PILOT SALUTED

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/26/2001

KPRC-TV Houston last week aired a tribute to "Captain" Rod Hooks, the station's longtime helicopter pilot who was found dead in a trailer at a rodeo over the previous weekend. Hooks had competed in the cutting horse competition. The cause of the 55-year-old pilot's death was not immediately known and an autopsy was to be performed. Early speculation included carbon monoxide poisoning, but doctors were looking into possible complications from a blood clot resulting from a horse's kick.

Hooks was a retired Lt. Colonel and Vietnam vet who had won several medals. Flags at the station were flown at half-mast last week. The owner of his own helicopter company, Hooks had been flying for the station for more than a decade.