Pilot killed in crash had been on a mercy mission

By Mary Manning

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 | 3:35 p.m.

The pilot killed Thursday when his plane crashed in a residential neighborhood had just delivered an aircraft to an organization that flies missionaries for work in Indonesia, his brother told the Sun today.

William J. Leahy Jr., 38, had 20 years of experience in the cockpits of 60 different models of aircraft, said brother Mike Leahy, of Northern California. Leahy had been on 36 mercy missions in his career.

"He was a great all-around guy," Mike Leahy said. "Definitely a family man."

Leahy leaves a wife, Susie, two daughters and a son, his brother said.

Leahy had taken off from the North Las Vegas Airport to fly to Palo Alto at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, but radioed the air control tower that an engine was running rough and that he was returning to the airport. The plane crashed about half a mile south of the runway, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

Leahy, owner of Bill Leahy Aviation & International Aerospace Solutions, Inc., based in Redwood City, Calif., had been contracted by Aeronet Supply in Gardena, Calif., to fly the Piper Navajo Chieftan to Palo Alto, his brother said.

Besides flying commercial ventures, Bill Leahy flew all over the world for Mission Aviation Fellowship, based in Nampa, Idaho. The Palo Alto Airport served as Leahy's base for long distance operations.

Leahy last week had flown a modified Cessna Grand Caravan to Honolulu, then continued to Papua in Indonesia, his brother said. That's a 40-hour, 5,500 mile one-way trip.

To ready the aircraft for its mission, Leahy designed and installed two 250-gallon fuel cells, enhancing the plane's twin 160-gallon tanks to keep it aloft for up to 18 hours, his brother said.

Leahy attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Moody Bible Institute's Missionary Aviation program.

After building a start-up general aviation maintenance business, Leahy decided to become a consultant and get involved in worldwide aircraft delivery after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"A life-long aviation enthusiast since before I could form the word 'airplane,' I come from a family that has been involved in various aviation endeavors since the 1950s," Leahy wrote on his Web site.

Leahy's father served in the U.S. Navy and worked for United, Western and Delta Airlines through his retirement in 1995.

His sister, Susan Leahy, is a 737 captain with Southwest Airlines based in Chicago.

"I'm the only member of the family who doesn't pilot," Mike Leahy said.