FayettevilleNC.COM -- Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton was ''doing everything right'' when her helicopter was shot down Friday in Iraq, one of her instructors said Monday.

''With everything that crew was doing right, they shouldn't have been shot down,'' Philip Schmiesing said. ''That proverbial silver bullet caught them.''

Schmiesing, 45, is a chief warrant officer four with 4,500 flying hours. He is the standardization instructor pilot for Hampton's unit, the 1st Squadron of the 17th Cavalry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.

Hampton, 27, of Easley, S.C., was killed in Fallujah when her two-seat Kiowa Warrior helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire and crashed.

''It's an environmental risk,'' Maj. Mark Teixeira said. ''Everything that can be done to avoid this, we do. You consider the number of sorties we do. This is the second Kiowa to be shot down.''

Hampton was one of two women pilots deployed with the squadron, he said.

''She was a person who loved life, who loved doing her job, was very professional and excited about being a scout pilot,'' Teixeira said. ''She was the kind of person people gravitated to, a natural leader.''

Teixeira, 35, who is the squadron executive officer, worked with Hampton for a year and a half at Fort Bragg and in Afghanistan.

The squadron plans to have a memorial service for Hampton today in Iraq, where about two-thirds of the squadron is deployed, Teixeira said.

''We are all saddened,'' he said. ''This is our first loss of a pilot. It gets your attention when you think it could have been you or when you think of the loss to the country as a whole, a young vibrant person. The only consolation is we knew she was doing what she loved.''

Last summer, Hampton took command of the squadron's Delta Troop, which has eight helicopters and 30 soldiers, including 15 pilots. As troop commander, her call sign was Dark Horse 6.

''She quickly prepared them for combat operations,'' Teixeira said.

Her job was to analyze the unit's strengths and weaknesses and to work with her instructor pilots to develop training plans, he said.

''She did it extremely well,'' Teixeira said. ''When they deployed out of there, none of her soldiers were hesitant about following her into combat. They were all confident in her leadership ability.''

The cavalry squadron serves as the ''eyes of the division,'' out front, seeing what enemy forces are doing. In Iraq, the squadron is performing security missions, searching for enemy forces and helping provide security for convoys.

The Kiowa is a ''very technical aircraft'' and pilots have a ''hard mission'' working communications systems, the mast-mounted camera and digital links that can be used to call in artillery strikes, Teixeira said.

''I've flown with her several times in some of her training,'' Schmiesing said. ''She was actually very proficient, both tactically and technically, very knowledgeable in the tradecraft.''

Hampton loved to fly, which is always good in the job, Schmiesing said.

''She was right up there with the best that I've flown with for her hour level,'' he said. Hampton had about 700 hours of flight time, which is normal for a troop commander, he said.

Schmiesing said he respected Hampton even more as a leader.

''It seemed she truly cared for her soldiers and her family members,'' he said. ''It's almost like losing a family member. She treated everybody that way.''