Cheater Bella

Jean mentioned Cheater so here is an article from  2003  about Cheater Bella.

March 13, 2003

Helicopter pilot goes down with CEO of Amazon

By Jim Conley
El Paso Times

Famous El Paso pilot Charles "Cheater" Bella, who helped rescue El Pasoans whose plane crashed two years ago south of Juàrez, has survived a helicopter crash near Alpine with only "a little scratch on his head," his wife, Carrol Bella, confirmed Wednesday.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com chief executive officer, and two other people were Bella's passengers on the flight last Thursday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. No one was seriously hurt.

Cheater Bella, 57, who was acquitted of any wrongdoing after he was forced at gunpoint to try to rescue several inmates from the New Mexico prison at Santa Fe in 1988, was flying Bezos and two other passengers last Thursday when "they caught wind shear, right by a cliff," Carroll Bella said.

The Gazelle helicopter was destroyed shortly after taking off at an airport south of Alpine when a strong wind blew it into trees, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger told Reuters news agency.

The helicopter then crashed in a nearby stream, Carrol Bella said from the Bellas' Bear Aviation office in Northeast El Paso, where they live. She said her husband has "flown off" for a few days and was unavailable for comment.

Bezos was treated for minor cuts at a hospital and released. Elizabeth Korrell of Seattle suffered spinal compressions, for which she was also was treated. The other passenger, Ty Holland of Fort Davis, suffered only minor injuries, Vinger said.

"Everybody was OK," Carrol Bella said. "But the helicopter? It was totaled. I don't even want to talk about it."

Amazon had no comment on the crash, though spokesman Bill Curry said of Bezos, "He's fine; we are business as usual." CNBC reported Wednesday that Bezos might have been in West Texas looking at property.

Cheater Bella came to El Paso with the military as a young man and earned his nickname, he said, by racing cars on the East Side. If you beat other drivers, they figured you were cheating, he said in 2001.

But his fame grew in the 1980s. He's helped with films made in El Paso, including Chuck Norris' "Lone Wolf McQuade" and Nick Nolte's "Extreme Prejudice."

He piloted his Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopter in "Rambo 3." It was the same one he flew in a botched 1988 prison escape when he was kidnapped.

 

More Cheater Bella photos.

Comments

[Charles Baudelaire]

I enjoy your blog very much. IMHO it's the only blog here that has enough content to justify its existence as something other than a bored reporter's bully pulpit.

I would very much like to see an article sometime explaining all the many miles of abandoned development west of town near Horizon City. Perhap[s the story is familiar to natives but I've always been curious how such an extensively planned development could just be completely abandoned.

Again, thanks for your blog.

[Val]

I also would like to see more on the development east of El Paso. I was out there last week and did see activity, including small planes and vehicles at "Wallace Town" (made up of western looking buildings which were actually picked up and moved by trucks from thier original location further west on Montana). I also noticed a statue of a horse at the entrance which seemed rather new. Is there still activity/development going on?

[media reader]

Cheater Bella is an amazing man who has lived an amazing life. Print more about him.