Focus falls on cause of mid-air collision

[unhappycamper]

A Coast Guard aircrew member from Sector San Diego conducts search patterns near San Clemente Island on Oct. 30 to search for survivors of a mid-air collision between a Marine AH-1 Super Cobra and a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules that occurred a day earlier.


Focus falls on cause of mid-air collision
By Christopher Weber - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Nov 2, 2009 6:27:31 EST

LOS ANGELES — With the possibility of finding survivors all but gone and the ocean search shifted from a rescue effort to a recovery mission, focus fell Monday on what caused a Marine Corps helicopter and a Coast Guard plane to collide over the Pacific.

Petty Officer First Class Allison Conroy said there was little chance of finding survivors among the seven military personnel aboard the Coast Guard C-130 and the two in the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter.

"We always hold out some hope, but at this point the Coast Guard has suspended the active search for survivors," Conroy said Sunday.

The two aircraft collided Thursday evening as the Coast Guard was searching for a missing boater. The Marine helicopter was flying in formation with another Cobra helicopter and two transports on a nighttime training exercise.

The crash investigation was being conducted jointly by the Coast Guard and the Marine Corps with support from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said Sunday.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_midair_collision_110209/