'Black Hawk Down' Pilot Speaks for Pegasus in Lead-Up To Legal Battle (Videos)

Head Flyer for Aviation Company That's Suing Green Cove Springs

May 16, 2023

Dan Jollota returns to his seat after speaking before the Green Cove Springs City Council on June 7, 2022. (Screenshot, City of Green Cove Springs video) Inset, a profile shot of Jollota as a special forces pilot for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment of the U.S. Army.

Watching the video below, you might get the sense that Chief Warrant Officer Dan Jollota (ret.) would rather have been speaking to a gathering of soldiers.

One of U.S. aviation history’s most decorated pilots, Jollota made his local debut on June 7, 2022 during a public hearing before the Green Cove Springs City Council. Green Cove wanted to annex 14 acres of Clay County land so it could change the zoning for construction of a four-story, 260-unit apartment complex.

Jollota is head pilot at Pegasus Technologies which is headquartered at Reynolds Industrial Park and flies several aircraft from a runway there. Pegasus, which has been linked to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, opposes the new apartments for safety reasons.

Despite Pegasus’ opposition, the City Council approved the annexation and rezoning by a 4-1 vote shortly thereafter. Then Pegasus sued Green Cove in Florida state court, seeking to have the rezoning quashed. The lawsuit turned out to be an expensive surprise for the city, as first reported here.

Jollota’s testified from a pilot’s point of view. He told councilors that any landing from the west would require an approach that will take aircraft directly over the proposed apartments. He spoke for about five minutes.

Jollota’s greatest test came during the disastrous 1993 U.S. incursion into Somalia. It happened during a 20-hour firefight, known as the Battle of Mogadishu, which cost 18 American lives. Jollata’s helicopter was ferrying Army Rangers to rescue survivors from a downed Black Hawk helicopter when it too was struck by a rocket propelled grenade.

This from the U.S. Army’s official website:

"An RPG has a very unique sound," Jollota said. "There was no doubt in my mind I had been hit by something pretty heavy. Fear took over, so I immediately took in power and I was getting out of there. My crew chief in the back saved the Rangers' lives. He screamed at me, 'Sir, you've got to stop. We've got Rangers on the ropes.' These poor guys were hanging on to the fast ropes for dear life as I picked this thing up to a hover. The crew chief talked me back down into the hover hole. We got those Rangers off and we took off."

After the drop-off, Jollota nursed his damaged helicopter back to base, a feat someone said was like driving a tractor-trailer for miles over a sheet of ice. Shortly after his arrival, Jollata climbed into another helicopter and returned to the fight, flying a total of 18 hours that day.

“If you don't think personal relationships are important, keep this in mind—there would be no Rob Phipps if it wasn't for Dan Jollota," said Phipps, one of the Rangers who fast roped into Cliff Wolcott's crash site from the CSR Black Hawk. "Because I was one of those guys on the rope."