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Mechanic with aviation passion dies

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published February 24, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Work started at 4 a.m. for Billy Borcherding, the Sheriff's Office aviation mechanic.

In the early hours of the morning, in the cool air of the hangar, the solitude was uninterrupted. Mr. Borcherding could get in five hours of work without a single person talking to him, which is all he really wanted.

An intensely private man with a passion for helicopters, Mr. Borcherding died Wednesday after nine months with lung cancer. He was 51.

Up until the end, he wanted to work.

"He felt like he was letting us down by not being able to be there," remembers Michael Coburn, the department's chief pilot and a friend of Mr. Borcherding. "He was a behind-the-scenes hero."

Billy Borcherding.

Billy Blackhawk.

Billy B.

He got into flying at the age of 3 when he put wings on the handlebars of his tricycle. At 17, he was already helping to repair helicopters. That launched a 13-year career in aviation for the U.S. Customs Service.

During the Persian Gulf War, he moved overseas to teach the Saudi Arabian Air Force - an assignment he took to pay for college for his two daughters. And when he returned to the United States, he decided on the job working for the Hernando Sheriff's Office.

For 12 years, he served as the director of maintenance for the aviation unit, inspecting, rehabbing and rebuilding the helicopter fleet, which now consists of two working helicopters and one more that he was in the process of constructing.

"He was like the perfect employee. The guy gave you 110 percent and never complained about anything," said Sheriff Richard Nugent, who was in charge of operations when Mr. Borcherding was hired.

"He didn't want any recognition," his wife Doris said. "He did it because he liked it."

Billy B was obsessed with his job.

If he and his wife were going away on vacation, they had to stop at the hangar on the way out. He'd take calls about the birds at any time of night.

In between cancer treatments - at a time when he could barely walk - Mr. Borcherding dragged himself to work to go over the helicopters. He told the doctors from the start, his wife remembers, that the day he quit would be the day he died.

And he did all of it in the same understated manner.

"I bet there's not a total of 20 people at the Sheriff's Office that knew him," Coburn said.

That was the way Mr. Borcherding liked it.

In addition to helicopters, he loved motorcycles, animals and his family.

Last year, Mr. Borcherding and his wife celebrated their 30th anniversary by renewing their vows in Key West.

They had two daughters together - Charlotte, 30, and Christina, 25, both of Jacksonville - as well as five grandchildren.

"When he was dying he did not want them to feel the pain so he told his family and children not to be around," his wife said. "He was not one to squander money. He said the only ones making money were the funeral homes," so he asked not to have a funeral service.

All he wanted was his ashes sprinkled over the sea.

His favorite expression, according to Coburn: "Sleep is overrated."

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6114.

[Last modified February 23, 2007, 21:16:20]