Sea Search for Fallen Copter’s Crew Called Off

Four Marines from the El Toro air base were presumed dead after military officials called off an intense sea search Sunday night for an assault helicopter that went down during a training exercise about six miles off Oceanside, officials said.

The CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed at 9:26 p.m. Saturday, shortly after taking off from the decks of the Juneau, a Navy amphibious transport and assault ship based in San Diego, according to Navy Lt. Megan Mason.

The Marines, Navy and Coast Guard teamed up to search throughout Saturday night and Sunday for survivors in the deep waters off the coast, Mason said. Some debris and a portion of the fuselage were found, but no trace of the flight crew, officials said.

At 8:06 p.m. Sunday, military officials called off the search, saying they had exhausted all possible means of finding survivors and that the search would not be continued today.

A Marine spokesman said names of the crew were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

The Sea Knight is a 45-foot, double-engine helicopter first used in the Vietnam War. For years, the helicopter has been a versatile assault, transport and search craft. But now the Sea Knight is among the oldest aircraft in U.S. military service.

Military officials have conceded that a substitute is needed for the 238 aging Sea Knights still in use by the Marines, and a plan is in place to replace the 31-year-old model with the V-22 Osprey by 2001.

The crash happened one year to the day after a CH-46 went down during training, killing a Santa Ana native aboard. Lance Cpl. Jose L. Elizarraras, 20, was among the 14 Marines who died when the Sea Knight helicopter collided with an AH-1 Cobra assault craft in North Carolina.

The cause of the incident Saturday remains under investigation, according to Marine Gunnery Sgt. Lee Tibbets, a Camp Pendleton spokesman.

Mason said she did not know if the pilots were flying with the assistance of night goggles. The light-amplifying goggles can distort vision and have been investigated as a possible contributing factor in dozens of accidents since the 1970s.

More information about the circumstances surrounding the crash will become apparent as an investigation proceeds, Mason said.

“These are things that will come out in the investigation, but right now our priority is to get our people back,” Mason said earlier Sunday.

The four-member crew was part of an El Toro Marine Corps Air Station helicopter squadron serving a six-month stint with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton, according to Sgt. Chris O’Leary, a spokesman at El Toro.

The crew was involved in routine exercises to prepare for a coming six-month deployment, Mason said, adding the exact nature of the exercise was unclear Sunday.

The Juneau was the lead ship in the search for the 24,300-pound, double-rotor helicopter. It was joined by helicopters, teams of divers, three Navy ships and a group of Coast Guard patrol boats, Mason said.

Safety upgrades and other augmentations have been underway in recent years to keep the Sea Knight in service, while restrictions have lowered its speed and passenger limits. Much of its equipment is obsolete, and many of its parts are no longer made.

Other recent incidents involving the CH-46 include:

* A Marine Corps helicopter that had carried reporters accompanying President Clinton’s campaign rolled over and burned at an Orlando, Fla., airport last Sept. 6.

* The same day, a second Marine CH-46 accompanying the president made a “precautionary” landing south of Orlando after a warning light lit up, possibly indicating hydraulic system problems.

* A Camp Pendleton corporal was killed and three other Marines were injured last Aug. 19 after their CH-46 caught fire in midair and was forced to make an emergency landing about 25 miles from Kuwait City.

* In 1989, 14 Marines were killed when their CH-46 crashed as it took off from the Denver in the seas south of Okinawa. The helicopter was taking part in a night training operation.

* Four days before the Okinawa crash, two El Toro Marines were killed when their CH-46 crashed in the Nevada desert.

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Marine Copter Crashes

The search continued Sunday for a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that crashed Saturday night off the coast of San Diego County.

Length: 45 feet

Width: 12 feet

Height: 16 feet