Posted on: Friday, February 4, 2005

Lack of warnings faulted in October helicopter crash

By Ted Bridis
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Two Army helicopters that collided over Iraq's capital, killing two Hawai'i-based pilots and injuring two others, lost sight of each other for nearly four minutes while maneuvering at night and failed to send radio warnings even after the lead helicopter circled and slowed dramatically, military investigators said.

Citing its accident investigation board, the Army said the lead scout helicopter in October's accident over southwest Baghdad slowed and made an unexpected 360-degree right turn while crews aboard the two OH-58D Kiowa helicopters could not see each other.

The trailing helicopter, still flying roughly twice as fast, crashed 26 seconds later when its main rotor struck the other's tail, the Army said. Both wrecked helicopters fell into a farm field.

Investigators said the only radio signal between the helicopter crews was a single command, "Buffalo," minutes before the crash. That was the unit's code word to slow and begin flying the reconnaissance assignment. The trailing helicopter's crew replied, "Roger, Buffalo."

But in the ensuing minutes, neither crew radioed the other.

"When a trail aircraft loses sight of lead, an immediate radio call must be made," said a preliminary report published Wednesday by the U.S. Army Safety Center in Fort Rucker, Ala.

"Likewise, when the lead aircraft makes turns that are not standard during a mission, the turn direction should be called back to trail," the report said.

The Army said its accident board recommended that military flight schools teach new procedures to pilots about warning other aircraft when they lose sight of each other.

The crash Oct. 16 killed two pilots based in Hawai'i — Chief Warrant Officer William I. Brennan, 36, of Bethlehem, Conn., and Capt. Christopher B. Johnson, 29, of Excelsior Springs, Mo. Both were aboard the trailing helicopter, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment at Wheeler Army Air Field.

The pilots in the lead helicopter, also with the 25th Aviation Regiment, survived. Chief Warrant Officers Chad Beck and Greg Crow were rescued by a passing two-seat Apache attack helicopter; its crew tied Crow to the Apache's fuselage to carry the injured pilots to a hospital.