Pilot Says Brian Williams' Helicopter Did Take Enemy Fire

Now the pilot from Brian Williams' helicopter says they did take enemy fire, just not an RPG.

Image via NBC

Maybe Brian Williams' bad-ass story about being on a helicopter in Iraq wasn't as far from the truth as some have said. 

On Wednesday, the celebrity dad, rap star and NBC Nightly News anchor apologized for the inaccurate story he'd told on the air a few nights earlier about being on a helicopter that was hit with an RPG in 2003. That apology came after crew members from that chopper called bullshit, telling Stars and Stripes that Williams was "nowhere near" that aircraft or the danger that day, and actually arrived an hour later with a different group of helicopters. 

Now the pilot of the helicopter that Williams was on tells CNN that they absolutely did take enemy fire and they were much closer to the helicopter that was hit with the RPG than others have suggested.  


“Mr. Williams was on board my aircraft. We took small arms fire. All I know is one RPG was fired. It struck the lead aircraft, which was about what we call six rotor disks in front of me,"  the pilot, former chief warrant officer Rich Krell said. “The door gunners (on Williams' helicopter) were returning fire. M60s are very loud. The pings of the bullets hitting us…there were only a few, but it’s a distinct sound. ... We were all scared. That’s the truth…He was there at the time of the attack.”

Krell said that Williams was right to apologize for saying he was onboard the helicopter that was hit by the RPG, and he could understand why the crew members on that helicopter "took issue,"  because "that’s a life-or-death situation they walked away from."

In his apology, Williams said "the constant viewing of the video showing us inspecting the impact area (of the RPG) -- and the fog of memory over 12 years -- made me conflate the two (helicopters), and I apologize."

[Via Deadline]

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