The San-Diego Union-Tribune May 21, 2009
Search for copter victims continues
By Steve Liewer and Karen Kucher
CORONADO — The five victims of a Navy helicopter crash near the Coronado Islands Tuesday night included a young pilot who was preparing to get married in her native New Orleans next month.
Allison Oubre, 27, had attended Vanderbilt University on a Naval ROTC scholarship before entering flight training in Corpus Christi, Texas, her father, Don Oubre of Slidell, La., said yesterday. She had planned to marry a fellow helicopter pilot June 20 in a ceremony at the famed St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans' French Quarter.
The Coast Guard said late yesterday that it and the Navy planned to continue searching through the night for two of the five sailors aboard the helicopter. The HH-60 Seahawk crashed into the sea about 15 miles south of Point Loma at 11:36 p.m. Tuesday. Three bodies were recovered shortly after the accident.
Don Oubre said he wasn't sure if his daughter's body had been found.
“We're still waiting to hear something,” Oubre said. “We haven't gotten a lot of information from the Navy.”
Another victim was Aaron Clingman, a 25-year-old native of Bend, Ore., who became a sailor and worked as a Navy rescue swimmer. His father, Lee Clingman, told The Oregonian newspaper his son's body was among the three recovered.
After completing a five-year tour, Aaron Clingman re-enlisted last year and was expecting to go out on a deployment aboard the carrier Nimitz in June, his father said.
He leaves a baby girl, born last Fourth of July, Lee Clingman said.
The HH-60 belonged to Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 6, based at North Island Naval Air Station, Navy officials said. The aircraft was operating off the Nimitz as part of Carrier Air Wing 11.
The air wing is participating in a Composite Unit Training Exercise, a three-week drill that is standard for strike groups preparing to deploy, according to the military-oriented Web site Globalsecurity.org.
The helicopter had taken off from the Nimitz and was involved in search-and-rescue exercises when it crashed, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Karen Burzynski said.
The Coast Guard launched a boat and a helicopter and diverted two cutters that were nearby. A Navy helicopter, a San Diego Harbor Police boat, a Customs and Border Protection boat and the Mexican navy also assisted in the search, Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said.
The crew members could be expected to survive about 36 hours after the crash, based on water temperature, body weight and other factors, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jetta Disco said. The water was 63 degrees yesterday afternoon.
Navy officials have released few details about the circumstances surrounding the crash. Finding the cause will be the subject of two investigations: one by safety investigators to learn lessons that might prevent crashes, and one by lawyers to assess responsibility.
The crash was the second in two weeks involving a local military helicopter. Two Marine pilots from Camp Pendleton died May 6 when their AH-1W Super Cobra crashed in the Cleveland National Forest six miles east of Pine Valley.
In January 2007, a Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter plunged tail-first into the ocean during training near San Clemente Island, killing all four sailors aboard. Naval investigators recovered the wreckage from 4,000 feet down, but they couldn't determine the cause because the aircraft did not have a flight-data recorder.
As a result of that crash, investigators recommended that all Navy helicopters carry the recorders inside an impact-and fire-resistant metal box. Navy officials have not said if the HH-60 was carrying one of the recorders.
Staff writer Greg Gross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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