Military pilot brings in Apache helicopter for weekend air show

For Army Captain Dane Vranish, participating in the Glacier Park International air show, Mountain Madness '05, is more than a homecoming.

"It's a dream come true to be able to fly an Apache to my hometown," he says.

The captain, a 1990 graduate of Flathead High School, and a co-pilot will land an AH-64A Apache attack helicopter at Glacier Park International Airport on July 29 as part of the static display of military aircraft.

Returning to Kalispell on board an Apache is a long-held dream for the 33-year-old pilot.

"In high school, everybody, I mean everybody, knew I wanted to fly a helicopter. And to actually have gone through with it and bring this home …"

The pilot is the son of Sherry and Loren Vranish of Kalispell. He hopes flying into the Flathead Valley in one of the Army's premier fighter helicopters will make his parents proud, he says.

The helicopter will be an impressive sight on the tarmac during the airshow on July 30-31.

"It's a pretty cool rig," he says.

The Apache, designed for flying close to targets in a wide range of weather conditions day or night, will be the newest of the attack helicopters at the show. It is equipped with a gun, missiles and rockets.

"It's a tank killer," Vranish says.

The helicopter can travel at 180 mph just 20 feet above the ground.

The 1990 helicopter Vranish will land in Kalispell fired its first shots in 1991 during the Gulf War at Iraqi radar sites so fighters could come in undetected.

Vranish is a pilot and operations officer with the 1st Battalion, 183rd, Aviation Regiment at Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho, but he commutes there a couple of times each month from his home in North Carolina.

"During the week, I'm Mr. Mom," he says.

Vranish lives in North Carolina with his wife, Jenn, the rear detachment commander at Fort Bragg for her Army unit. She also pilots Black Hawk helicopters. The couple have two children, 18-month-old Lance and 3-month-old Holly. They plan to move to Idaho in December.

Vranish has been flying for 13 years, having gotten interested in flying because his oldest brother, Scott, flew F-16s in the Air Force. Scott Vranish now is a commercial pilot.

Dane Vranish learned to fly while a student at the University of North Dakota, but he did pick up one lesson while piloting a Cessna 172 near Big Mountain when he was in his early 20s.

He was approaching the mountain - with his parents on board - when he accidentally stalled the plane. He recovered quickly, and the Vranishes didn't even realize what happened.

"Never fly with your parents," was the lesson of the day, he jokes.

But that incident did teach him a pilot should approach a mountain at an angle, rather than straight on, in case it might stall. That tip will come in handy when he flies across mountainous terrain during a deployment he anticipates in the next year, he says.

Vranish served eight years with the Army, then took two years off and worked in pharmaceutical sales before joining again.

"I just decided it was time to pony up again and see if I could contribute," he says.

He started flying Apaches in September 2004 and previously flew Black Hawks when he was on active duty in 1995. He'll be on hand at the air show to answer questions about the Apache.

Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com.