Air Force Grounds H-3 Copters After 2nd Crash

The Air Force on Friday grounded its fleet of H-3 helicopters from all but emergency missions, describing the move as a safety precaution after two crashes this week.

The order was issued by the Military Airlift Command, which said it would allow H-3s to “continue to fly search-and-rescue missions but restrict all other flying until a thorough investigation has been completed.”

The flight restrictions affect 33 H-3s assigned to active duty Air Force units and 27 assigned to the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve, the command said.

The order follows a crash Sunday night in the Arizona desert in which 15 servicemen were killed. On Tuesday, another H-3 crashed in the ocean off Japan while on a routine search-and-rescue training mission, killing three.

In the previous six years, there had been four major accidents with the H-3, officials said.

The Air Force has said it has no evidence suggesting that the two crashes this week were caused by the same problem with the copter, nicknamed the “Jolly Green Giant.”

The helicopter also is flown by the Navy and Coast Guard. The Navy said it was aware of the Air Force’s action but had not issued any similar grounding order.

Earlier this month, the Air Force had temporarily grounded all of its H-3s for a one-time inspection of the main rotor head shaft nut, a huge nut that holds the rotor blade assembly to the main shaft.

That grounding was ordered after the Air Force said it had discovered that defective nuts had been received from a spare parts contractor. The Air Force said both of the helicopters that crashed this week had undergone those mandatory inspections and were flying with good shaft nuts.