$10-Million Suit Seeks Answers in Crash of Copter : Mother Says Son Who Was Killed Worried About Super Stallions

Lilly Arnette says her only son, Dulles, had been troubled for years about problems with Super Stallion helicopters he serviced at the Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station at Tustin.

When Sgt. Dulles H. Arnette died with three other Marines in a crash of one of the mammoth CH-53E Super Stallions last May near Twentynine Palms, his mother was the troubled one, wondering whether her son’s death could have been avoided if someone had listened to his concerns about the aircraft.

To force answers to her questions--and Dulles’--Lilly Arnette has filed a $10-million wrongful death suit in Orange County Superior Court against the makers of the CH-53E, the biggest helicopter in the free world.

The suit filed Thursday is the latest in a series of court actions by relatives of Marines who have died in crashes of the military transport aircraft.

The Super Stallions have been involved in 39 accidents in which at least 20 Marines have been killed and 17 injured.

A second Tragedy

For Lilly Arnette, Dulles’ death was a second tragedy. Arnette’s only brother had died in the Korean War, and she says she had no “good feelings” about Dulles’ announcement at age 17 that he was joining the Marine Corps.

Dulles enlisted “because I had no money to send him to college,” but he soon developed a passion for the Marine Corps and an expertise in helicopter maintenance, Arnette said. He became a top mechanic, rising to the rank of sergeant by age 25 and earning awards for his work as a crew chief with the controversial Super Stallion helicopters.

Two years ago, Dulles was on leave at his mother’s Silver Springs, Md., home when he again made an announcement that scared her.

“He told me there may be a lot of repercussions from something he did,” Arnette recalled. Dulles had watched a Super Stallion take off near San Clemente Island and then seen plunge into the sea, killing one friend and several acquaintances. He told her he had gone outside military channels, and talked to a private attorney about problems associated with the aircraft.

“He just didn’t feel comfortable because of the many accidents that they had,” Arnette said. “He had his own opinions that they weren’t safe and were in shoddy condition when they were received.

“I said, ‘You’re planning to stay in the Marines, Dulles; this is no good for you.’ ”

“He said, no, he would take his lumps. I don’t know what that meant, but I know he made up his mind that he was going to do it.”

Dulles spoke about helicopter problems with an investigator for Santa Ana attorney Mark P. Robinson Jr., who represents the widows of two Marines killed in the 1984 San Clemente crash.

In that taped interview,, Dulles talked about defective parts, faulty construction and mechanical breakdowns plaguing the aircraft.

“It’s getting worse,” Dulles said in the interview. “Everyone’s really edgy, everyone’s looking at things they didn’t look at before . . . and we’ve come across other things that have been wrong.”

Particularly Alarmed

Dulles was particularly alarmed when mechanics received four new helicopters with new hydraulic-pressure systems--improvements on a source of serious trouble previously.

“I got real upset then,” Arnette said Friday. “Because I figured well, hell, it was a problem that they knew about before.”

Dulles also testified before a secret subcommittee hearing of the House Armed Services Committee. A committee member, Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), recently called for the grounding of the helicopters to investigate a possible design defect.

Dulles’ obsession with the Super Stallion fleet presaged his own death on May 9, 1986. He and three other Marines were killed when a Super Stallion crashed as it was making a landing approach at the Marine Corps’ combat training center at Twentynine Palms.

An Navy investigation concluded that the cause was air crew error, and that there had been no mechanical failure.

Unequivocal Answers

That crash in the desert led Lilly Arnette to launch the suit that she hopes will reveal final, unequivocal answers.

The suit claims the helicopter was negligently designed and manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Technologies Corp. It also names LTV Corp., AM General, Parker Hanafin-Bertea Inc., Parker Bertea Aerospace Group and Bertea Inc., all of which built portions of the helicopter, according to Steve J. Weinberg, Arnette’s Indio attorney. Arnette is seeking $10 million in damages for the allegedly “wanton” conduct of builders.

The $20-million craft can lift 16 tons or carry 55 fully equipped soldiers. Forty-five of the Marine Corps’ fleet of 93 CH-53Es are stationed at the Marine base in Tustin.

The entire fleet was grounded in mid-February, but the copters have gradually been returned to service as inspections of suspect transmission assemblies are completed. Four of the Super Stallions are now flying.

Marine Corps officials have stated the helicopter has a relatively good safety record, and that continuous improvements have taken place.

Shoddy Workmanship

The helicopters were Dulles’ job, his mother says, but he never seemed to be able to stop worrying.

“Whenever we talked, he always mentioned those helicopters. Always. I mean always,” she said. “Shoddy workmanship, malfunctions--there was always some mention of the helicopter.”

Arnette refers to her late son as “a good Marine” who was also a “whistle-blower.”

“He said he felt somebody needed to speak out on the safety of those helicopters, since no one else had. He did. He gave them what he thought was the truth,” Arnette said.

Arnette says she had watched Dulles’ growing suspicions that no matter how hard he worked at servicing them, the helicopters might never be safe to fly.

“This is the reason that I’m trying to pursue this thing, because of his feelings,” she said. “He made people aware of what his feelings were. They just wouldn’t listen.”