Pilot-in-Command on Williams Flight: We Weren’t Fired On at All

A pilot on Brian Williams‘ 2003 Iraq helicopter said on CNN Thursday afternoon that they had taken some fire (though not the RPG fire Williams had claimed), but a man identifying himself as that helicopter’s pilot in command says they weren’t fired on at all.

The pilot on CNN, Rich Krell, had said Williams got it partly wrong but “whatever.” But pilot in command Chris Simeone has a piece in The New York Post tonight saying that his account and Williams’ are wrong.

He writes, “Our flight to Objective Rams was uneventful, with the exception of a desert dust storm that caused deteriorating conditions not suitable for flight.”

The aircraft that was fired on, Simeone says, was nowhere near them, and they only learned it was fired on when they landed. He goes piece-by-piece through what Williams had repeatedly said about the events of that day, saying that each is simply not true.

Williams had told David Letterman two years ago that the captain on his helicopter got injured and received a Purple Star. Simeone writes, “I was the pilot in command of the aircraft carrying Brian Williams. I do not have a Purple Heart, and my ears are just fine.”

You can read his full piece here.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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