriff’s crew was training firefighters how to propel out of the helicopter to help in search and rescue missions.
“It was quite the hurdle, an amazing obstacle,” Leeman said. He realized: “This is what I want to do.”
Leeman aims to teach firefighters about providing safe landing zones for medic and rescue helicopters. He’s also helping the sheriff’s office recruit more paramedics to volunteer with the aviation crew.
The flight medic program trains and equips volunteer paramedics so they can provide medical services in the backcountry, said chief pilot and sheriff’s deputy Bill Quistorf.
The sheriff’s office and local fire districts work closely together to provide assistance for each other, Quistorf said.
About two years ago, fire chiefs in east Snohomish County bought the sheriff’s office a bigger water bucket for the helicopter. On Tuesday, Leeman flew the helicopter with the bucket hanging from the belly for the first time.
“I think Dave shows the symbiotic relationship between the sheriff’s office and fire districts,” Quistorf said.
District 26 Chief Eric Andrews says the relationship is beneficial to rural districts such as Gold Bar, where response times to injured hikers can greatly improve with the help of the sheriff’s helicopter.
“It’s a definite advantage to us,” he said.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@ heraldnet.com.
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