A military helicopter that was part of the presidential fleet crashed in the Maryland countryside during a maintenance checkout flight, killing the four Marine crewmen aboard.
The VH-60N Black Hawk went down in the woods Wednesday about 35 miles southwest of Washington.White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers said the helicopter is not the type that the president normally flies, but that Clinton had flown once in the craft that crashed Wednesday. She said the helicopter flew Clinton recently to the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
The Marines have grounded the VH-60N pending an investigation of the crash, she said. Marine One, the helicopter usually used by the president, is a different type of helicopter. "Marine One, which the president flies, is safe," Myers said.
She said the pilot of the crashed aircraft had once flown Clinton, but she wasn't sure if he piloted the flight to the Roosevelt.
The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known. Military investigators were to return to the site Thursday.
The fleet is used to ferry the president and other dignitaries around Washington, and the helicopters are rotated, she said. The number of helicopters in the fleet is classified, she said.