Posted at 11 a.m., Tuesday, July 10, 2001

Search for MIAs to use helicopters again

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Military teams recovering servicemen killed in the Vietnam War have been cleared to begin using Russian helicopters again on their missions, after a deadly crash in April.

But the current mission, which began yesterday and will run through Aug. 5, has been scaled back and will not use helicopters, said a spokesman for the Hawai'i-based Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, which regularly sends personnel to find remains.

Helicopters used by U.S. recovery teams in Southeast Asia were grounded after 16 people were killed in April. Their Russian-made MI-17 helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountain in central Quang Binh province. Officials believe bad weather was to blame.

Six of the victims were members of the task force on duty in Hanoi. Another victim was working out of the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory here.

Petty Officer Tim Paynter, a spokesman for the task force, said the U.S. Pacific Command yesterday cleared the helicopters for use.

A review of policies and procedures associated with the use of the Russian helicopters was conducted by the Pacific Command before approving future flights.

The current mission will send teams out of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

"They did make it simpler because of the lack of helicopters," Paynter said. "The parameters were that all the sites had to be easily accessible by ground. We had to be able to drive to work. If one of our guys got hurt, we wouldn't be able to airlift them."

The use of helicopters is a valuable and life-saving tool when searching for remains. Most locations are in regions where the dangers range from unexploded ordnance to poisonous snakes, Paynter said.

"The investigation and recovery efforts are getting more and more remote," he noted. "As we identify more soldiers and sailors, we get into some more dangerous sites."

Since 1973 the remains of 619 American servicemen from the war in Southeast Asia have been identified and returned to their families. There are 1,966 Americans still unaccounted for, including 417 in Laos and others in Vietnam, Cambodia and China.