CW4 Michael Gomez visits home in special way

When Michael Gomez learned he was going to be doing some flight training on the west coast, he decided to surprise his parents in Santa Paula with a flight into the Santa Paula Airport, his hometown. CW4 Gomez called his parents, Nancy and Mike Gomez, Friday morning to say he was coming to visit, but he didn’t fly in just any old aircraft, he arrived in his U. S. Army Blackhawk helicopter, flying over the city before landing at the local airport.

His unit, out of Clearwater, Florida, had packed four of their helicopters aboard Air Force C5A’s for the flight from Ft. Rucker, Alabama, to California, where they unpacked, put them back together, and flew over to Ft. Hunter Liggett for training exercises in preparation for an assignment to Afghanistan. On assignment in Afghanistan, he and his group will be flying medical Black Hawks.

Joining the Army pilot for lunch at Logsdon’s were his brother Tony and other friends.  It had been nearly four years since he’d been back to visit his family in Santa Paula.