Coast Guard pilot involved in crash to be charged with homicide

I figured that would have been the case. Just seems like nothing good can come of this, hope this guy makes it out OK.

Yes. Privilege is just like the other services. The ADMIN investigation is similar to what you guys are calling the JAGMAN but the actual mishap investigation allows privilege for the crew.

As far as this particular investigation goes, the Admiral who decided it needed to be investigated further is a Highly respected aviator and is not known for thowing people under the bus. There is a reason for going this far. We just don't know what it is. I have heard rumors of why it is going this far and I am intimately familiar with the mishap location which make the rumors extremely plausible but since they are rumors they won't be posted here. I will say that I personally don't think this is a case of making an example of someone.

Ok... I know folks that know the pilots... supposedly good folks that were great aviators....

Still looks and smells like cow dung to me and most others...

Too many guesses-Nearly no published facts. That is speculation, no???

Assuming their ADMIN investigation follows the same rules as a JAGMAN.

Agreed Brett. I just assume that the same public release rules and/or a FOIA request can be made of an CG Admin investigations just like a JAGMAN.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Hearing-begins-over-fatal-Coast-Guard-crash-2357377.php#page-2

More information and some quote from folks involved in the process...

I still haven't seen or heard anything to explain or suggest why this is going to an Art 32. If the H2P fucked the dog, isn't that what FNAEBs are for? I've never heard of a mishap investigation turning into a court without extremely aggravating circumstances (pissed positive or what have you). They really want to court-martial this poor bastard for poor CRM?

don't forget that in the case of the Marine Prowler, there was no SIR release because the concept of privilege was jeopardized. The Navy (up through the CNO and JAG-actual) decided that to protect the process they simply would not conduct an AMB or release an SIR.

Re: the Prowler mishap, "international diplomatic shitstorm" being one of those aggravating circumstances I mentioned.

Taking this Coastie to a GCM makes no sense. Usually, that makes me wonder what's the rest of the story...from what's reported being discussed at the Art 32, I'm not hearing a rest of the story. It sounds like the government's position is that the H2P didn't exercise good CRM or good external lookout. I don't know how you make the leap from that to criminal negligence. If there were some other factor (flathatting, dope, strippers in the cockpit), I'd assume the accused's counsel would have to know about it by now. If there isn't, this is a mystifyingly bad precedent to set.

