COUNTY : U.S. Will Study Crashes of Military Helicopters

At the request of Rep. Robert Badham (R-Newport Beach), Congress will investigate the crashes of the nation’s largest military helicopters in which 15 people have died in two years.

Badham requested the investigation of the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter two weeks ago after one from the Marine base in Tustin crashed near Twentynine Palms, killing four Marines.

Last week, on the day Badham announced the investigation, a smaller Air Force version of the helicopter crashed near Las Vegas, killing one serviceman.

A preliminary investigation into the Twentynine Palms crash revealed no mechanical malfunction, “and if this is the case,” Badham said, “it’s something that should be made public so we don’t lower the morale of the people who fly them and instill fear” in residents near the Tustin base, where 42 of the helicopters are stationed.

Badham said that during hearings last March before a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, he was given “very heavy assurances” by the Marine Corps and Sikorsky Aircraft “that all of the potential engineering difficulties had been isolated and fixed.”

“So when the May 9 crash occurred, I thought we would have to wait and see if it (the cause) was mechanical or human,” he added. “And if it’s mechanical, then we’ve got a much bigger problem on our hands.’

Four wrongful death lawsuits have been filed in Orange County courts against Sikorsky by the families of servicemen who died in the 1984 crash of a CH-53E near San Clemente Island and another accident involving a CH-53D off the coast of southern Japan in 1985.

The crew chief of the Super Stallion that crashed at Twentynine Palms made a tape recording before his death in which he described problems plaguing the CH-53E.

The Super Stallion can lift 32,000 pounds or carry 55 combat troops.

Times staff writers Steve Emmons, Bill Biliter and Jeffrey A. Perlman compiled the Week in Review stories.