CH-3E crash 12 March 1989.
RIP, guys.
Richard
An Air Force helicopter crashed Sunday in the desert on a night training mission, killing all 15 people aboard, the authorities said today.
Workers at the crash site, in an uninhabited area 20 miles northwest of Tucson, recovered the last bodies late this morning after using a crane to move the burned-out wreckage, said Capt. Carlos Roque, a spokesman for the Davis-Monthan Air Force base, where the helicopter had refueled.
The CH-3E helicopter, with 4 Air Force crew members from the base, went down on a clear, moonless night while ferrying 11 soldiers, the authorities said. Goggles Ruled Out as Factor
A witness said he saw what appeared to be flames from the helicopter before it crashed. Another said the helicopters were flying very low.
Captain Roque said that the cause of the crash was under investigation but that the crew's use of night-vision goggles, the subject of criticism after previous crashes, was not a factor.
Captain Roque said that in previous crashes involving the goggles, the aircraft were on low-level flights or close to other aircraft.
Another helicopter was in the area, Captain Roque said, but the two craft were not close to each other. He said he did not know exactly how far apart they were flying. He also said they were flying above the minimum altitude set by the Federal Aviation Administration but could not specify the minimum limit for the site or the helicopter's level before the crash. Trip to Gunnery Range
Captain Roque said the helicopter, made by the United Technologies Corporation's Sikorsky Aircraft Division, was transporting the soldiers, stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., from Fort Huachuca to the Air Force's Gila Bend Gunnery Range, 200 miles away.
Since 1978, 37 of 41 Army helicopter crashes in which night goggles were used occurred when there was not enough moonlight for the light-amplifying devices to work properly, The Orange County Register reported Sunday. Those crashes killed 65 soldiers when mechanically sound helicopters flew into mountains, oceans, lakes, trees and power lines, the California newspaper said. There have been calls in Congress for an investigation into the goggles' use.
The Army's policy of flying under overcast and moonless nights with night-vision goggles has never been cited as a contributing factor in a crash in military records.
Sgt. Jill Archer identified four of the victims as Lieut. Col. Lawrence M. Rolle, 41 years old, of Phoenix, the reserve squadron commander who was flying as co-pilot; Maj. Donald D. Thomas, 42, of Tempe, the pilot; Master Sgt. Malte Breitlow, 45, of Tucson; and Tech. Sgt. William E. Slaven, 37, also of Tucson.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/14/us...n-arizona.html