By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter crashes have claimed the lives of at least 59 servicemen in the past nine years.
In nearly half of the 20 crashes during that time, the pilots had been wearing night-vision goggles, just like the two pilots of Black Hawks that crashed in the Kahuku hills Monday night.
Army records show that in most cases, highly trained military pilots flew their million-dollar aircraft into trees, mountains and even each other.
But the UH-60, which has been plagued by technical problems throughout its more than 20-year history, remains popular with many who fly it.
"It’s a very popular aircraft that you just can’t compare to anything else," said George Nischan of Hilo, a former Black Hawk pilot for the Alaska Army National Guard.
The Army has been flying the Black Hawk since the late 1970s. Despite the problems, the chopper has become a workhorse for the Army, getting more flight time than any other aircraft used. The Army and Army National Guard use more than 1,500 Black Hawks to carry troops and equipment.
Its manufacturer is Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies Corp. in Stratford, Conn. The helicopter was introduced to the Army as a replacement for the UH-1 Huey, made famous during the Vietnam War.
The Black Hawk usually operates with a crew of three and can carry as many as 11 combat soldiers.
Early on, however, Sikorsky’s only prototype crashed at the Farnborough Air Show in England, killing both pilots.
Then a few years after taking delivery of the new helicopter, the Army grounded the Black Hawk for two months in 1985 after two crashes killed 15 people. A defect in the rotor assembly was discovered, and the Army ordered it fixed.
It was grounded again in 1986 and twice in 1987 because of crashes that killed three soldiers.
The helicopter quickly racked up an accident rate higher than for all Army aircraft. Between 1985 and 1990, Black Hawk crashes claimed 40 lives.
Most of those accidents were attributed to pilot error. But mechanical problems have been blamed for some crashes.
In June, a federal jury awarded $22.9 million to the families of crew members and survivors of a Feb. 23, 1993, Black Hawk accident in Wiesbaden, Germany. In March 1994, survivors and relatives of five soldiers killed in a July 1990 crash near Fort Chaffee, Ark., received $9.75 million in a settlement with Sikorsky. The lawsuit said a retaining washer in the tail rotor assembly was found fractured after the crash.
The Army said it does not know yet what caused Monday’s crash on O‘ahu’s North Shore, but the accidents highlighted the risks involved when training for war.
"You are flying in environments that are inherently dangerous and when things go wrong, they usually go wrong in a big way," Nischan said.
Crew members of the two crashed Black Hawks from the 25th Infantry Division’s aviation brigade were flying with night-vision goggles. Without night-vision devices, a pilot’s vision is 20/200 at best ö not good enough to qualify for a driver’s license. With the goggles, vision can be as good as 20/30.
"At night, it’s a lot safer flying with them," said James Cavaco, a former Army helicopter pilot with more than 20 years flying experience who now works for Blue Hawaii Helicopters in Hilo.
Cavaco said the goggles have only a 40-degree field of view, but pilots are training to continuously scan the sky around them.
The helicopter has been a part of every major military operation from Grenada to Kosovo.
The Army Center for Safety at Fort Rucker, Ala., is sending investigators to the scene of Monday’s crash.
Advertiser Washington Bureau reporter Susan Roth contributed to this report.
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