Pilot error blamed in death of ex-teacher
Maj. Phyllis Pelky died in Afghanistan
The cause of an October 2015 British helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed U.S. Air Force Maj. Phyllis Pelky, a former Rio Rancho teacher, has been attributed in part to “a loss of situational awareness” by the two pilots.
That’s according to a story in the military and corporate affairs magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly in summarizing a just-released report from the United Kingdom’s Military Aviation Authority.
The report said the two pilots and rear crewman of the Royal Air Force Puma HC2 helicopter failed to see a security balloon tethered to the ground over Camp Resolute Support near Kabul. The camp is the headquarters for NATO’s training and support mission.
According to the report, the pilots were “fixed” on looking toward their left after losing sight of their lead aircraft as they were preparing to land, and didn’t see the danger of the hovering balloon.
The helicopter’s tail rotor
struck the tether, causing a “catastrophic failure” of the tail-rotor drive shaft, Jane’s said in quoting from the report.
The resulting crash led to the deaths of five people on the aircraft, including Pelky. Four others were injured but survived.
The Puma HC2 is a four-bladed, twinengine utility and transport helicopter.
Pelky, 45, was a former German and humanities teacher at Rio Rancho High School. She had been serving as an aidede-camp to the superintendent of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and was assigned to the Academy’s headquarters staff.
Academy spokesman Ray Bowden told the Journal on Thursday that Pelky was deployed to Afghanistan, where she “managed personnel support teams for hundreds of service members and civilians, and local gender integration efforts for the Afghan air force.”
Born in Evergreen Park, Ill., Pelky attended the University of New Mexico, where she received a bachelor’s degree in education and then taught at Rio Rancho High School. The 9/11 terrorist attacks motivated her to enroll in Officer Training School, Bowden said. Upon completion, she was commissioned as a second lieutenant and headed the Equal Opportunity Office at Kadena Air Base, Japan.
After pursuing her master’s degree at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, she was assigned to the Air Force Academy as an assistant professor of German. There, she came to the attention of the Academy’s leadership, which led to her selection as aide-de-Camp to the Academy superintendent. Bowden said.
Pelky was buried at Academy Cemetery. Survivors include her husband, Dave Pelky, sons Zach and Alex, and six siblings, he said.