Copters’ Messages Hold No Warning of Collision

A recording of the final minutes of radio communications from two police helicopters involved in a fatal collision over Irvine last week gave no indication that either pilot saw the other before the crash, authorities said Tuesday.

The tapes of three communications channels used during a 55-minute high-speed chase of a stolen car in which the helicopters were involved give no warning of the collision. The crash apparently occurred after one of the helicopters, a Costa Mesa aircraft, handed off the pursuit to the other, from Newport Beach, as the stolen car crossed municipal boundaries.

The tapes indicate the handoff went smoothly, said Costa Mesa Police Capt. Robert Moody, who added that the tapes demonstrated clearly that “procedurally, it was correct. Based on that, I don’t think we can really learn too much from them.”

Costa Mesa Police Chief David L. Snowden said Tuesday that the cause of the collision may never be known.

The actual collision becomes apparent on the tapes only by a 35-second silence after the final radio transmission from the Newport Beach helicopter as it pursued the stolen car down MacArthur Boulevard and across Bonita Canyon Drive.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Jim Wall agreed that the tapes proved to be of little help in determining why the collision occurred.

“There’s nothing on there to point a finger one way or the other,” Wall said. “We always listen just in case, but there’s really not much there.”

The NTSB’s investigation into the collision is continuing. Through interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses and by examining the wreckage, investigators so far have determined that the Costa Mesa helicopter hit the Newport Beach helicopter from behind and below. The Costa Mesa copter’s rotor blades took off the Newport craft’s landing gear.

Wall said, however, that it may never be known if the Costa Mesa helicopter was rising at the time it hit the Newport Beach chopper, whose pilots say they were in level flight.

Both Searchlights Used

Both helicopters’ engines were running at the time of the collision, and both had their searchlights on, Wall said.

At one point on the recording, Costa Mesa Officer James David Ketchum is clearly heard asking the crew members of the Newport Beach helicopter if they were in position to take over the pursuit as the fleeing car entered that city.

Either Officer Myles Elsing or Officer Robert Oakley, who was piloting the Newport Beach craft at the time, confirmed that they would take over the chase. Newport Beach police said they did not know which officer was handling the radio at the time.

Less than two minutes later, the helicopters collided and crashed to the ground near UC Irvine, killing Ketchum, Costa Mesa police pilot John William Libolt and Jeffrey Pollard, a civilian flight instructor who was permitted to ride along.

Elsing and Oakley survived when their copter went down.

Police finally captured Vincent William Acosta, 19, the driver of the car being chased, a block from his home in Anaheim. Prosecutors have charged him with three counts of second-degree murder.