Veteran NYC Helicopter Pilot Killed

[Gerard]

Veteran helicopter pilot and pilot for ABC7 Eyewitness News here in NYC, Captain Paul Smith was killed last night after he was hit by an out of control cab on 3rd Avenue and East 40st after leaving a restaurant following a birthday celebration. HIs wife was also injured.
More info go to http://www.7online.com

From all reports and from what I read this man was a CLASS ACT!! Just a nice, good guy.
They did a piece on him on the 6PM news and reporter John DelGiorno looked like he was going to cry he was that chocked up. John flew with him all the time and was in the air with him on 9/11.
Mr. Smith also flew for Island Helicopters back in the day and was a proud Veteran. One of his sons is an NYPD officer in the 75 Pct in Brooklyn.
In honor of Capt. Smith all the NYC ENG ships remained grounded today and sat side by side in a hangar at Linden Airport. Saw that on the news report and that showed how much respect his fellow pilots had for this man.
Very sad. Rest In Peace Captain.

[stuart schechter]

Although this was not an arial incident, this just continues the bad year for aviation. This is just sad and another reason why everyone should be more careful, as in not cutting people off. Just really sad RIP Captain Smith. You will be missed.

[hiss srq]

R.I.P. to him. I always looked up when that chopper came by over here. Sad that now I can put a face to it. Cab drivers in general are pretty out of control in this city though. That is why I find glee every time I see one get zapped by the police.

If you look at this article in the first paragraph it kind of looks like me or Mario wrote it. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=5695854