A local helicopter pilot who spent decades saving lives in Southern Nevada and in other parts of the U.S. has been recognized for superior skills in the air.
Gary Griffith, a now-retired helicopter pilot for Mercy Air that many knew as “Grif,” spent just over a half-century in the air, with roughly the last 15 years spent transporting critical patients across Nevada to hospitals in Las Vegas.
In his time off the ground, Griffith never missed a beat — going incident-free his entire career.
For this achievement, Griffith now joins the nearly 4,500 pilots that have earned the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award from the Federal Aviation Administration since 2003, when the program was implemented. The award is reserved for eligible pilots that have had “contributed and maintained safe flight operations” for at least 50 consecutive years.
In a phone interview, Griffith said emergency medical services (EMS) is the best mission for a helicopter pilot.
“A lot of times you actually do a good job, and the people in the back save a life,” he said. “That is a lot of fun. You go home at night thinking we did a good job today.”
Griffith estimated he had carried about 10,000 patients to safety and saw about 14,000 hours of flight time during his career.
Griffith and his crew, that included a nurse and a paramedic, flew missions as far north as Tonopah and as far south as Baker, California. The crew also made it out to Death Valley and Dumont Dunes. But most of the business came out of Desert View Hospital transfers to Las Vegas, he said.
Griffith commended his crew for the good work that they do.
“They do a really good job,” he said. “I wouldn’t hesitate to have any one of these guys in my crew work on me if I needed it.”
Where it all began
Griffith started out as a U.S. Army aviator during the Vietnam War. He attended flight school in 1967.
After Griffith got out of the military, he spent time flying support services for oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to gain flight time for a couple of years—later heading to Fort Rucker in Alabama to become a flight instructor.
After that, Griffith headed to Iran in the mid-1970s to train the country’s military how to be pilots. At that time, Iran was under the control of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, shah of Iran, who reigned from 1941-1979.
The job only lasted for a year, ending on a dramatic note.
“I did that for a year,” he said. “We got thrown out of that country, and we were held without our passports for 13 days.”
Along with him were his wife and daughter, who were also held without their passports.
Back on American soil, Griffith spent the next several years in the California and New Hampshire National Guards, spending time as a pilot and an instructor.
Prior to coming to Southern Nevada and working for Mercy Air, Griffith spent about 15 years at Boston Medflight, working EMS services. He landed in Pahrump in 2003.
Griffith honored
Griffith retired in October. In that same month, he was honored for his life-long achievements as a helicopter pilot by the FAA.
More than 100 of Griffith’s colleagues, friends, family and members of the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services, including chief Scott Lewis, packed the event room at the Mountain Falls Golf Club at the end of October.
“I’ve never worked with a more professional, competent group of people in my life,” Griffith said to the packed room.
“You always had my back. You always made my job easy. I’m thrilled to be here tonight, and I’m thrilled to call you my friends,” he said.
Griffith continued with a Johnny Cash-style song he’d prepared for what he and other pilots and crew members experience working 12-hour shifts, seven days on and seven days off. The crowd was enlightened by his words and laughed alongside him through the roughly three-hour event at the end of October.
Outside was a resounding sign that Mercy Air was present with three helicopters parked just across from the golf club. Planned for attendance of the event was Mercy Air 7 and three other transport helicopters.
During the event, many took to the podium after Griffith was presented with his award by a representative from the FAA.
Dorita Sondereker, administrative director of emergency services at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas remembered Griffith giving her a tour of Pahrump when she arrived in Southern Nevada in the ‘90s.
“I remember that you always got us all home safely,” Sondereker said. “All the pilots here got us home safely, so thank you.”
Several other speakers thanked him for the lessons he taught them and said he will be missed.
Contact reporter Jeffrey Meehan at jmeehan@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes