3 Die When Marine Reserve Copter Hits Mountain Ridge

The wreckage of a Marine Reserve helicopter stationed at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and the bodies of its three crew members were discovered Friday morning in the mountains of eastern Orange County, where the craft had crashed the previous night on a training mission to Camp Pendleton.

The CH-46E Sea Knight slammed into a steep slope about 200 yards below a ridge top just within the western boundary of the Cleveland National Forest. Marine Corps officials identified the dead as Sgt. Bradley Baird, 27, of Irvine; Maj. William Anderson, 34, of Santa Ana, and Maj. Dudley Urban, 36, of Orange.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, Marine officials said. But two Trabuco Canyon residents said they saw the low-flying helicopter head straight into clouds shrouding the 2,300-foot ridge seconds before they heard the crash.

The craft was assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764, Marine Aircraft Group 46, which is based in El Toro but which belongs to the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, the Marine Corps Reserve wing, headquartered in New Orleans.

Unlike the controversial series of huge CH-53 Sea Stallion and Super Stallion helicopters manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, which have caused scores of deaths in crashes, the CH-46 series is a smaller, twin-rotor transport built by Boeing Vertol Co. In 1984, the helicopter had the lowest accident rate of any Navy aircraft.

“We noticed it flying over. I told (my wife) it was too low and shouldn’t be flying in this kind of weather. . . . He just flew right into the fog,” said Barry Klein, who lives about a mile from the crash site. He and his wife were walking their dog when the helicopter went down. “I heard a ‘Whoomp!’ and then the blades turning over twice.”

RECENT CRASHES OF CH-46 HELICOPTERS July, 1980 -- Two Navy men lost at sea when their CH-46 crashes in the Indian Ocean while on a routine supply mission. One crew member rescued. February, 1981 -- Six Marines killed when a CH-46 and a CH-53A are involved in a mid-air collision over the Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station at Tustin. All three crew members aboard the CH-46 were killed, and three of the four aboard the CH-53A died. March, 1982 -- CH-46 participating in joint maneuvers with South Korean forces crashes in mountains 200 miles south of Seoul, South Korea. Three killed. October, 1985 -- A CH-46 carrying 19 Marines crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and sinks shortly after taking off from the helicopter carrier Guadalcanal. Fifteen killed. February, 1986 -- Two Marines killed when their CH-46 plunges into the sea off the coast of the Philippine Islands. The pilot of the helicopter survived. August, 1985 -- Eight Marines died when a CH-46 crashes into the Atlantic off Norway while taking part in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise. February 12, 1987 -- Three Marines killed when a Marine reservist CH-46 helicopter crashes in the mountains near the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.