Four Crew Members Fatally Injured When The Helicopter Went Down

U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa officials have released the results of the investigation into the January 7 crash of an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter near Cley next the Sea, United Kingdom, resulting in the death of the four crew members on board.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Brig. Gen. Jon Norman, the board president, found clear and convincing evidence that multiple bird strikes caused the accident by rendering the pilot and co-pilot unconscious and disabling the trim and flight path stabilization system.

The crew and the aircraft were assigned to the 56th Rescue Squadron, operating out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, U.K.

The convening authority, Lt. Gen. Tom Jones, USAFE-AFAFRICA vice commander, approved the board president's report without comments.

The U.K. newspaper The Guardian reports that the Air Force document says the forces generated by the geese, which weighed between six and 12 pounds, impacting the aircraft would have been about 53 times greater than a  baseball moving at 100 mph. Pieces of the windscreen and the remains of at least one bird were found 720 feet away from the impact location.

The helicopter was flying at 110 feet AGL at a speed of 110 knots in a nighttime rescue practice mission. The geese were startled by the noise of the low-flying aircraft and took flight from Cley marshes in the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and struck the helicopter.

(HH-60 Pave Hawk pictured in file photo. Not accident aircraft)

FMI: www.af.mil