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AGAINST ALL ODDS Three years ago, flight nurse Dave Repsher was burned over 90 percent of his body in a post-crash fire. Now, he’s finally ready to share his incredible story of survival and recovery. 64 VERTICAL magazine By Elan Head Photos courtesy of Amanda Repsher Dave Repsher’s memory of the accident is spotty. It was Friday, July 3, 2015, the beginning of a Fourth of July weekend that had brought throngs of visitors to Summit County in the Colorado Rockies. The weather was promising, with a moderate breeze and scattered clouds in a sunny blue sky. For Repsher, a flight nurse with Flight For Life in Frisco, Colorado, it was simply another day at work. Nothing that happened that morning struck him as eventful. Around 1:30 p.m. local time, Repsher strapped into the left aft seat of the Flight For Life helicopter, an Airbus H125, at the Summit Medical Center Heliport. Seated across from him in the cabin was flight nurse Matt Bowe; at the controls of the aircraft was pilot Pat Mahany. The three of them were headed just a short distance west to Gypsum to make an appearance at a Boy Scout camp. Because it wasn’t a medical mission, “there was no urgency,” Repsher recalled. “The takeoff — the run-up to it — nothing seemed out of the ordinary.” But at some point during or immediately after takeoff, Repsher realized that something was wrong. Surveillance camera footage of this moment shows the helicopter starting to turn counterclockwise as it lifts from the ground; the rotation continued as it rose higher in the air. “Matt and I looked at each other, and he got on the intercom and asked Pat if we were OK, and we didn’t hear any answer,” Repsher said. “I was sitting in the left seat and I could see how hard Pat was working, and Matt and I looked back at each other and just cinched down our belts and hung on.”