Family, airmen pay tribute to fallen Nellis pilot
They called him Capt. Wiz. Skrabble. The Trivializer.
Or, just Dave, the cool, calm pilot from the farmlands of western Iowa; a brother, a son, a friend, a fiancé. His goal in life was to rescue people from danger.
In the end, after he accomplished that goal hundreds of times, he gave his life, as the rescue motto says, "that others may live."
That's how his family and fellow airmen of the 66th Rescue Squadron remembered Capt. David A. Wisniewski, the 31-year-old Nellis Air Force Base pilot who died from injuries July 2, more than three weeks after his Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in a hail of rocket-propelled grenade fire while trying to rescue soldiers in Afghanistan.
Two other Nellis airmen were killed in the crash: 1st Lt. Joel C. Gentz, 25, of Grass Lake, Mich., and Staff Sgt. David C. Smith, 26, of Eight Mile, Ala. Also killed were Tech Sgt. Michael P. Flores, 31, of San Antonio and Senior Airman Benjamin D. White, 24, of Erwin, Tenn. Both were assigned to the 48th Rescue Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
"We called Wiz, 'Skrabble,' spelled with a 'k'. He often had trouble spelling ... on the white board," his weapons school instructor, Lt. Col. Michael Harper, told a crowd of 600 Thursday inside the Thunderbirds hangar at Nellis. "Yet, when I think back, I realize he may have done it on purpose to distract his instructors. This tactic allowed him more time to think on his feet because frankly he was that good, he was that smart.
"More times than not, he instructed me."
Capt. Jennifer Aupke, who served with him and saw him before he died in the Bethesda, Md., naval hospital, said he "was never flashy or loud. But he was everything you ever needed as a friend."
"Dave made everything seem so easy. He was so calm, I gave him a nickname. I called him the 'Trivializer,'" Aupke said. "Everything I thought was so big, Dave made seem so small. One day when he made me especially upset, I made sure to tell him that's what I called him, the 'Trivializer,' and he laughed.
"We laughed together. He laughed at me more and then told me to calm down. And without missing a step, he hopped in and helped me solve that problem that I thought was so important and so big."
David Anthony Wisniewski was born June 27, 1979, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. While growing up in Moville, Iowa, he played football at Woodbury Central High School.
He injured his knee his senior year but refused to leave the game, his older brother, Craig Wisniewski said.
Craig Wisniewski and his girlfriend, who were trainers for the team, went on the field.
"She goes, 'David, you're done. You don't have any ligaments to hold your knee together,' " his brother said.
"He looked at her and goes, 'Be quiet and get out of my face because I'm getting back into the game.' And so be it, he went back into the game."
Craig Wisniewski said Dave had his sights set on flying helicopters ever since their grandfather took them to Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
"As we left, he tugged on my grandpa's shirt tail and said, 'You know what grandpa? One day I'm going to do that. I'm going to fly one of those things.' "
Growing up, he was fond of the movies "Top Gun" and "Iron Eagle." That's when he decided to apply for the Air Force Academy.
"His goal was to become a pilot for the greatest Air Force in the world," his brother said. "He was so focused on that goal that he only applied to one college his senior year and that was the Air Force Academy. How he knew he was going to get in, I'll never know.
"He was motivated and let nothing get in his way to reach that goal. He loved his job, the people he worked with and believed in the motto. ... He was loved by his family, his friends and his true love, Melissa," referring to his brother's fiancée, Melissa Sandberg.
David Wisniewski is survived by his parents, Chet and Beverly Wisniewski, of Iowa, and brothers, Craig and Matt.
He will be buried Aug. 23 in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
