BARKING SANDS — The helicopter that crashed at the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility, killing all four on board last month, was on a mission to drop off a training torpedo, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-61N owned and operated by Oregon-based contractor Croman Corp., was under contract to the U.S. Navy at the time of the crash.
The crew had located and retrieved a torpedo using a basket or cage system, and was routed to drop the load at PMRF around 10:20 a.m. on Feb. 22, when it began a shallow left turn into the prevailing wind.
“As the helicopter neared the predetermined drop-off site … the left turn stopped, and the helicopter proceeded in a northeasterly direction,” the report reads. “The archived (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) data stopped recording just before impact.”
Multiple witnesses near the site reported that the turn unexpectedly stopped, and “about 200 feet above the ground, it gradually pitched nose down and impacted nose first, in a near-vertical attitude.”
The helicopter caught fire after the crash, and was largely incinerated.
The accident resulted in the deaths of two pilots and two crew members on board, identified as chief pilot Daniel Maurice, 64; command pilot Patrick Rader, 55; and mechanics Erika Tevez-Valdez, 42, and Matthew Haider, 44.
Rader, Tevez-Valdez, and Haider were Kaua‘i residents. Maurice lived in Lyle, Washington.
According to Amie Blade, public affairs officer at Naval Air Systems Command, Croman Corp. is under a contract with a ceiling of $25 million that ends in August.
Croman Corp. generally has 11 personnel on staff at PMRF, performing a wide range of operations including target-recovery, visual surveillance, range-clearing, transport of personnel to and from ships or shore facilities, movement of material and firefighting support.
NTSB investigators examined the helicopter wreckage the week after the accident, from Feb. 23 to 28, retaining various components for additional examination and testing. The results of these tests, and a final report, are pending.
The Federal Aviation Administration, Sikorsky Aircraft, Croman Corp. and GE engines also participated in the investigation.
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Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
