The mother of a Vermont helicopter pilot killed in Iraq last year is disputing an Army report that says pilot error caused the crash. Dorothy Halvorsen is pushing for the Army to release more information about the crash that killed her son, 40-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Erik Halvorsen of Bennington on April 2 of last year.
The Army report concluded that the pilot became disoriented while flying at night and hit the ground. Dorothy Halvorsen told the Bennington Banner the co-pilot was flying the helicopter at the time it went down, but even so her son had over 4,000 hours of flying experience and could have taken over in an emergency.