Helicopter pilot Greg King is returning to Palmer, Alaska, following his death while fighting a wildfire in California, according to a September 29 report. An honor procession is scheduled to take place shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday to recognize the pilot.
The procession will depart near Raspberry Road and travel north on Minnesota Drive, east on Sixth Avenue, and out the Glenn Highway toward Palmer. It will then turn north on Palmer-Fishhook Road and end before North Snowgoose Road, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
King, a pilot for Precision Helicopters, was killed on Sept. 20 when his Super Puma helicopter crashed while battling the Dome Fire in Yosemite National Park. Andy Jones, chief of aviation for the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the aircraft suffered a significant event, a term covering any mechanical or other possibility, while working the fire from above with a water bucket slung beneath it.
The crash also claimed the life of Ryan Cutter. The Payette National Forest in Idaho identified Cutter on Monday, stating that both men flew an exclusive-use helicopter for the forest and were assigned to the Price Valley Rappel Crew in New Meadows, Idaho.
Cutter will be returned to Park City, Utah, through Heber Airport on Tuesday, where a separate procession is planned. Forest leadership stated that both men were skilled pilots who had been instrumental to ground crews in making progress on the Dome Fire.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. Jones stated that a final report could take between six months and more than a year.
King had spent more than five years flying wildfires for the division as a contract pilot. Jones noted that while contract pilots are not state employees, they are considered family by the division. King's career included long-line, construction, and ferrying heli-skiers into the mountains of Southcentral Alaska.
The Forest Service has asked the public to respect the privacy of the families involved. Emery Johnson, the division's statewide public information coordinator, noted that the crash occurred during a fire season that has already claimed the lives of numerous aviation and ground firefighters.
