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2 Helicopters Crash At Nellis
Formatted By CammoDude
04-08-00

Associated Press
Date:09-08-98

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AP)

Two helicopters whose crews were believed to be navigating through the desert darkness with night-vision goggles crashed in rugged terrain near the mysterious Area 51 early Friday. All 12 aboard were killed. Recovery crews struggled through the arid peaks and ravines, looking for the remains and clues to the cause of the crash. ``We were hoping for survivors,'' said Brig. Gen. Theodore Lay, commander of the 57th Wing at this base. The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, part of a rescue squadron from this base outside Las Vegas, crashed about 1 a.m. while on a practice rescue flight. The wreckage was found about an hour later. A family support center was set up at Nellis for grieving relatives.

The choppers were flying through the rugged Pintwater Mountain range, an area of 6,000-foot peaks and mountainsides plunging 3,000 feet to desert valley floors. It was overcast, with light rain and visibility of 7,000 to 9,000 feet, Lay said. It wasn't known if the helicopters crashed into each other or went down separately, Lay said.

The crews were on a standard mission to practice recovering downed pilots. Normally that involves recovering either a crew member or a dummy from the ground, he said, adding that it was too soon to say exactly how the fatal mission was conducted. The crew is supposed to wear night-vision goggles on such missions, Lay said, but he would not speculate on the possible role of the goggles in the crash. Normally the helicopters are in radio communication with each other, but have very little communication with the base, he said. Investigators believe the crews were on the outbound leg of the flight, Lay said. Some live ammunition was on board the choppers, as is normal, and that was recovered, Lay said. The helicopters are with the 66th Rescue Squadron, which specializes in rescuing downed pilots and others from behind enemy lines. Units recently returned from duty in Turkey and Southeast Asia, and have seen action in the no-fly zone over Iraq. The crash site is in the Nellis Range, 5,200 square miles of mountain and desert northwest of Las Vegas that's used for training and test flights.

The site is southeast of Area 51, a top-secret section of the range where the F-117 Stealth fighter and other classified aircraft have been tested. The Air Force won't officially acknowledge the existence of the area, shown on some maps as Groom Lake. Area 51 is a staple of science fiction; UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy buffs are convinced the wreckage of a flying saucer they believe crashed near Roswell, N.M., in 1947 was taken there to be studied. The 1996 blockbuster movie ``Independence Day'' showed a secret underground installation at Area 51 where scientists conducted alien autopsies and probed the secrets of an extraterrestrial space ship. Previous air disasters at Nellis include the January 1982 crash in which four Air Force Thunderbird pilots slammed their jets into the ground while practicing at Indian Springs. All four were killed when a stabilizer stuck in the lead plane and the three others followed him into the ground. The HH-60G helicopter, built by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., normally carry a crew of four people, two pilots, a flight engineer and a gunner. Some, including the two that crashed, also carry two rescue crew members. The Air Force said it has 99 HH-60G helicopters in use at 12 bases in the United States and abroad. The crash was the 22nd major aviation accident in the Air Force in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, with ``major'' defined as causing a death or $1 million damage. That has been one of the best records in the military, officials said. In the same 11-month span last year, the Air Force logged 25 major accidents.

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