4 Marines Injured in Crash of Helicopter

A Marine Corps CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter participating in routine flight training crashed Wednesday in a rugged area of the Cleveland National Forest near Camp Pendleton, injuring four crewmen, military officials said.

The helicopter, which is based at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, went down at 1:15 p.m. near Margarita Peak in the Case Springs training area, said Cpl. Kent Fletcher, a Marine Corps spokesman.

“Initial reports state that the four crewmen received minor injuries,” Fletcher said. “They have been transported by helicopter to the Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital for observation.”

Crash Investigation

Fletcher said the cause of the crash was under investigation. The helicopter belonged to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161, Marine Aircraft Group 16, at the El Toro base.

The names of those injured were not released. Marine Corps spokeswoman Sgt. Deborah Bragatnini said that there were few details available of exactly what happened and speculated that it would be at least a day before an estimate of the damage to the helicopter could be made.

She did say, however, that after the helicopter crashed, the crew was rescued by another helicopter that had been flying in formation with the one that went down.

The crash site is about 12 miles northeast of the San Onofre Nuclear power plant south of San Clemente, a spokesman for the Cleveland National Forest said.

The CH-46 Sea Knight, which is considered the workhorse of the Marine helicopter force, was hit by a string of accidents last year that killed eight Marines and slightly injured 22 others.

Flew Into Ridge

Two of those crashes which killed seven CH-46 crew members occurred at night, and the pilots were wearing night vision goggles. The goggles designed for ground troops have been criticized by some pilots who say they don’t work. In February, a pilot with night vision goggles flew into a cloud-shrouded ridge eight minutes after taking off from El Toro. Those killed in the crash were Marine reservists.

The second crash in September killed all four aboard when the helicopter plowed into the ground in a remote part of Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. The crash occurred at 9 p.m. in hazy conditions. Military officials said the pilot was wearing night vision goggles when the crash occurred.

In November, one Marine was killed and 22 others, including two sailors, were injured when their CH-46E helicopter lost power and crashed into an amphibious assault ship as it attempted to make a precautionary landing. Witnesses said the helicopter lost power before the crash, which left the aircraft dangling on the side of the Peleliu. The helicopter was still there when the 820-foot vessel pulled into Long Beach.

The worst accident happened in 1985 when a Sea Knight carrying 19 Marines plunged into the Atlantic Ocean after taking off from the helicopter carrier Guadalcanal. Fifteen Marines died.

Another CH-46 was involved in a mid-air collision with a CH-53A helicopter in 1981 over the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. Six Marines riding in the two aircraft died in the crash.

The helicopter, made by the Philadelphia-based Boeing Vertol Co., is generally praised for its safety record. It is used by the Marines mostly as a troop mover. It looks almost like the Army’s CH-47, but it is half the size.

The Marines hope to replace the aging CH-46 with a new tilt-rotor aircraft being built by Bell and Boeing. The V-22 Osprey can take off, land and maneuver like a helicopter, but cruise like a turboprop airplane.

The first full-scale model of the Osprey is scheduled for testing this summer, according to industry spokesmen.