Report: MH-53 crew confused before crash

[unhappycamper]

Report: MH-53 crew confused before crash
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 2, 2008 6:38:04 EDT

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Navy helicopter crew members were confused about their location when they clipped a 1,000-foot television tower in a January accident that killed three men aboard the craft, according to a military accident report.

Investigators attributed the Jan. 16 crash of the MH-53E Sea Dragon from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to a “loss of situational awareness” and blamed on the crew’s misinterpretation of the navigation information and cloud cover.

Radio transmissions from the helicopter showed that before the crash the crew believed the helicopter was 9 miles closer to town, and thus clear of the tower. The helicopter was flying too low when it hit the broadcast tower during night training exercises.

Killed in the crash were co-pilot Lt. Joshua Gross, 30, of New York; aircrewman Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander LeMarr, 25, of Colorado; and Petty Officer 2nd Class David Davison, 22, of Oklahoma. Pilot Lt. Cmdr. Howard B. Fabacher, 36, was injured, the Caller-Times reported in its Wednesday edition.

The crew was not medicated or intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to the report obtained by the Caller-Times through the Freedom of Information Act.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_mh53_crash_100108/%2e