THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 12, 1994 TAG: 9407120331
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAPE CHARLES LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
A Navy helicopter and a small private plane collided Monday over the Chesapeake Bay near the Eastern Shore coast, killing the civilian pilot and forcing the four-person military crew to make an emergency landing in a nearby wheat field.
None of the crew members was injured on the MH-53E Sea Dragon, from Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14 at Norfolk Naval Air Station.
The pilot of the private plane was alone in the Cessna 172, which he used to spot menhaden for the Zapata Haynie Fishing Co. in Reedville. He was identified as William M. Sklar, 60, of Portsmouth.
The accident happened about 4:30 p.m. near Fisherman's Island, not far from where the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel meets the southern tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore.
The collision tore a ragged gash 6 feet in diameter in the mine-detecting helicopter's right rear section. The impact mangled components that control the aircraft's rear rotor, a crew member said.
Witnesses said the Cessna lost a wing when it slammed into the 18-ton helicopter. The plane thenplunged into the Bay.
A crumpled section of the Cessna still was lodged in the helicopter's torn fuselage when the copter landed in the stubble of a newly cut wheat field just north of Kiptopeke State Park.
``I can't believe how well it held together for us,'' said Jim Moyes, a Navy aircraft mechanic from Las Vegas.
Moyes said the craft ``suffered significant damage'' that affected the rear rotor controls. Even slight damage to a helicopter's main or rear rotor can be catastrophic.
The crew wrestled the crippled craft over a motel and crowded campground before landing in the private field about a minute after the accident.
Flying in the helicopter were Lt. Jim Rocha, 29, of Bethesda, Md.; Lt. Shay Beeth, 30, of Jefferson, Iowa; air crewman Jason Monnin, 21, of Piqua, Ohio; and Moyes, the mechanic.
Rocha, the pilot, said none of the crew members saw the Cessna before the collision. A loud boom was the first indication, Rocha said.
``I thought, `Just land,' you know,'' Rocha said. ``And I threw in a couple of cuss words, too.''
``We put it down pretty quickly,'' Beeth said. ``It was rough.''
The helicopter was on a test flight, Moyes said. Monnin was standing in the rear of the helicopter, on the left side, when the Cessna slammed into the right side.
Witnesses said the Cessna passed beneath the low-flying helicopter and then circled back, turning into the military aircraft.
The Sea Dragon is the heaviest lift helicopter in service outside the former Soviet Union, according to the Navy.
Private planes like the Cessna often are used in the Bay to find large schools of menhaden and then radio the locations to captains of fishing vessels. Menhaden are used in the production of fertilizer and oil.
Searchers found the body of the civilian pilot in the Bay. Debris from the Cessna was spotted late Monday, but the main portion of the wreckage had not been located at sunset.
The crew was airlifted from the battered helicopter as military and civilian officials began an investigation into the crash. MEMO: Staff writers Karen E. Quinones Miller and Sarah Huntley contributed to
this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
A Navy helicopter and a Coast Guard boat search for a Cessna 172
that crashed into the Bay.
IAN MARTIN/Staff color photos
ABOVE: The crew of the MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter - from left,
mechanic Jim Moyes; Lt. Jim Rocha, the pilot; air crewman Jason
Monnin; and Lt. Shay Beeth - rest in the wheat field where they made
an emergency landing.
LEFT: Beeth and Monnin survey the damage to the helicopter.
Photo
IAN MARTIN/Staff
Air crewman Jason Monnin walks away from the Navy helicopter that
made an emergency landing in a field in Northampton County. Monnin
was in the helicopter when it was forced to land after colliding
with a small plane over the Chesapeake Bay on Monday.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE HELICOPTER ACCIDENT
MILITARY U.S. NAVY FATALITY
by CNB