The winds hit you first. They slam you side to side in your helicopter and beat your brains out, but you keep going.
A couple of your buddies are riding your tail, following your lead through a dark, smoky canyon at night.
They're counting on you getting them close enough to the flames for an effective water drop - then getting the hell out of there.
If you fail, you're tomorrow's tragic headline.
"You have to trust that guy," veteran Los Angeles City Fire Department pilot Jeff Moir says. "We all trusted Dale. He was that good."
After 35 years of fighting fires in this city, first from the ground then as a helicopter pilot for 28 of those years, Dale Gant retired Friday.
He made one last surveillance flight over mudslide areas to check catch basins before coming home to the operations center at Van Nuys Airport.
"I shut it down, looked at my helicopter, and... (more...)"
Thank you Dale, for 35 years of devoted service to our City and its Fire Department. Tonight, families parented by one of the countless young lives you saved in air ambulance responses will tuck their own children to bed in one of thousands of homes you helped spare from wind driven wildfire. Their lives - and ours, will forever be enhanced by your presence and professionalism. You are by any measure Sir, an angel among us.
Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department
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