Copter Crash Reports Stir a Futile, Two-Hour Search

County and military rescue teams conducted a massive two-hour search near Coto de Caza on Tuesday night after residents reported that a helicopter might have crashed near Dove Canyon.

Searchers found no sign of a crash and gave up the search after officials from El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station confirmed that all of their helicopters were accounted for.

Sheriff’s officials said they could not explain what the residents saw, but theorized that it could have been flares set off during training exercises at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

“We found nothing. Apparently Camp Pendleton was doing some flare activity on the base, and because it was a clear night outside, they were able to see it from that distance,” said Mark Stevens of the Orange County Fire Department.

Officials at Camp Pendleton, however, said it is unlikely that any flares used on the Marine base could be seen in Orange County.

The search began about 6:30 p.m. after several residents called the Sheriff’s Department and reported seeing a fire in the sky, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Richey.

Three helicopters from the Sheriff’s Department, the El Toro Marine base and the Los Alamitos Reserve Station were used in the search, which centered mostly in the canyon areas from Coto de Caza to Ronald Caspers Regional Park near Ortega Highway, Richey said.

“Some people were quite adamant about seeing something on fire in the sky, and we have to go with the idea that there was something there,” Richey said.

In an unrelated incident, an A-6E Intruder jet from the El Toro Marine base landed safely Tuesday after an electrical fire broke out in the cockpit nine miles southwest of the base.

A Marine spokesman said the canopy of the all-weather attack bomber was released after the fire was discovered. It fell into an uninhabited area.

The pilot, Capt. Mark Wilcox, 33, of Fallbrook, and the bombardier, Capt. John Stevens, 31, of Los Angeles, were uninjured.

The cause of the accident is being investigated.