05/03/2025
Shell 77. We remember. Here’s a toast.
Today, we raise a toast to honor the lives of TSgt. Herman Mackey, Capt. Mark Voss, and Capt. Victoria “Tory” Pinckney, lost on May 3, 2013, when Shell 77, a KC-135, went down in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
We say their names. We remember them.
Tory Pinckney was more than a pilot. She was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, athlete, baker, crocheter, and trailblazer. From her first flight in high school, she knew she was destined for the skies. She went on to graduate from the Air Force Academy in 2008 with a degree in Systems Engineering—married her classmate, Richard—and began a life of service and adventure.
She flew the KC-135 with pride, earned her Master’s in Psychology, and in 2012 welcomed her greatest joy: her son Gabriel. Seven months later, she deployed—and gave her life in service during that mission.
As a teenager, Tory wrote a paper on “Great Women in Aeronautics.” She ended it with:
“Hopefully one day I will be one of those great women who broke barriers and accomplished the unthinkable.”
Tory, you are.
With the blessing of her family, our master suite at Altus is named in her honor—The Tory Pinckney Suite—so that we can help ensure her legacy will never be forgotten.
Here’s to Shell 77.
We remember.
