Nevadan’s son killed in Afghan copter crash

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 | 11:40 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The son of a Nevada man was among six airmen killed in a Pave Hawk military helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Maltz, 42, of St. Petersburg, Fla., a pararescue specialist with the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., was on an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter that crashed Sunday in stormy weather in southeastern Afghanistan.

Officials said the helicopter from the 41st Rescue Squadron, based at Moody, was on a mercy mission to help two injured Afghan children.

Air Force personnel visited Maltz's mother, Patricia Iverson, at her home in St. Petersburg late Sunday to break the news.

Iverson said that Maltz's father, John Maltz, lived in Nevada, but she didn't know where. Attempts by the Sun to reach Maltz, who Iverson said was in New York, were unsuccessful.

She said her son had been in the service for more than 24 years and was working on his discharge when he was deployed.

"He was a wonderful child and a wonderful father," Iverson said. "It's heartbreaking."

Maltz grew up in Long Island, N.Y., and loved to sky dive, ski and climb mountains, his mother said.

"He had no fear of anything," Iverson told the St. Petersburg Times. "The only fear he had was getting out of the Air Force. He never had a civilian job. He didn't know what he was going to do. He was fearful of not being able to get a job at 42."

Maltz, lived in Valdosta, Ga. His mother said he talked of leaving the Air Force and being near his sons, Kyle, 16, Cody, 12, who live with his former wife in Seattle.

On Monday, an Air Force press officer at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan said the cause of the crash was being investigated, but it was not believed to be the result of enemy action.

The crash occurred late Sunday, 50 miles southwest of Kabul and 20 miles north of Ghazni, Afghanistan.

Others reported killed in the crash were 1st Lt. Tamara Archuleta, 23, of Los Lunas, N.M.; Staff Sgt. Jason Hicks, 25, of Jefferson, S.C.; Senior Airman Jason Plite, 21, of Lansing, Mich.; Lt. Col. John Stein, 39, of Bardolph, Ill.; and Staff Sgt. John Teal, 29, of Dallas, Texas.

All were assigned to the 41st Rescue Squadron except for Maltz and Plite, who were from the 38th Rescue Squadron.