Biography

Dan Rudert, started his aviation career over 20 years ago in Salt Lake City, UT. At age 27, he started one of the nation's first private and independent helicopter ambulance services located in Page, Arizona. He was soon specializing in unprecedented night rescues in remote areas of Lake Powell and Grand Canyon.

Since then, Dan has served as both Chief Pilot and Director of Operations for Classic Helicopters, located in his home town of Salt Lake City where he still serves part time. While there, he flew in multiple capacities from fire fighting to helicopter skiing to being one of only 12 pilots in the United States, certified by the the US Forest Service for suspended human external load rescue missions (Bridger-Teton National Park, 1995 & 1999), quickly becoming one of the regions top mountain and precision long line pilots.

What most film pilots perform as action stunts on a controlled movie set, Dan Rudert has done in real life situations.

Dan currently makes Southern California his home, where he works as a helicopter camera and stunt pilot for the motion picture and television filming industry.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mark Henderson

In September 2004, the Genesis space probe will eject a capsule to Earth carrying fragile samples of the solar wind - particles spewed out from the Sun. The capsule's fall will be slowed by two parachutes, but its fast descent means the container must be caught in mid-air by a helicopter with a hook if a damaging impact with the ground is to be avoided.

He and fellow stunt performer Cliff Fleming have ben hired by the US space agency to carry out this difficult task.