A retired NYPD helicopter pilot who rescued people trapped on the roof of the World Trade Center after the 1993 terror bombing flew together with his pilot officer son for the first time in a Father’s Day tribute.
Carlos Sanchez and his son Randy took flight together Tuesday from the department’s Aviation Unit at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn — and The Post was along for the ride.
“It’s incredible that we ended up here,” said Sanchez as he looked down on Gotham from the passenger seat on one of the NYPD’s Bell helicopters, piloted by his son.
The fledgling NYPD pilot flew north from Brooklyn to Midtown, Manhattan, soaring at 800-feet and traveling about 100 mph, reaching the Empire State Building in about seven minutes.
Once at the iconic skyscraper, he flew sharp right turns around the building as part of the on-the-job training all new NYPD pilots receive.
“I still look up to my father to this day,” said Randy. “But as a kid it’s super inspiring to see your father have a job that not many people do.”
Seated next to Sanchez was NYPD pilot Anthony Daniels, who is the lead pilot in the unit, and trains the less experienced pilots.
“He has a private helicopter license so it’s more to let him fly from the right seat and I’ll just monitor and help him along,” Daniels said later of the younger Sanchez.
Also in the six-seat craft was Randy’s brother, Chris, who is also an NYPD police officer along with a Post reporter and photographer.
The elder Sanchez was a US Marine from 1978 to 1984 and helped secure the Panama Canal in the 1980s. He joined the NYPD in 1984 and served in the NYPD’s Aviation Unit for 14 years before retiring in 2002.
One of the highlights from the dad’s NYPD career was flying the larger Bell 412 to rescue people from the top of the WTC after the 1993 terror bombing.
“I was already a pilot in the unit, and we were flying the 412 and they were trying to blow up the World Trade Center,” he said. “That was the first time they tried to blow it up from the garage.”
He was one of several pilots who flew to the top of the buildings, landed and picked up panicked passengers who were trapped by heavy smoke in stairwells and couldn’t take normal fire exits. They were airlifted to Battery Park.
“We called up the other helicopters and we did a formation, and then we took turns,” Sanchez said, noting that they picked up about a dozen people. “We all coordinated everything by radio.”
The younger Sanchez served as a paratrooper in the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division from 2008 to 2013, and deployed to Iraq and Haiti. He joined the NYPD when he was 23 but didn’t become a pilot until he was 30 and works out of Floyd Bennett Field.
“It was always at the back of my mind, but at the age of 30 I decided to put myself to flight school,” he said. “That’s when I sat down, I said ‘I’m gonna do this.’”
His proud father added: “I say it’s better late than never.”
He’s equally as proud of his other son, Chris, 39, who also joined the family business and works as a cop in the 110 Precinct in Corona, Queens.
Randy’s mom died last year but they credit her with supporting their busy lives.
“My mother was also a huge inspiration, and one of my biggest supporters,” Randy said.
Chris plans to retire soon and give his dad’s shield, which he wears “with pride,” to his younger brother to keep at Aviation, he said.
“That’s where I think it belongs,” he said. “He’s paved his own way with his own shield, but this one belongs here.”