Pilot From L.A. Was on Shot-Down Helicopter : Tragedy: Erik Mounsey’s family says he loved aviation since boyhood, when he watched planes fly over their Westchester home. Army warrant officer was to leave Mideast next month.

Erik Mounsey fell in love with flight when he was just a kid.

At his Westchester home near Los Angeles International Airport, he would spend hours studying the jumbo jets as they roared overhead. He knew the planes by name. He could identify them just by the sound of their jet engines.

“That was the beginning,” said Sarah Mounsey in an interview from the Westchester home where her son was raised. “He was fascinated by airplanes. He knew when he was very young that one day he would fly.”

Army Warrant Officer Erik Mounsey was aboard one of the two Blackhawk helicopters downed last week by American fighters in a “no fly” zone over Iraq, his family said Saturday. Twenty-six people died when two F-15 fighters apparently misidentified the Blackhawks as Iraqi aircraft.

Military officials have not publicly identified Erik Mounsey as among those killed in the incident. But family members said they have been officially notified by the Defense Department that the 28-year-old Westchester High School graduate is among the dead. Although they were not told what he was doing on the helicopter, his family believes he was one of the pilots.

“There was nothing Erik wouldn’t try,” said his older brother, John, who joined his parents Saturday as they sifted through photo albums and traded stories about Erik. “He was the epitome of ambition. He would follow a dream, whatever it was, and he’d do it all the way.”

His mother said Mounsey had been in the Middle East about a month but would not discuss his duties there.

For as long as anyone can remember, Mounsey’s dream was to soar through the sky.

He had other interests as well. He was a straight-A student who liked to surf and ski. He married his high school sweetheart, Kaye, a few years ago. At their wedding, Mounsey wore a pair of black leather shoes with the word “Top” scrawled on the left sole and “Gun” scrawled on the right.

Ironically, family members say Mounsey did not fancy himself a “Top Gun” fighter pilot.

Although his code name was Maverick and he dreamed of being an Air Force pilot, he transferred to the Army so that he could fly humanitarian aid missions.

“He wasn’t the type who thought he could just pull the trigger and knock someone down,” Sarah Mounsey said.

At his Germany post, Erik Mounsey was known for dressing up as Santa and passing out presents to children on the base. In the Middle East, Mounsey flew aid missions that helped feed Turkish children.

John Mounsey said his brother wanted to pilot Coast Guard helicopters when he got out of the Army in a couple of years. He was scheduled to leave the Middle East next month.

“Erik wouldn’t hurt anybody,” he said. “He was a good kid who just wanted to help other people.”

Family members said they are hoping to find out why the two helicopters were shot down. They say they are angry at the lack of response to their questions about the incident.

“There are a lot of questions I have that probably will never be answered because of the bureaucratic red tape,” John Mounsey said. “It’s so maddening because there is nothing you can do.”

For now, the family is left to make funeral arrangements.

Sarah Mounsey said she wants to bury Erik in a Santa Monica cemetery where she buried her first son, a boy named Keath who died in 1960 before Erik and his brothers were born. Kaye Mounsey, and the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Natasha, are expected to return to Los Angeles next week with Erik’s remains.

Sarah Mounsey said she last heard from her son last week when she celebrated her 61st birthday. He sent a birthday card and a letter. And he called just to let her know he was OK.

She spent Saturday looking at old photographs of her son. And she cried a lot.

“I’ll pick up the pieces like I did after my first son and I’ll go on,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure how, but I’ll go on.”