Military Orders Grounding of All CH 53-E Copters

Citing possible gearbox problems, the Navy and Marine Corps on Saturday grounded all CH 53-E Super Stallion helicopters, one of a series of trouble-plagued aircraft that have caused more than 225 deaths since 1969.

Lt. Col. Jerry Shelton said that, pending an inspection of main gearbox assembly parts on the No. 2 engine, there would be no flights of the CH 53-Es from the Marine Corps Air Station at the Tustin base, as well as other bases across the nation. There are about 45Super Stallions at Tustin, where local residents received word of the Marines’ decision about 1 p.m. The inspections are slated to begin in Orange County on Feb. 20 at the earliest, a base official said.

This is not the first general grounding of Super Stallions, which are manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. All of the military fleet of more than 90 CH 53-Es were grounded in December, 1984, after a crash at Camp Lejeune, N.C., that killed six Marines. The aircraft remained grounded until inspections had been conducted on a section of the tail rotors--a section thought to be at fault in the Camp Lejeune crash.

A Super Stallion that encountered mechanical difficulties was forced to set down in an Irvine field on Oct. 21, 1986. The most recent fatal crash involving a Super Stallion took place Jan. 8 near the Salton Sea, killing five Marines aboard. Since 1984, there have been five fatal accidents involving the CH 53-E, resulting in 20 deaths.

Shelton said that the gearbox inspections were unrelated to any of the Super Stallion crashes.

In November, 1985, the Pentagon issued flight restrictions on all CH 53-Ds and CH 53-As because of defective parts that could cause rotor blades to snap off in flight. This action effectively grounded all 181 of the aircraft until their rotor hubs could be inspected.

The other two military aircraft that have been involved in numerous fatal accidents are the CH 53-D Sea Stallion, a slightly less powerful version of the CH 53-E that is also manufactured by Sikorsky, and the CH 46-E Sea Knight, manufactured by the Boeing Vertol Co.

A Sea Knight from the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station crashed Friday in the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County, killing three Marines. The smaller, twin-rotor CH 46-E Sea Knight has been involved in seven major accidents since 1980, resulting in 43 deaths, including three resulting from a collision with a CH 53-A.

Shelton said the grounding of the CH 53-Es on Saturday had nothing to do with Friday’s Sea Knight crash.

Since 1969, the CH 53 series, including the A, D and E models--all manufactured by Sikorsky--have been involved in about 25 major accidents resulting in 186 deaths.

The CH 53-E, known as the “workhorse” of the Marine Corps because of its hauling capacity--it can lift 32,000 pounds, or 55 troops and a crew of three--began replacing the earlier CH 53-D and CH 53-A models in 1981.