2015 — March 10, US Army Blackhawk Helicopter Crash, Gulf off Navarre Beach, FL– 11

— 11  Assoc. Press. “Flight crew killed in Fla. Military helicopter crash identified.” 3-16-2015.

— 11  NYT (Wolfe and Alvarez). “Army Helicopter Carrying 11 Crashes in Florida.” 3-11-2015.

— 11  Town Talk (Gannett Co.). “General: Helicopter crew tried to abort mission.” 3-14-2015.

— 11  USA Today (Robinson). “9 bodies ID’d in Army helicopter crash, Guard says.” 3-12-2015.

 

NYT, March 11 report: “Navarre — Search teams on Wednesday recovered remains from…crash of an Army helicopter that went down while carrying seven Marines and four soldiers in foggy conditions during a training exercise near Eglin Air Force Base. in the Florida Panhandle. ‘All we can say at this time is that some human remains have washed ashore, and we have also recovered some aircraft parts,” an Eglin spokesman, Mike Spaits, said. “Right now, the fog is hampering our cause, and there is an ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the crash.’…

 

“The Marines were part of a special operations regiment from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and the four soldiers, the aircrew, were members of the National Guard’s 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion out of Hammond, La., an Eglin spokeswoman, Sara Vidoni, said. They were conducting the training mission at one of the base’s range sites just east of Navarre Beach when the helicopter disappeared at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

 

“Helicopter debris was first spotted at 2 a.m. and continued to wash up on the strip of beach, which is owned by the military, on Wednesday morning….

 

“The helicopter, a Black Hawk, took off from an airport in Destin on Tuesday night, and it joined another Black Hawk as part of the training mission.

 

“The second helicopter returned safely to the base, which is about an hour away from Pensacola, Fla. Ms. Vidoni said that base officials had no more information on the missing personnel, and that they were investigating what might have caused the crash….”

 

CNN, March 11: “….The Black Hawk was first reported missing during foggy conditions at about 8:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. ET) Tuesday. Hours later, at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, searchers found debris around Okaloosa Island near Eglin, base spokesman Andy Bourland said. This debris washed up on both the north and south sides of Santa Rosa Sound, which connects mainland northern Florida and a barrier island.

 

“The Air Force, Coast Guard and civilian agencies participated in an intensive search focused on where they believe the aircraft went down, in waters east of the town of Navarre and the Navarre Bridge and near Eglin testing range site A-17….

 

“The UH-60 helicopter wasn’t alone when it went down. A second Black Hawk — assigned to 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion based in Hammond, Louisiana — safely returned to the base, some 40 miles east of Pensacola. The aircraft were both assigned to the Louisiana Army National Guard out of Hammond and taking part in what the U.S. military called a “routine training mission involving the Marine Special Operations Regiment” out of Camp Lejeune….

 

This week’s crash involved a UH-60 Black Hawk, a twin-engine helicopter introduced into Army service in 1979 in place of the iconic UH-1 Huey. Other branches have modified the Black Hawk for their own uses, including the Navy’s SH-60 (the Sea Hawk), the Air Force’s MH-60 (the Pave Hawk) and the Coast Guard’s HH-60 (the Jayhawk). The Army’s UH-60 helicopter, which has a maximum speed of 173 mph, has an airframe “designed to progressively crush on impact to protect the crew and passengers,” according to the service.” (CNN (Greg Botelho and Jason Hanna). “Human remains found after Florida crash.” 3-11-2015.) [Shown on the day accessed is a map showing the search area.]

 

USA Today, March 12: “The bodies of all but two servicemen have been recovered after an Army helicopter crash off the Florida Panhandle, military officials said Thursday. Divers also have found the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that went down in heavy fog, but weather could continue to hamper recovery efforts. Four Guardsmen and seven Marines died after the helicopter crashed in a Tuesday training exercise. The bodies of the two remaining Guardsmen are believed to be inside the aircraft, which was reported missing around 8:30 p.m. CT Tuesday as the area was under a fog advisory, Louisiana National Guard officials said in a press release. The nine other bodies have been identified and families of all 11 troops notified.

 

“Divers found the helicopter in several pieces at the bottom of the Santa Rosa Sound 25 feet underwater at about 9 a.m. Wednesday as heavy fog continued to blanket the area… The aircraft hit the water at a high rate of speed, causing it to break apart, at a time of almost no visibility from the fog, he said. A second helicopter participating in the same training mission decided to turn around because of the weather and landed safely….” (USA Today (Kevin Robinson). “9 bodies ID’d in Army helicopter crash, Guard says.” 3-12-2015.)

 

Town Talk, March 14: “….Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of Marine Corps special operations forces, has said those aboard the aircraft had tried to abort their mission when they decided it was too risky. Military officials won’t speculate on a cause other than to say a second helicopter flying Tuesday aborted its mission just after take off when weather conditions turned poor. A black box recording device was on board the helicopter, because it was a new model, and is expected to provide some answers….

 

“Osterman said the Marines had been flying offshore earlier in the day Tuesday to practice rappelling down ropes into the water and then heading for land. “They literally had done it hours before in daylight as part of the rehearsal for being able to do the nighttime operations, which inherently are more difficult,” Osterman said. It was a judgment call by the Marines and National Guard in the helicopters as to determine whether or not to proceed with the mission, Osterman said.

 

“The probe into the crash is being led by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, based in Fort Rucker, Alabama….

 

“The fallen include:

  • Army CW4 Strother, a Pineville native who was one of two pilots on the helicopter, had served overseas tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan;
  • Marine Staff Sgt, Marcus Bawol, 27, of Warren, Michigan;
  • Marine Trevor Blaylock of Orion Township, Michigan;
  • Marine Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn of Queens, New York;
  • Marine Kerry Kemp of Port Washington, Wisconsin;
  • Marine Master Sgt. Thomas Saunders of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina;
  • Marine Staff Sgt. Andrew Seif of Holland, Michigan;
  • Marine Capt. Stanford Henry Shaw III of Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

 

“All of the Marines were from the 2nd Special Operations Battalion of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The four National Guardsman are from the 1/1-244th Helicopter Assault Battalion stationed at Hammond.

 

“National Guard soldiers each did two tours in Iraq and joined in humanitarian missions after Gulf Coast hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill off Louisiana, Guard officials said….” (Town Talk (Gannett Co.). “General: Helicopter crew tried to abort mission.” 3-14-2015.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Flight crew killed in Fla. Military helicopter crash identified.” 3-16-2015. Accessed 3-23-2015 at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-military-helicopter-crash-crew-identified-20150316-story.html

 

CNN (Greg Botelho and Jason Hanna). “Human remains found after Florida crash.” 3-11-2015. Accessed 3-11-2015 at: http://www.news4jax.com/news/us-world-news/military-helicopter-crashes-in-nw-florida/31730148

 

New York Times (Kalyn Wolfe and Lizette Alvarez). “Army Helicopter Carrying 11 Crashes in Florida.” 3-11-2015. Accessed 3-11-2015 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/us/army-helicopter-crash-florida.html?_r=0

 

Town Talk (Gannett Co.). “General: Helicopter crew tried to abort mission.” 3-14-2015. Accessed 3-23-2015 at: http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2015/03/14/general-helicopter-crew-tried-abort-mission/24784351/

 

USA Today (Kevin Robinson). “9 bodies ID’d in Army helicopter crash, Guard says.” 3-12-2015. Accessed 3-23-2015 at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/12/helicopter-crash-florida-army-training/70201280/