Memorial for Mid-Air Crash Victims

SACRAMENTO - The commandant of the Coast Guard says it's difficult to understand how a Marine helicopter and a Coast Guard airplane collided off the San Diego coast, killing nine people.
  
Adm. Thad Allen spoke Friday at Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento during a memorial service for the seven Coast Guard members killed when their C-130 plane collided Oct. 29 on a mission to rescue a boater. Two Marines who were training on a AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter also died.
  
The Coast Guard members were based in Sacramento, where they were eulogized as smart, caring people who loved to fly and volunteered time in the community.
  
Investigators are looking into the cause of the collision.

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Previous story:

SAN DIEGO - The search is over for nine military members lost at sea after a mid-air collision.  The Coast Guard is now in recovery mode and is concentrating on a debris field.
 
After more than 60 hours of searching more than 600 square miles the Coast Guard has presumed all nine military members are dead. The Coast Guard is picking up the pieces of the aircraft wreckage found at sea.  So far no bodies have been found.  It's that discovery family members are hoping for.
 
Jeffery Watkins is the uncle of Petty Officer Danny Kreder.  He said, "Without any bodies or anything being found.  We don't have any closure."
 
Danny Kreder's uncle Jeffery Watkins talked about a vibrant 22-year old.  The native Central Texan dreamed of saving people in the Coast Guard.
 
Watkins said,  "Being able to help people was the biggest thing for him, and this was a young man who did this all his life."
 
Military investigators continue to investigate the cause of the collision.
 
Capt. Tom Farris with the U.S. Coast Guard said,   "They will look extensively at the communications whether communications were appropriate for the airspace that was being operated in."
 
Right now relatives want confirmation of their loved one's death.
 
Watkins said,  "We haven't given up hope yet. Until they recover some serious proof."
 
Helping them recover the evidence will likely be diving gear called the U.S. Navy hardsuit 2000. It allows divers to reach depths of 2000 feet.
 
For the next week the Coast Guard expects to recover all the debris.  They're also hoping to recover the crew members and helicopter pilots bodies.
 
Watkins said,  "I guess they are going to send divers down to try, and find the main wreckage of the plane and maybe the helicopters and see if they get any answers from that."
 
Kreder's uncle says he's been told a memorial for the Coast Guard crew should happen on Friday.  He believes in Sacramento.  He says this all brings to light the bravery of these men and woman

A USCG helicopter at first light Sunday went to the scene of Thursday's crash near San Clemente Island for the final hunt for survivors but returned empty-handed around 10 a.m., Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said.

That comes after a search on Saturday that included three choppers and six surface ships.

Authorities were moving into a "salvage, recovery and investigative phase'' now, Dunphy said.

"Continuous search coverage was provided from the time of the crash until suspension,'' said Capt. Thomas Farris, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector San Diego. "Coast Guard assets will stay on the scene with Navy assets to assist in salvage efforts.

"A joint mishap analysis board consisting of Coast Guard and Marine Corps members will be convened to investigate the incident.''

The crash involving a 65-ton U.S. Coast Guard C-130 with seven people aboard and a much smaller Camp Pendleton-based AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter with two aboard occurred around 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Coast Guard crew was looking for a missing boater -- David Jines, 50, of Santa Catalina Island, who was last seen heading towards Avalon harbor Tuesday night on a motorized skiff after helping a friend trying to anchor in strong winds. The helicopter was headed to Navy-controlled San Clemente Island for training.

Air and sea crews searched 650 square miles of ocean between San Clemente Island and the mainland.

Military searchers found a debris field scattered over a 5-by-12 mile area, where the ocean is about 63 degrees and 2,000 feet deep.

Dunphy declined to detail the sort of debris that has been recovered so far. He said it would be a major part of an extensive investigation into the cause of the accident.

Nina Brantley of Crewe, Virginia is the mother of one of the Coast Guard members.  She told San Diego 6 News, "My hope is that they find everybody, but you know, the way things now it doesn't look too good."
 
