In her four years with the company, pilot Alisa Danielle Howell had made an impression on her colleagues at HeloAir charter service.
“Alisa’s professionalism was exceeded only by her enthusiasm for life and her loving nature, which infected everyone around her. She was our colleague, pilot and, first and foremost, friend. She will be deeply missed, though never forgotten,” company spokepersons posted on their Web site this week, in the wake of Howell’s death in the crash outside Dagsboro on Thursday evening that also killed developer and philanthropist Josh Freeman.
The entire HeloAir Web site had been removed from view, in favor of a memorial for Howell, who was 30 and the general manager of HeloAir’s Washington, D.C., office, as well as a pilot for the company.
HeloAir is described as the largest helicopter charter management company in the Mid-Atlantic. In addition to standard charter flights, including special NASCAR race charters, their services include transportation for disaster relief and organ transplants, and aerial photos and film for television news.
“With HeloAir, you are free to travel exactly wherever and whenever you desire. We respond to you and your specific needs rather than clinging to a predetermined schedule,” the company’s information reads.
“Our staff is composed of highly skilled and dedicated professionals who are committed to the highest quality in passenger service. HeloAir mandates an extensive safety program that combines years of experience with continuous training and a strict schedule of inspection and maintenance of our helicopters.
“Each one of our pilots and maintenance technicians undergoes recurrent manufacturer training, bringing to the field first-hand knowledge of the latest techniques and safety procedures gained right from the source.”
Howell was not only licensed to fly helicopters for commercial purposes but also to teach helicopter piloting, though she did not hold an instrument flight rating (IFR). She had experience flying charter and life-flight runs and doing television traffic flights, as well as instruction.
According to the Web site for helicopter training school Helicopter Adventures, Howell graduated from Helicopter Adventures in 2000.
In a statement featured on the school’s “Success Stories” page on its Web site, Howell said, “After working as a flight instructor for 6 months and at 500 flight hours I was hired by a flight school in North Carolina as an instructor. …
“After several months I then found work with a small company based out of Sarasota, Florida. The contract I was on was a bank check run contract out of North Carolina flying in the OH-6 and Bell 206B3 helicopters. I flew approximately 4 hours a day and covered 348 miles. I popped in and out of off airport locations of the bank processing center parking lots.
“I gained lots of experience flying in hot, humid weather where flying around thunderstorms is the norm. In flight instruction, if you don’t make a certain flight today, you can always make it tomorrow. In the commercial world, if you don’t make the flight today, you’ve lost out on that profit forever. Here I learned the importance of always putting safety first! I also was given the chance to fly 5 hours in the Bell 407 with the Charlotte Police Department.”
“At 1,750 hours of flight time (1,200 turbine) I am now flying for a truly fantastic company called HeloAir in Virginia. HeloAir has Bell 206B, L. and 407 aircraft. I have been given the opportunity to fly life-flight missions for the company as well as NASCAR flights where we fly the drivers and team owners to and from the racetracks.
“My primary job is an ENG contract in Norfolk flying in the Bell 206B3. I enjoy this most of all because I see something different every day and I am always in the air to see the really exciting events in the area.
“I have never been happier in my life! I encourage everyone who wants to fly helicopters to enroll right away. It is a hard journey, but you won’t be sorry.”
Philip Greenspun, a pilot who had flown as a passenger with Howell during her time flying for HeloAir as a television traffic pilot, recalled his time with her this week, noting her as one of only a few hundred female commercial helicopter pilots in the U.S.
“I remember that Alisa had studied English at the University of Washington before deciding to train towards a career as a helicopter pilot. She was a good writer, took care of two dogs, and had a wry sense of humor,” Greenspun said. “She would have stood out in most crowds, but even more so at the airport, where she was an attractive, slender, stylish young woman in a world of mostly beefy, older, slobbish guys.”
“I remember that Alisa was more cautious than the high-time guys at HeloAir with whom I flew later in the week,” Greenspun said. “She also was a very capable and thorough pilot. It is a real shame to lose someone like this.”
Memorial services for Howell were set for Dec. 19 in Glen Allen, Va. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial gifts to: The Richmond SPCA, 2519 Hermitage Road, Richmond, VA 23220; or Central Virginia Chapter National MS Society, 2112 West Laburnum Avenue, Suite 204, Richmond, VA 23227.