Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Navy's helicopter grounding could continue

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Tuesday, August 29, 2000

Navy's helicopter grounding could continue
A bearing problem on downed HM-15 'copter was found, Marine Corps spokesman says
By Deborah Martínez
Caller-Times

George Gongora/Caller-Times

L.J. Wood washes down a MH-53E Sea Dragon at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. The fatal Aug. 10 crash of a Sea Dragon into the Gulf of Mexico led to the second time in the past four years that the ‘E’ fleet has been grounded. A preliminary inspection of the wreckage, much of which rests in 55 feet of water, prompted Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland to ground the entire ‘E’ fleet, including the Navy’s 43 Sea Dragons and the Marine Corps’ 165 CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters.

Pilots and air crewmen with NAS Corpus Christi's Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 are preparing for the worst if the Navy's MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter fleet remains grounded for the rest of the year, while an investigation into its latest crash continues.
   Cmdr. Pat Menah, executive officer at the squadron, said maintenance on its nine aircraft will continue and their 25 pilots will more than likely be sent to Virginia for simulator training, so they can keep up with their flight time requirements.
   The fatal Aug. 10 crash of a HM-15 Sea Dragon into the Gulf of Mexico, three miles off Padre Island National Seashore, led to the second time in the past four years that the "E" fleet has been grounded.
   A preliminary inspection of the wreckage, much of which still lies in 55 feet of water, prompted Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland to ground the entire "E" fleet, including the Navy's 43 Sea Dragons and the Marine Corps' 165 CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters.
   Though Naval Air Systems Command still hadn't officially announced the Navy fleet's grounding late Monday, the Marine Corps announced Sunday that Naval Air Systems Command ordered the grounding of its Super Stallions.

George Gongora/Caller-Times

Airman Mario Zamora at NAS-CC helps to clean MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters on Monday.

   A Marine Corps spokesman said Navy investigators found a bearing problem on the downed HM-15 helicopter.
   A spokesman at Naval Air Systems Command wouldn't confirm the issue with the bearings Monday, saying the investigation is ongoing and any comments would be presumptuous.
   A faulty bearing was blamed in 1996 for a fatal accident involving a CH-53E Super Stallion.
   The Navy's investigation into the latest crash could take as long as four months, officials said.
   Whether the Sea Dragon fleet will be grounded that long isn't clear, but HM-15 is ready to deal with any delay in flying time, Menah said.
   Maintenance crews will hone their skills during that time, and the squadron's air crew members will use simulator training on base to keep up to date, while the pilots train in Virginia.
   "We keep preparing for everything," Menah said.
   "Obviously we can't fly, but we can make sure the helicopters look good while they're on the ground. We could get the call to fly tomorrow. We need to be ready to go."
   For the rest of the squadron, the order to ground is something they had almost been waiting for, they said.
   "When you have an accident like this, it's always in the back of your mind that there might be a grounding," said Lt. Dave Stallworth, a pilot for HM-15 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.
   "It's something you pretty much know might happen."
   No red flags

Ashley Ream/Caller-Times

   Still, the crash that killed Stallworth's four buddies wasn't enough to break the squadron's confidence in the aircraft, he said.
   There hadn't been any red flags with the squadron's nine remaining Sea Dragons since the crash.
   If anything, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jim Moyes, an air crewman for HM-15, the grounding may set the squadron back a little bit in its recovery process, but squadron members are going on as usual.
   "We'll just work to make sure we do things right, as we always do," Moyes said.

Menah

   "There's not much of a difference in our jobs, other than we can't actually fly. There isn't anything that is that close to flying. We'll miss it.
   "Flying is a beautiful thing. But we'll keep training. This is good for the maintenance crews."
   Previous crashes
   The "E" model is the largest helicopter in the Western world. In addition to Corpus Christi's nine Sea Dragons, there are Navy models at HM-14 in Norfolk, Va., as well at a squadron in Sicily and a detachment in Bahrain.

Stallworth

   Since 1984, officials say there have been five major crashes of the Navy's model, including the Aug. 10 crash in the Gulf of Mexico.
   At least 30 have been killed in those crashes, and 15 wounded.
   Other than the 1996 grounding of the "E" fleet, the CH-53 Super Stallion was grounded twice in 1984 following a crash in North Carolina that killed six Marines, and again in 1987 after five Marines died in a crash in California, United Press International reported.
   Grapple still on site
   Since the Aug. 10 crash in Corpus Christi, the USS Grapple, one of the Navy's four rescue and salvage ships, has recovered the three engines of the 21-ton Sea Dragon, its main rotary assembly, most of its fuselage, its tail section and other small components.
   The Grapple remains on site in the Gulf.
   "It won't get back to normal here for some time," said Moyes of the squadron. "We're pulling together here."


Staff writer Deborah Martínez can be reached at 886-3618 or by e-mail at martinezd@caller.com

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