Anthony Reece Has Rescued Over 250 Lost Park Visitors
Helicopter Association International announced this week the
winner of the 2007 Robert E. Trimble Memorial Award is Mr. Anthony
'Tony' Reece. Reece is the Pilot and Owner of Hi Line
Helicopters, Inc.
He has flown throughout the North Cascades, flying over
foothills, glaciers, and gaping crevasses, plucking countless
climbers off treacherous peaks. He has ferried trail workers,
scientists, dropped doctors on ledges and cliffs to stabilize
injured patients before hauling them out, and dropped buckets of
water to suppress wildfires.
Reece grew up around aircraft. His father helped build the
Darrington airstrip. After completing a stint in the military,
Reece earned an airplane pilot's license in 1956. Raised in a
family of loggers, he and his two brothers began their own logging
operation in the early 1970s. In 1972, Reece decided to learn to
fly a helicopter to support the business. He sought instruction
from renowned mountain pilot Carl Spee, owner and operator of
Alpine Helicopters, who taught him how to land and take off from
steep hillsides.
After he completed his flight training, Reece and his brothers
purchased a Bell 47 helicopter. The following year, Reece was hired
by the United States Geological Survey to fly research scientists
studying glaciers in the North Cascades. In 1978, he left the
logging company and purchased a Hughes 500 helicopter so he could
work on Mount Rainier (at 10,000 feet). Reece was then hired to fly
for North Cascades National Park.
Throughout Reece’s 51 years as a licensed pilot, he has
rescued and evacuated more than 250 lost or stranded park visitors
and performed numerous body recoveries. In the summer of 2004, when
a climber fell off the jagged north ridge of Forbidden Peak in the
middle of the Cascades and fractured both legs, it was Reece who
flew in the rescuer. Kelly Bush, district ranger and search and
rescue coordinator at North Cascades National Park recalled, "He
landed on a square no bigger than this, outlining half a picnic
table. If it were not for his quick response and skill, those
individuals would not be alive today.” Reece was the 2002
recipient of the HAI Pilot Safety award and was awarded a 25-year
HAI membership plaque in 2005. He embodies the spirit of this award
and many people owe their lives to his work.
All winners will be recognized at HELI-EXPO 2008’s annual
“Salute to Excellence” Awards Banquet on February 25,
2008