Navy Copter Crashes Near Ojai, Killing All 4 Aboard

SANTA BARBARA — A Navy helicopter on a training mission crashed Tuesday near Ojai, killing all four crew members, a Navy spokesman said.

There was no indication that the twin-engine UH-1N Huey helicopter was in trouble during the mission over Los Padres National Forest, said Lt. Cmdr. Don Lewis, spokesman for the Pacific Missile Test Range at Point Mugu. The helicopter was in the air about 30 minutes and the crew issued no “SOS” or “mayday” calls, he said. The cause of the crash, in a rugged canyon about five miles north of the Ventura County community of Ojai, is under investigation.

The four men, members of the Navy’s Antarctic Support Squadron, were stationed at Point Mugu Naval Air Station during the Antarctic winter, Lewis said. The crew supports the National Science Foundation and ferries supplies and scientists in and out of the foundation’s South Pole facilities.

“They were flying around the Los Padres National Forest to prepare for flights in the rugged terrain of the South Pole,” Lewis said.

Two of the crew members were pronounced dead at the scene and the other two died en route to Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, Lewis said. Their names were withheld pending notification of relatives.

The crash created a small brush fire in the forest’s Sisar Canyon, said Susan Mockenhaupt, fire information officer for the National Forest Service. Rescuers from the Forest Service, Ventura County Fire Department and the Navy all responded to the accident.