Californians Among Dead in Army Copter Crash

Three of the six victims of a crash late Monday of two U.S. Army helicopters in a remote military preserve of the Hawaiian islands were from California, officials said Tuesday.

They were identified as Spc. Bob D. MacDonald of Alta Loma and Chief Warrant Officers George P. Perry and Gregory I. Montgomery. The hometowns of Perry and Montgomery were not available.

Also killed were Maj. Robert L. Olson and Sgt. Thomas E. Barber of Minnesota and Spc. Rafael Olvera-Rodriguez of El Paso.

Army officials said that 11 soldiers were injured when the two helicopters crashed during an exercise on the north shore of Hawaii’s Oahu island.

Army Maj. Cynthia Teramae said there were 17 soldiers on the two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

The military said there was a light rain at the time and the pilots were wearing night-vision goggles.

The aircraft “somehow came in contact” with each other, but it was unclear whether they collided in the air, Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said Tuesday at a Pentagon briefing.

Quigley said it appeared the aircraft were not both in the air at the time, but he did not elaborate.

All of the dead were aboard one helicopter, he said.

Four soldiers were listed in stable condition at Tripler Army Medical Center and seven were treated for minor injuries and released.

Honolulu Fire Capt. Stephen Johnson said the helicopters crashed to the ground about 100 yards apart. Rescuers described conditions as wet, muddy and dark.

The Black Hawk is the Army’s primary helicopter for air assault, air cavalry and aeromedical evacuations units. Each helicopter can transport an 11-man squad.

“I heard a big thud,” said Perry Dane, who lives on Kamehameha Highway about a mile from the crash site. “It sounded like thunder. It shook too, like a big rattle.”

The helicopters crashed in a military area accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles, said Mandy Shiraki, district chief of the city ambulance services.

The Black Hawks were among 30 aircraft ferrying nearly 1,000 soldiers from Wheeler Army Airfield to a base at Kahuku, part of a two-week Army exercise that started Feb. 5.

Investigators from the Army Safety Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., were expected to arrive at the site by today.