Danielle is one of the newer members of the Classic team, coming on board in March of 2020 as an EMS pilot at our Los Alamos base in New Mexico. She may be new to Classic, but Danielle is no stranger to the skies.
After growing up in Southern California and graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1996, Danielle served in the Air Force, beginning a career that would soon take her all around the world. But she almost went down a very different career path – entering the Academy as a biology pre-med student before deciding she’d rather spend her next 10 years sitting in a helicopter than a classroom.
Danielle’s time with the Air Force brought her to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, rescuing people from glaciers, out of wrecked cars in crevasses, and off of oil tankers at sea. It was her experiences working civil rescue in Iceland that inspired her to pursue a career in air medical.
Danielle joined the New Mexico National Guard where she remains part-time today, before landing a full-time position at the University of New Mexico’s helicopter program where she worked for three years. Eventually, one flight brought her to Taos Hospital, where she struck up a conversation with one of Classic’s pilots who spoke highly of the company’s community involvement and search and rescue work. It wasn’t long before Danielle “found her people” on the Classic team, and counted herself as a new member of the family. In just a few months at Classic, Danielle has already undergone snow-ops training in Woods Cross, Utah and rescued somebody off of the Kwage Mesa in New Mexico.
When she’s not flying, Danielle is a full-time mom to her 13-year-old son Kai and 10-year-old daughter Paige. They spend their time enjoying any and all things outdoors, including rock climbing, skiing, hiking, backpacking, and paddleboarding, proving this self-proclaimed outdoorsy mom trained her children well!