THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090431
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: OLMSTEAD, KY. LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
An Army transport helicopter had engine trouble before it crashed in a windy snowstorm, killing all five members of an elite Special Forces unit, witnesses said Friday.
The large olive-drab helicopter swept low over the family barn about 10 p.m. Thursday and crashed into a southwestern Kentucky wheat field, exploding in a huge fireball about one mile away, Vicki Miller Caswell said.
``We hear the choppers every night, and this one was having difficulties,'' said Caswell, who rushed over in her pajamas but found no survivors. ``The engine pitch was wrong.''
The names of the dead were not immediately released because their families had not been notified. Their remains were still in the debris Friday. Maj. Joe Howell, Fort Campbell spokesman, said investigators wanted the wreckage untouched until after they studied the crumpled remains of the fuselage. That was expected to take days.
All five victims were members of the 160th Special Operations Air Regiment, said Lt. Col. Ken McGraw, public affairs officer for the Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The 160th is a Special Forces unit dubbed the ``Night Stalkers'' because they often fly in darkness using night-vision equipment. Special Forces has its headquarters at Fort Bragg, but some of its members train at Fort Campbell, about 25 miles from the crash site.
The helicopter, identified as an MH-47E Chinook, is designed to carry soldiers far behind enemy lines during secret missions, at low altitudes and in poor weather, McGraw said.
Caswell, who herself was in the Army 10 years, and her family live in the flight path for helicopters training out of Fort Campbell.
Tammi Harvey, Caswell's 25-year-old daughter, said she watched the pilot try to land in a nearby field, but apparently aborted the attempt before cresting a nearby rise.
``He hovered over the field out here for about half a minute,'' she said. ``It looked like he was trying to set it down, but the wind was so strong. For some reason, he picked it back up some and went over the hill.''
Moments later, they heard the explosion and saw a huge fireball.
Boeing spokeswoman Madelyn Bush said Friday that the crash was the first ever involving an MH-47E. Only 26 of the helicopters were built by Boeing Defense & Space Group Helicopters Division in Philadelphia. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Special Forces' Chinook - made to fly low and in bad weather -
crashed in a windy snowstorm Friday.
KEYWORDS: FATALITIES ACCIDENT HELICOPTER ACCIDENT MILITARY by CNB