Costa Mesa Copter Hit Other Craft : Investigator Says Newport Unit Had Taken Over Chase

The midair collision of two police helicopters last Tuesday occurred when one craft apparently returned to the pursuit of a stolen-car suspect moments after making a right turn and handing over the chase to the other helicopter, a federal investigator said Friday.

But National Transportation Safety Board inspector Jim Wall said he has found no explanation of why the Costa Mesa Hughes 500E police helicopter turned to resume the chase and rammed into the landing skids of a Newport Beach police helicopter.

“We don’t know why the Hughes 500 continued that turn and came right back on the pursuit again,” Wall said.

Struck From Rear

The Newport Beach helicopter was struck from the rear and behind by the rotor blades of the larger, faster Costa Mesa aircraft, Wall said. Both crashed, and all three men aboard the Costa Mesa copter were killed. Both men aboard the Newport Beach helicopter lived.

After interviewing the two men aboard the Newport Beach helicopter and examining the wreckage, authorities still have not determined the cause of the collision in the night sky over Irvine.

“I don’t think the aircraft was seen by the other aircraft, and we’re trying to find out why,” Wall said Friday. “The (helicopters’) lights appear to have been on. Maybe people just weren’t looking. Maybe (the lights) were masked by the lights from the city behind them.”

There are no Federal Aviation Administration regulations governing police helicopters, which operate on a see-and-be-seen basis.

“Unfortunately there is no (rule) book,” Wall said. “These are procedures pilots have just worked out with the other units. We don’t have a procedural book.

“It’s something that maybe we--organizations--should be looking at as far as rules,” he said. “Maybe there’s a better way of doing it. But I don’t know until we get all our facts in what we could have done differently to preclude us from having a problem.”

Wall said he still must interview witnesses who viewed the collision from the ground, and he has yet to examine audio tapes of helicopter radio transmissions.

But interviews with the two survivors of the collision have provided Wall with several pieces of the tragedy.

Moments before the collision, as the Costa Mesa helicopter approached the Newport Beach city limits in its pursuit of the stolen-car suspect on MacArthur Boulevard, the Costa Mesa crew turned over the chase to the smaller, slower Newport Beach copter, a Hughes 300C.

Newport Beach pilot Robert Oakley said the Costa Mesa aircraft radioed for him to “take over and come in low,” Wall said. Oakley watched the other copter pass, then fell in behind it at about 500 feet, Wall said.

“The (Costa Mesa) Hughes 500E then started a right turn, and it was at about the 2 o’clock position when they (the Newport crew) lost sight of it,” Wall said.

Took Over Pursuit

At this point, according to Wall, the Newport Beach copter’s two-man crew had clearly taken over the pursuit of the stolen-car suspect, who was continuing south on MacArthur Boulevard.

With Oakley flying the helicopter, Newport Beach Police Officer Myles Elsing operated the spotlights and watched the car about 500 feet below and to the right, Wall said.

“He (Elsing) caught something out of the corner of his eye and yelled,” Wall said. “About that time the impact occurred. He remembers looking down and seeing the cockpit of the Hughes 500E from Costa Mesa.

The Newport Beach aircraft lost electrical power and engine power on impact. Its right landing skid was sliced off by the Costa Mesa craft’s rotor blades.

“They were in the dark,” Wall said. “Oakley did a terrific job getting it on the ground. Here he is with no engine and no electricity. . . . After he got over that green, grassy field, he kind of lost altitude perception.”

Oakley told Wall that when the collision occurred he pulled back on the stick and climbed to about 600 feet before the craft began descending. Even though the helicopter was without power, the rotor continued to spin, slowing the fall, Wall said.

Meanwhile, according to Wall, the Costa Mesa copter had also lost engine power and one of its five rotor blades flew off, chopping off the craft’s own tail section. The three-seat, turbine-powered aircraft plunged to the ground in a fiery explosion, killing its two police crewmen and a civilian observer who was aboard.

About a quarter of a mile away, the Newport Beach copter was headed for a crash landing. Its crew tried to radio ground units, but the radio no longer worked, Wall said.

Jumped From Craft

“Elsing jumped out at about 10 feet from the ground because he knew he had extensive damage on the right side and was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get out if it rolled over on the right side,” Wall said.

Elsing also spotted smoke coming from behind him and feared a fire, Wall said.

Wall said that it would have been wise for Elsing to jump if there had there been a fire.

But there was no fire. A rupture in the oil supply had thrown oil onto the engine, causing smoke, Wall said.

When Elsing jumped, he was struck by the copter’s rotor blade, which cut his ear, slashed his flight helmet and left “extensive gashes” on his back, Wall said.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Wall said.

Elsing was released from Western Medical Center in Santa Ana Friday night.

Oakley made a “very good landing” in the soft sand and knee-high weeds of a field off Bonita Canyon Drive, east of MacArthur Boulevard, Wall said. The craft landed upright, but fell over on its right side. Oakley walked away from the crash and was treated at Western Medical Center, Santa Ana, and released.

The man being chased by the police helicopters was Vincent William Acosta, 19. He was arrested Tuesday night near his home in Anaheim. Thursday, he was charged Thursday with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Costa Mesa police copter crewmen James David Ketchum, 39, and John William (Mike) Libolt, 39, both of Costa Mesa, and the civilian observer, Jeffrey A. Pollard, 27, of Tustin.

On Friday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Borris said that Acosta told police after his arrest that “he had taken cocaine, heroin, PCP and alcohol right before the chase started.”

A jury conceivably could find a murder defendant guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter if convinced he was unaware of his acts because of intoxication, Borris said.

But Borris has no plans to reduce murder charges.

“He did not appear to be under the influence of any drugs or anything,” Borris said. “Witnesses saw him turn out the lights on the car. He admitted hearing the loudspeaker of the helicopters. He knew cops were chasing him. And he drove pretty well for 54 minutes until he blew a tire on the car.

“Could a man have driven like this, done all these things, being so intoxicated?”