Danial Moore, Hero Pilot In Drexel Hill Medical Helicopter Crash, Released From Philadelphia Hospital
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A hospital sendoff to lift the spirits of a local hero. Emergency responders, hospital staff, family, and friends lined up to honor helicopter pilot Danial Moore as he was wheeled out on a stretcher and released from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia."I am pretty sure God was partly on the controls for that one," Moore said Sunday.
Moore was seriously injured when the medical aircraft he was flying crashed on the front lawn of the Drexel Hill United Methodist Church. Also on board, a 2-month-old baby, nurse, and flight medic. They were headed from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to Children Hospital of Philadelphia. All survived."I don't really remember much of anything," Moore said. "I remember waking up and seeing a whole company of firefighters looking down at me, that's a really good feeling."
Moore also praised flight medic Kevin Chaffee, who was caught on camera after the crash carrying the baby girl from the wreckage."I remember my flight medic Kevin Chafee taking a 2-month-old baby and handling it off to safety and grabbing the fire extinguisher and then taking the baby on an ambulance to finish the mission to the hospital, which I thought was completely amazing," Moore said.Moore's fiancé was also by his side Sunday, in awe over his quick thinking and skillful maneuvers that saved countless lives.
"What happened that day was not short of a miracle," Gail Miller said, adding, "When I talked to my children, I told them there were two pilots in that aircraft that day, Dan and God and how he missed the church, power lines. No one in the ground was injured. There was some divine intervention in there."Despite all the attention and a long recovery ahead, Moore remains humble."It's been very overwhelming," he said. "I always tell people [that] I drive the bus, and the heroes are in the back working on the patient."
