Browsing: Ryan Iannelli

COMBAT OUTPOST PAYNE, Afghanistan — When you step off a helicopter at this dusty outpost, you’re immediately asked to recall a hero. The airfield is named after Capt. Ryan Iannelli, 27, an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot who died here Sept. 28, 2011, following an aviation mishap. As colleague James K. Sanborn outlined in a story early this year, an investigation found that a faulty landing pad led to Iannelli’s Cobra crashing within seconds of takeoff. I snapped the photograph above after stepping off an MV-22 Osprey at Iannelli Airfield last week, when I arrived at Payne. I’ve never met him,…

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