A U.S. Navy helicopter with 5 crew members on board lost contact in California!
On Feb. 8, news came from Pentapostagma, Greece, that a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter had lost contact with the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California, due to a landing delay.
This *** is part of the 361 Heavy *** Squadron of the Marine Corps and consists of 5 crew members. At the time of the accident, they were on regular flight training and had taken off from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, located about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas. They had planned to fly to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, but unfortunately encountered an accident on the way and lost contact. The search team conducted an intense search in the desert, carefully scanning every place where the plane might be hidden. In the aftermath of the incident, the U.S. 3rd Marine Corps Aircraft Wing, San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and the Civilian Air Patrol are working together on a search and rescue effort.
The CH-53E is defined as a heavy helicopter, it is the largest and heaviest in the U.S. Marines, it mainly serves the U.S. Marine Corps, is responsible for tasks such as transporting heavy cargo, and provides the necessary maneuver and logistical support for the infiltration operations of special forces, and can carry up to 16 tons of cargo at a time. The aircraft has excellent maneuverability and is equipped with advanced on-board ** systems and electronic warfare equipment. Since 1981, the Super Stallion Heavy *** manufactured by Seacock has been adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Jason Palladino, an investigator who oversees the project with an independent regulator, analyzed in an interview with the Marine Corps Times that he believes that the plane should have lost altitude quickly - that is, it crashed rapidly at a high altitude.
On the night of the incident, wind gusts of up to 20 mph were in the Pine Valley area, about 40 miles east of Marine Corps Air Station Mirama. Between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., the region experiences intense precipitation, with rain at low altitudes and snow at high altitudes.
According to **ia.comSan Diego County's sheriff's office and civil aviation patrol were urgently called in to assist with the search, pro** reported. The Air Patrol urgently organised a ground search team to deal with the weather impact. According to information from the security services, they received a ** at 1:50 a.m. and quickly dispatched a helicopter to conduct a search, but due to the impact of the storm, ** failed to reach the designated search area. The search team members nervously weaved through the rain and snow, searching for traces of the missing people. Taking into account the current climatic conditions, rain and snow are intertwined. The search team members faced bad weather and difficult terrain. Given the complex and muddy terrain in the area, the security services are currently searching it in 4x4 jeeps.
On February 8, according to a report by the American Times, at 9:08 a.m. local time on Wednesday, a search and rescue team consisting of multiple agencies in San Diego County, Pine Valley, California, found the missing Marine helicopter. The search and rescue team went deep into the mountains and nervously searched for the wreckage of ***. A search is now being conducted for the 5 members on the machine.
According to information provided to the Marine Corps Times by the U.S. Naval Security Command, from October 2012 to October 2023, the Super Stallion had a total of 16 Class A accidents, no less than two of which were due to damage to the aircraft**. In 2016, 12 Marines were tragically killed when two CH-53E*** collided during a night training exercise near Hawaii; The wind is howling, ** is passing through the night, and the training mission is tensely carried out. Two years later, during a training mission near El Centro, California, a CH-53E*** crashed, resulting in the loss of the lives of four crew members.
What is concerning is that the U.S. ** team has recently suffered several flight-related accidents. On January 31, an F-16 fighter jet of the U.S. military stationed in South Korea crashed near Gunsanji Island in North Jeolla Province, South Korea; On December 11 last year, an F-16 fighter jet of the U.S. Army (USFK) stationed in South Korea crashed near the city of Gunsan in North Jeolla Province; During this period, there were frequent flight accidents in the US military, which attracted international attention. On November 29 last year, Japan suffered a Osprey transport plane crash that killed eight people and forced some 400 Osprey aircraft from the three major services to halt their flights in a rare move.