She's the mother of 28-year old Lt. Adam Bryant. One of seven crew members on the HC-130 Hercules plane that collided with an AH1-Super Cobra.
 
Brantley said,  "It was a total surprise for me at first I thought it was a hoax when the guy called me.  I thought somebody was playing a game."


Maj. Samuel Leigh (Photo: USMC)

The Marine Corps chopper, part of Marine Aircraft Group 39 based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, was piloted by Maj. Samuel Leigh, 35, of Kennebec, Maine. The co-pilot was 1st Lt. Thomas Claiborne, 26, of Douglas, Colo.


1st Lt. Thomas Claiborne (Photo: USMC)

The missing Coast Guard plane and the personnel who had been aboard it were from Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento.

The pilot of the Coast Guard plane was Lt. Cmdr. Che J. Barnes, 35, of Capay, a small town north of Sacramento. The plane was co-piloted by Lt. Adam W. Bryant, 28, of Crewe, Va.

Also onboard were: Chief Petty Officer John F. Seidman, 43, Stockton; Petty Officer 2nd Class Carl P. Grigonis, 35, Mayfield Heights, Ohio; Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason S. Moletzsky, 26, Norristown, Pa.; Petty Officer 3rd Class Danny R. Kreder II, 22, Elm Mott, Texas; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Monica L. Beacham, 29, Decaturville, Tenn.




Coast Guard aircrew members from Sector San Diego conduct search patterns east of San Clemente Island.  (U.S Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall)

Investigators were trying to determine if any distress calls were made from the chopper or Coast Guard plane. The pilots of both aircraft may have been relying primarily on their vision, rather than instruments.

At Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, leaders of the 3rd Marine Air Wing suspended all flights through the weekend so they could reemphasize safety measures.

The two aircraft were in what the military calls Warning Area 291, as wath of airspace designated by the Federal Aviation Administration for military exercises, and pilots are supposed to notify ground controllers when they enter it.



AH-1 Cobra

The missing Coast Guard plane and the personnel who had been aboard it were from USCG Air Station Sacramento. The helicopter and its crew were part of Marine Aircraft Group 39.



Coast Guard C-130


In a prepared statement, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, "we are reminded of the danger and personal risk that the courageous men and women of the Department of Homeland Security and our armed forces confront every day in order to ensure the safety, security and resilience of our great nation," Napolitano said.

The Coast Guard is among the agencies overseen by DHS.

Earlier Crashes

Last spring, there were two fatal crashes involving locally based military aircraft. On May 5, two Miramar-based Marines were killed when their Super Cobra helicopter crashed during a training flight in the Cleveland National Forest, about six miles east of Pine Valley.



AH-1W Super Cobra

Two weeks later, five crew members aboard a Navy HH-60H Seahawk helicopter died when their aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean, about 15 miles south of Point Loma. 



Navy HH-60H Seahawk

The cause of the second crash was not made public. The earlier one occurred when an unsecured transmission aircraft component became detached in flight and struck a tail rotor. 

Mid-Air Collision 10/30/09 Two military aircraft collide off the coast of San Diego. Searchers look for survivors.

Mid-Air Collision 5 a.m. 10/30/09 Searchers look for nine missing people after a Coast Guard plane and Marine helicopter collide off the coast of San Diego.

	Mid-Air Collision 11 p.m. 10/29/09 A Coast Guard C-130 plane collided with a Navy AH-1 helicopter off the coast of San Clenten Island. Lt. Josh Nelson updates us on the search and rescue mission.
	Mid-Air Collision 10:15 p.m. 10/29/09 A military helicopter crashed after colliding with a Navy plane off the coast of San Clemente Island.
	Mid-Air Collision 10 p.m. 10/29/09 The Coast Guard and Navy are responding to a mid-air collision between a Marine helicopter and a Coast Guard airplane 15 miles east of San Clemente Island.