Friends remember pilot killed in rescue helicopter crash

OWENTON, Ky. – Investigators Tuesday continued processing the heavily charred wreckage of an Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter crash along KY Route 22 in Owenton on Monday afternoon.

Flight nurse Bethany Aicken, paramedic James Welsh and pilot Gale Alleman were all pronounced dead, according to the FAA, after a preliminary investigation showed the Bell 206 helicopter plunged to the ground after hitting a guy wire stabilizing a communications tower.

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Alleman’s friend Mick McLane said he had known him for nearly a decade.

“We call him Butch,” McLane said.

McLane said his friend, a longtime pilot for both the U.S. Army and DHL, was quick-witted, friendly and full of humor.

“I was in shock, like everything that happens in life is unexpected,” he said.

Alleman’s girlfriend, Jan Klarquist, said she wanted everyone to know that he was a great man and that she had lost the love of her life.

Another friend, Gary Foster, said Alleman was at home in heaven.

“He loved it,” Foster said. “That was his passion for life. His passion was to go in and help others who were in danger.”

Everyone couldn’t believe that the pilot, with 17,000 hours of flying time under his belt, would have missed the inch-and-a-half-thick wires that might have snapped through his rotor.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Rayner said the team was circling over a landing zone when the helicopter struck the “guy wires.” Rayner said the initial phases of the investigation included collecting data, observations, witness statements and more.

“We’re just gathering facts,” he said. “We don’t try to give meaning to what we collect.”

According to the NTSB, it would take time to understand the circumstances and develop a description or cause of the crash.

FAA preliminary investigation into medical helicopter crash that killed three people released

Rayner said a recovery team will be on site starting Wednesday to remove the helicopter from the base of the tower and the rotor base and blades from where they landed about 400 feet away.

He said clearing the rubble would take days.

A full report from the NTSB is not expected for a year or more.

Foster said he is waiting for answers but said he has already learned a lesson from his friend’s death.

“Love your family. Love your friends. You never know when the next day is coming or when God is going to take you, so enjoy life and live life,” Foster said.