An Air Force helicopter that crashed into the Great Salt Lake last October, killing 12 servicemen, had not been told by the control tower at Hill Air Force Base of the hazardous flying conditions that had forced another flight to return to base shortly before, a military report said.
The report, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, also said nine of the victims were not provided life preservers and the fatal flight was carrying only one seven-man lifeboat.The report, written by a team of military investigators, doesn't specifically blame anyone or anything for the fatal accident. Federal privacy laws prevent the disclosure of any disciplinary action that may have been taken, the Air Force said.
On Oct. 29, 1992, a flight of five Army helicopters departed Hill Air Force Base at 8:46 p.m. The flight, called Devil 95, would provide fire support for a joint training mission of Army and Air Force special operations units, practicing an air assault on Michael Army Airfield at Dugway Proving Ground.
But less than 10 minutes after takeoff, Devil 95 returned to Hill because of poor weather and visibility. Devil 95 notified the control tower of its aborted mission, the report said, but the tower didn't pass the information on to four other helicopters readying for takeoff and carrying the special operations personnel.
Devil 95's flight commander also failed to make the required call to the command aircraft for an aborted flight, the report said, but he did request the tower to relay the weather report to the commanding aircraft.
"He also said that he did not recommend flight to the west for rotary wing aircraft," the report said. "(The tower) did not pass this information to departing or departed aircraft."
Two minutes after Devil 95 landed, two Army helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kent., and two Air Force helicopters from the 55th Special Operations Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., took off in formation over the Great Salt Lake heading for Dugway.
The report describes a confused scene of the four helicopters having trouble staying in formation because of poor visibility.
Maj. Stephen J. Laushine, piloting the ill-fated helicopter, told investigators he "was unsure of what was happening in the flight and experienced a spatial illusion due to the movement of the aircraft ahead of him," the report said.
One of the helicopters was unknowingly descending toward the water but recovered 50 feet above the lake when another helicopter advised the pilot to "pull up, pull up, pull up," the report said.
But none of the other aircraft saw Laushine turn away from the formation in an apparent attempt to return to the base. Nor did Laushine radio the other aircraft of his attempt to leave the formation, the report said.
Laushine turned the MH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter to the right and noticed a reading of 35 feet on the altimeter. His attempt to get the helicopter to climb higher is the last thing he remembered, the report said, before the aircraft carrying five soldiers and eight airmen slammed into the water.
One minute after the crash, the radio tower at Hill monitored a transmission saying, "84 is in the water, he's on fire," the report said.
The three remaining helicopters responded immediately, lowering three U.S. Army Rangers onto the Great Salt Lake causeway with a lifeboat. The report said it took the trio about one hour to locate Laushine, who was sitting atop a piece of the wreckage in the cold, salty water.
Laushine, who suffered cuts, bruises, fractures and hypothermia, was the only survivor of the crash.
Battling the wind and lake conditions, it took the rescuers another hour to paddle him back to the causeway, the report said, where he was flown to the University of Utah Medical Center.
Rescue crews from Hill, Davis County and state Parks and Recreation recovered the 12 remaining bodies by 1 p.m. the next day. "Witnesses testified that rescue efforts were hampered by command and control, poor communications, weather and lake conditions," the report said.