Military won't reveal copter crash probe
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Military authorities in Hawai'i are not releasing the results of the only U.S. investigation into a helicopter crash that killed 16 people searching for remains of servicemen killed in the Vietnam War.
The investigation, ordered by Adm. Dennis Blair, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, was a review of procedures and policies used by Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, the Hawai'i-based unit assigned to recover remains of servicemen lost in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
Six members of the task force died April 7 when their transport helicopter — a Russian-made MI-17 — crashed south of Hanoi. A seventh victim was part of the Army's Central Identification Laboratory-Hawai'i at Hickam Air Force Base. The nine other casualties were Vietnamese.
Army Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, a Pacific Command spokesman, said the information is "a collateral investigation" that is considered an internal working document and therefore does not have to be made available to the public.
Blair ordered one of his aviation officers to review the accident, but Vietnamese aviation officials did not allow the investigator to obtain a copy of their crash investigation, Barger said. Instead, the officer was briefed on the results.
"Even though there were U.S. personnel involved in the accident, it was a foreign aircraft on foreign soil, so there is no responsibility for them to provide investigation results directly to Pacific Command," Barger said. "They conducted their accident investigation and were forthcoming and very helpful with summaries of that investigation."
The Pacific Command investigator was asked to suggest changes to procedures that may have caused the crash, especially those that apply to the use of foreign aircraft, Barger said.
Although it was detailed, the investigation did not seek its own conclusions on the specific causes of the crash, he said.
Task force officials said in April that witnesses of the crash reported hazy skies. Villagers said the helicopter swung wildly in the air before plummeting into a mountainside in Quang Binh province, 280 miles south of Hanoi.
The Russian helicopter that crashed was flown by a Vietnamese pilot. Overall, the helicopter has been described as a reliable workhorse with a good safety record. Helicopter use was suspended after the accident, but Pacific Command Tuesday cleared them for future operations.
The commander of the joint task force, Army Brig. Gen. Harry B. Axson, received a copy of the Pacific Command investigation this week. He has up to two weeks to comment on the recommendations it proposes.
Blair will have the final say on what is implemented, however. Afterward, military officials at the joint task force may be allowed to discuss the findings, Barger said.
Air Force Maj. Rene Stockwell, a spokeswoman for the task force, would not comment on the recommendations or any findings in the Vietnamese crash investigation.
"There were some recommendations made, and they are reviewing them," she said. "It is pending right now."
Contact Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
