Navy MH53 Incident 1 Year Anniversary

[Big Shasta]

Tough Week.
A great article was published in the Virginia Pilot about the crash January 8th 2014 of a Navy MH53. This hits really close to home. I knew who Wes Van Dorn was but I never had the pleasure of knowing him personally. He was very well respected in the squadron and reading this article, it's easy to see why.

May God Bless this family, Praying for you Nicole.

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/01/distress-signal-year-later-sea-dragon-flies

 

[Bruce]

This is a terrible story of the needless loss of a brave man serving his country. We need to provide better for those that protect us!

 

[Wayloncle]

Sounds like a wonderful person.

It amazes me that fuel and electrical lines were left to rub together for so long. One of the biggest parts of my AIr Force job maintaining support equipment for aircraft was preventative maintenance. Every piece of equipment comes into the shop twice a year, one of those times, every inch of it is gone over looking for wires, fuel/hydraulic lines and anything else chaffing. Any place that had electrical and fuel lines crossing they were required to have clamps on them to hold them apart.

I know things get over looked but those choppers have been around for a long time!

 

[jawsf16]

Rest in Peace, brother...

 

[GTBRMC]

That piece was incredibly difficult to read. Heartbreaking.

Let us all be thankful, whatever country we call home, that such brave and strong men, women, and the families behind them make the sacrifices they make to keep the peace and do what needs to be done.

 

[rkluck]

This so un-necessary and thus even more of a loss. While in the USMC I was around CH53s, Hueys, Cobras, and OVs. This was awhile back (70s) but anything that was flying (or meant to be operational) was kept in tip top shape. Everything had redundancy and really kept clean. Slippery floors from grease/oil?! I am so shocked! This doesn't sound like the typical Navy. So sorry to hear this.

 

[jawsf16]

Sadly we have several aging fleets in the military now since we had a relatively large technology development gap from the mid 70s to 90s with respect to most flying platforms. The good news is that the F35 will be operational soon, no matter the cost. Oops, political debate kindling there, my bad! Refocus, it is not uncommon for new and old project dates to slip to,the right based on developmental and budgetary slowdowns. The problem arises when you close production lines or do not expand the old projects budgets to compensate. Do a google search about f16 support structure failures and f15 airframe failures in the last few years. A colleague of mine was killed in a 38 crash several years ago due to a single point of failure part on the fifty year old jet, after researching they found a staggering number of single point failure parts with no inspection or replacement cycles...

What makes this event even tougher to swallow is that as a flying maintenance officer, he was in a position to peek behind the curtain a bit and see first hand the limitations they were facing. Clearly he knew of the dangers, voiced the concerns repeatedly and got told to 'do more with less.' Incredibly tragic how this accident happened.

 

[rkluck]

In the USMC we always felt like we got the last of all the parts to fix stuff (well except for weapons). It was amazing to see what the Navy had. It seems like now everyone has the last of everything (or maybe nothing)!

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Thank you for sharing that article @Big Shasta. I was unaware of this incident but it hits home. My younger brother was a mechanic on the CH-53, I just started a conversation about this incident with him. This type of thing really pisses me off. I hear all to much on a daily basis to "do more with less". This should not be an outcome with relation to budgetary constraints. Unacceptable.

My little brother while deployed to satans ass and while on the concrete beach.

 

[rkluck]

GiddYupJoe, Tell your brother thanks for his service. The pictures sure bring back memories for me!

 

[Big Shasta]

This so un-necessary and thus even more of a loss. While in the USMC I was around CH53s, Hueys, Cobras, and OVs. This was awhile back (70s) but anything that was flying (or meant to be operational) was kept in tip top shape. Everything had redundancy and really kept clean. Slippery floors from grease/oil?! I am so shocked! This doesn't sound like the typical Navy. So sorry to hear this.

You would be absolutely shocked if you stepped into a currently flying Navy MH53E. They are covered in hydraulic fluid inside from head to toe. Dripping fluid from overhead lines is so common, the crewseats are regularly covered in garbage bags so the aircrew don't have to sit in fluid when they go to their mission. Realize, because we are a specific configuration, there is an entirely separate hydraulic system that is added for AMCM tow operations. These lines run through the overhead and leak consistently. There is a running "joke" that you only worry when the drips stop because it must be empty.

One last point, In my emotion from the article, I neglected to mention the other loss of life onboard Vulcan 543. There were 3 brave aviators lost on that flight and 2 who survived will never be the same both physically and mentally. My heart goes out to all of them and their families and I continue to pray for them regularly.

 

[Big Shasta]

This incident in 2012 cost the lives of 2 aircrewman I knew and had helped train. They were from the other squadron I support than the one above. Sully and Fitz...Miss you guys! People lost their jobs, and wings over this but nothing can bring those 2 men back. I still work with one of the guys that was on that flight and survived. He is now working for the program from the civilian side. Lives with the guilt that he could have done more to rescue them every day.

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/11/report-missteps-led-fatal-navy-helicopter-crash

This mission was so flawed from the beginning, they looked for the lightest crewman they could find in order to have better power margins.

There is actually some video of the incident on youtube posted by the Oman govt. Not sure how I feel about posting it though. You can find it from a google search if you want to dig. It's all in Arabic on you tube so you won't find it searching there.

 

[Wayloncle]

The link to the video is in the article.

 

[Big Shasta]

The link to the video is in the article.

Oh, Ok....I didn't realize it was in this article. Nothing wrong with people watching it, I just didn't want to spread it around like it was entertainment. They cut out the actual crash, but it's hard to watch the burning wreckage knowing there are 2 guys in there.

 

[Wayloncle]

Oh, Ok....I didn't realize it was in this article. Nothing wrong with people watching it, I just didn't want to spread it around like it was entertainment. They cut out the actual crash, but it's hard to watch the burning wreckage knowing there are 2 guys in there.

I agree, it is hard to watch when you realize what it is...especially if you know the people affected.