FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- The Fort Rucker community mourns the loss of one of its own after an instructor pilot died in an incident involving an AH-64 Apache on a cross-country training flight April 28 near Monroeville.
Capt. Richard van de Perre, an instructor pilot with the Royal Netherlands Air Force, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The student pilot on board the aircraft was uninjured, according to the post public affairs office.
The incident is currently under investigation.
Van de Perre's Family held a private memorial service Monday, where close friends and co-workers gathered to remember the Aviator.
During a phone interview, van de Perre's unit commander, Lt. Col. Scott Halverson of 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment, remembered the fallen pilot.
"He was great," Halverson said, adding that the captain was an exchange officer from the Dutch Air Force who worked for his unit. "He was one of those guys who always seemed to have a smile on his face. He was always there to train student pilots and he loved doing it."
Halverson added that while van de Perre trained numerous Dutch pilots during his time as an instructor, he also trained pilots of other nationalities as well.
"I know he was a devoted husband and father with three grown step children," Halverson said. "He was very active in the community, proud of his U.S. citizenship and he loved the Wiregrass. This is a tragic accident - there is a Family without its husband and father. Keep his Family in your prayers. We will continue on with our mission - that's what Rich would want us to do."
CW3 Ney Torres, section leader with A Co., 3rd Platoon, 1-14th Avn. Rgt. and van de Perre's co-worker, echoed Halverson's thoughts.
"He was one of the most pleasant people to be around. He'd come in with a big smile on his face and usually a Subway sandwich and say those same words, 'What's up''" Torres said. "He was a knowledgeable, great instructor pilot. He had a lot of friends here. He always had a big smile on his face and words of wisdom to share. We're really sad we're not going to see him or talk to him anymore. We're going to miss him."
According to the brochure handed out at his memorial service, van de Perre joined the Royal Netherlands Air Force in 1997, graduated flight school at Fort Rucker in 1999 and served as an Apache pilot in the RNLAF until 2004.
In 2007, he rejoined the RNLAF as a captain and served in Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Fort Rucker as a liaison AH-64D instructor pilot for the RNLAF.
Described as a "gifted Aviator," van de Perre earned numerous awards during his career, including "Top Gun" honors in his flying squadron in 2000.
The brochure further described him as fluent in Dutch, English and German, and that he was very proud of his dual citizenship - receiving his American citizenship in December.
"He married the love of his life, Wilma, 11 years ago and was a wonderful stepfather and mentor to her three children, and especially enjoyed being an Opa (grandfather)," it read in the brochure. "He always had a smile on his face and never met a stranger. He was a man of many talents that could do any task he was given. He and his wife spent many days at their beach house and were always looking for different projects to start. He enjoyed working on computers and fixing up cars. Wilma and Richard loved ballroom dancing and were members of the Dothan Ballroom Dance Club."
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