Mon, Jan 26, 2009
MH-60S Suffered Tail Rotor Failure Off San Clemente Island
A California law firm has filed a
Complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the families
of three Navy sailors who died when their helicopter suffered an
apparent tail rotor drive failure and went down in the Pacific
Ocean during a training exercise two years ago.
The San Mateo-based firm of O'Reilly & Danko filed the
Complaint on behalf of the spouses, families and relatives of Petty
Officer First Class Cory Helman, Lt. Adam Dyer and Petty Officer
2nd Class Christopher H. Will.
As ANN reported, the three sailors were killed
when their MH-60S Knighthawk crashed during a training exercise off
San Clemente Island on January 26, 2007.
Named as Defendants in the Complaint are the manufacturers of
the Knighthawk, and of several of its components.
The Navy's Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) investigation
found the reason for the crash to be "undetermined"... but, the law
firm asserts, the JAGMAN's final report omitted one investigator's
opinion that shortly before the pilot issued a "mayday" call the
helicopter experienced a failure of the tail rotor drive
system.
The crew members' survivors hired their own experts to look at
the matter, the law firm adds, and asked that they be allowed to
inspect the wreckage. The Navy initially indicated it would allow
the inspection... but then made an about face and refused absent a
court order.
"The Helmans, Dyers and Wills still have not received an answer
to why the helicopter carrying their loved ones crashed into the
Pacific," said their attorney, Michael S. Danko. "They just want to
know what happened, and they want to make sure no other military
families suffer the same losses they did on January 26, 2007."
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