We need evidence here now to jump to conclusions? Damn, another memo I missed

You are right about stabs in the dark but wasn't one of the issues with the Marines in the Italy incident that they destroyed a tape that could have been used against them? Do you suspect that in the case with this CG Officer?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JUNEAU — The commander of Air Station Sitka testified Thursday he was prepared to recommend that allegations against the co-pilot in a fatal helicopter crash be dropped, but those plans were trumped by the new Coast Guard admiral in Alaska.
Cmdr. William Cameron testified Thursday in a hearing to help determine whether Lt. Lance Leone should face a court-martial in the July 2010 crash off the Washington coast, in which three others onboard died.
Cameron said he based his decision after reading the crash investigation report and hearing the best case against Leone from a Coast Guard attorney. Leone had been cleared for flight retraining by an evaluation board, and Cameron supported this move, which included probationary flight periods.
Cameron then said his decision was “somewhat overrun by events.”
In August, Cameron met with the new Coast Guard commander in Alaska, Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, at a memorial service for the crash victims.
Cameron said he told Ostebo he intended to take no action.
“He said, ‘Perhaps I had gotten too close emotionally to Lt. Leone or something like that,’” and lost objectivity, Cameron testified. He then wrote a detailed memo, spelling out the reasons for his conclusions.
Lt. Cmdr. Anita Scott, a defense attorney, asked if the conversation was confrontational. Cameron replied it was a “classic conversation” with Ostebo, whom he said can be aggressive and take charge of conversations.
Ostebo will ultimately decide what happens with the case.
Leone is the sole survivor of the crash. He is charged with negligent homicide and other violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
In testimony earlier Thursday, the accident’s lead investigator testified a 1,900-foot span of unmarked wires contributed to the crash, but there was no reason for the aircraft to be flying low enough to hit the wires.
Capt. Timothy Heitsch, under cross-examination, said that as an aviator, he did not believe the lines were marked in a way they could have been seen. The government stipulated that the lines, which spanned from LaPush, Wash., to James Island, descend from 190 feet to 36 feet and had red marker balls 20 inches in diameter. Heitsch testified the balls were pooled near the pole, above land, and not across the water.
The helicopter hit the wires, according to the record and testimony, at about 114 feet.
A Coast Guard prosecutor, Cmdr. Matthew Fay, maintained there is no requirement to mark the wires at that height. The wires were the responsibility of the Coast Guard.
Heitsch repeated his contention that the helicopter was flying too low, saying it should have been no lower than 2,000 feet when it flew over a wildlife refuge, and that Leone was “not actively navigating.”
Leone’s attorney, John Smith, said the pilot, Lt. Sean Krueger, shut off the autopilot, which was on for a portion of the flight, shortly before the crash. He said it was around 240 feet on autopilot. According to testimony, the helicopter banked and dropped in altitude after the function was shut off, about 40 seconds before the wire strike. Heitsch said he believed the autopilot was on for training purposes.
The investigating officer, Capt. Andrew Norris, asked Heitsch whether Leone should have been expected to spot the lines within 40 seconds. Heitsch said he would have expected “active navigating” along the way. When asked what Leone did wrong in the final 40 seconds, Heitsch said he didn’t question the pilot’s intentions or ask what he was doing. “Nothing was verbalized,” Heitsch said.
He said he stands by his report and still believes charges are warranted.
Leone faces charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and destruction of government property. The charge sheet states that Leone failed to properly navigate the helicopter to avoid charted hazards and that he negligently failed to ensure it was flying at a higher altitude.
It also alleges that he did “without proper authority, through neglect, destroy by causing the crash of CG-6017,” an aircraft valued at $18.3 million.
The negligent homicide charges are related to the deaths of Brett Banks, 33, of Rock Springs, Wyo., and Adam C. Hoke, 40, of Great Falls, Mont. There is no charge related to the death of Krueger, 33, of Seymour, Conn.
Krueger’s widow, Kyla, attended the hearing Thursday.
She wasn’t surprised some type of charges were brought but was surprised the Coast Guard has gone to the measures it has to bring these charges against Leone.
“Our families have gone through enough,” she told The Associated Press. “It was a tragedy. I don’t feel as though the Coast Guard needs to push to make this more of a travesty than a tragedy.”
Cameron said he didn’t consider this a careless flight crew. In Alaska, it’s not uncommon to fly low along the coast, Cameron said, adding that he didn’t think it would have made a difference if Leone had questioned the drop in altitude. Krueger, who was also had extensive Coast Guard awards and accolades, was comfortable at lower altitudes, and Leone was the new guy, recently assigned to Sitka, Cameron said. Had Leone been at his prior station, he probably would have asked questions, he said.
He concluded Leone’s actions were consistent with what pilots of comparable experience or standing would have done, failed to do or understood.
Norris, a Coast Guard judge advocate stationed in Rhode Island, is the investigating officer during the Article 32 hearing. He will make eventual recommendations to Ostebo for the next course of action. Norris said Ostebo is not bound by any recommendations he makes.
Possibilities include dismissal of the charges, administrative action or court-martial. Leone faces a possible maximum penalty that includes 7 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all counts at a court-martial.

http://www.kcaw.org/2011/12/09/breaking-leone-hearing-officer-to-investigate-extra-charge/

~Still sounds like hogsheit to me...

I am not making inflamitory remarks here, but if you are not a helo bubba, fixed wing vs. rotary communities do things very differently, so your understandings of the altitudes you fly differ markedly from ours... Read some of the testimony against the crew and look at what the higher ups say they should have been flying at.