Copters Collide, Kill 2 El Toro Female Marines

Two female Marines from El Toro Marine Corps Air Station were killed Saturday when their CH-46 Sea Knight collided in the air with another helicopter during a routine training maneuver over the desert east of Reno.

The helicopter carrying the victims broke apart in the air; the other sustained only minor damage and was able to land normally, officials said.

Five of the other seven Marines aboard the two helicopters were injured in the 8 a.m. crash, which occurred 8 miles east of the Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada, military officials said. All of the injured were able to walk away from the crash.

The two dead Marines were identified as Sgt. Brenda L. Schroeder, 29, and Cpl. Lisa D. Tutt, 22, both of Santa Ana. Schroeder, a Marine field radio operator whose hometown was listed as Baltimore, was a full-time Marine in the 4th Marine Air Wing. Tutt, listed as a unit diary clerk, was a part-time reservist.

Sgt. Constance Boerst of the wing’s public affairs office said she could not confirm that Schroeder and Tutt were the first female Marines to be killed in a helicopter training accident. Both, according to Boerst, were on their first “indoctrination flight” in a CH-46 at the Fallon base, about 60 miles east of Reno.

“She looked at the Marine reserves as a challenge,” said Tutt’s best friend, Shirlane Palmer, who was consoling Tutt’s parents, Martin and Louise, at their home in Santa Ana. “She enjoyed it and was very excited about this training exercise.”

Palmer said Tutt went to La Quinta High School in Westmin-

ster, where she was a member of the school’s drill team. She joined the Marine reserves in 1984. “Make sure you put in your story that she was a real special person,” Palmer said.

The injured Marines who were treated and released by military doctors were identified as Col. George J. O’Connell Jr. of Mission Viejo; Lt. Col. W. Tom Reid of Lake Elsinore; Maj. S.P. Toth of Irvine; Maj. Warren E. Jones of Laguna Hills and Staff Sgt. P.L. Gauthier of San Juan Capistrano.

Col. Dave Underwood, commander of the Marine Corps reserve contingent at El Toro, said the cause of the accident was being investigated. He added that both helicopters were operated by highly trained and experienced pilots. Underwood said three CH-46 helicopters from El Toro’s Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764 flew to Fallon a week ago to participate in a 14-day exercise nicknamed “High-Roller.” The exercise is designed to test the combat readiness of the 4th Marine Air Wing.

Underwood said the two helicopters were at about 1,000 feet in a tactical formation and the skies were clear when the accident occurred. One of the aircraft broke in half after the crash, but the other helicopter sustained only minor damage and was able to land normally. There was no fire after the crash, and officials said the morning accident did not involve the use of controversial night-vision goggles.

Underwood said the two aircraft were not involved in the “High-Roller” exercise when the accident occurred at Grimes Point, east of Fallon.

Underwood said the crews in the Sea Knights were using their time away from the exercise to fulfill other training requirements.

Capt. Katie Haddock said 31 Marines from El Toro were taking part in the exercise to test the readiness of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, the Marine Corps nationwide reserve wing, headquartered in New Orleans.

A little more than 2 years ago, a Sea Knight belonging to the El Toro reservist group on a nighttime mission crashed into a cloud-covered hillside only minutes after taking off from the Marine Corps Air Station. All three crew members were killed in the crash. The helicopter crew was training with night-vision goggles when they ran into the 2,300-foot-high ridge.

The accident was one of a string involving Army and Marine helicopter pilots using the controversial goggles. The nighttime crashes led to a congressional investigation that is still under way.

Military officials said 1988 was one of the safest years ever in Marine Corps aviation. But so far this year, a string of accidents, including those in France, South Korea and the United States involving Marine Corps helicopters, has claimed the lives of 30 Marines. Officials said the rate of fatalities is higher this year than last, but exact figures for 1988 were not immediately available late Saturday.

“Accidents seem to happen in bunches,” said Lt. Col. Fred Peck in Marine Corps headquarters in Washington. Last year, he said, the Marine Corps went a record 126 days without a fatal aviation accident.

The Sea Knight helicopter, which is nearly identical to the Army’s CH-47 Chinook but only half the size, was developed nearly 30 years ago as a Marine troop transport aircraft. The helicopter also is capable of lifting equipment, weapons and supplies, and can serve as a search-and-rescue aircraft. It was the Marine’s main assault helicopter during the Vietnam War. The latest model, the CH-46E, is expected to reach the end of its service life during the 1990s.

The aircraft, built by Boeing Vertol of Philadelphia, can cruise at 140 m.p.h. for 160 nautical miles. The 84-foot-long aircraft carries two pilots and one crew member.

HELICOPTER CRASH Two El Toro-based Marine Sea Knight helicopters collided during a training mission in Nevada early Saturday, killing two of the nine people aboard. CH-46 SEA KNIGHT Weight: 12, 112 pounds Length: 84 feet Speed: 166 m.p.h. maximum Crew: Two pilots, one crewman Contractor: Boeing, Verol In U.S. service: 24 in Navy, 186 in Marines and 40 in Marine reserve The CH-46 transports Marines ashore during amphibious assault, or from one area of the beach to another during shore operations. It also moves equipment, weapons and supplies and serves as a search and rescue aircraft Source: Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft 1986-1987