NAVARRE, Fla. (Tribune Content Agency) — The recovery effort following Tuesday's Black Hawk helicopter crash entered its final stage on Friday.
Around noon, a salvage barge owned by Resolve Marine Group in Mobile, Ala., slowly made its way down the Intracoastal Waterway to the site of the crash that killed four Louisiana National Guard soldiers and seven Marine Corps special operators.
Located approximately 3 miles east of the Navarre Beach Bridge, the wreckage site was thought to contain the remains of the only two servicemen whose bodies had not yet been recovered.
“It makes you sad to see that,” said Midway, Fla., resident Morgan Secrest, who watched from the deck of Juana’s Pagoda as the barge made its way toward the Navarre Beach Bridge.
The crash hit especially close to home for Secrest and his wife, whose brother-in-law was killed in a helicopter crash in 2003.
20th Special Operations Squadron aerial gunner Tech. Sgt. Howard A. Walters died when the Hurlburt Field, Fla.-based MH-53J Pave Low III helicopter he was aboard crashed in Afghanistan.
“It’s been very emotional for my wife and my son and me,” Secrest said.
By 4 p.m., the giant crane on the barge had lifted the helicopter’s rotor from its resting place under approximately 25 feet of water. Dive teams from the Army and Coast Guard were on hand to assist with the operation.
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., spokeswoman Sara Vidoni anticipated that the salvage effort would take about eight hours, pending weather. She expected that the operation would continue throughout the night until it was completed.
“Saturday will mostly be a final clean-up day,” she added.
Col. Pete Schneider, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard, said the names of the four soldiers killed in the crash would not be released until 24 hours after the families of the remaining two soldiers were officially notified.
"We won't make the official notification until their bodies have been recovered," Schneider said.
A centralized investigation team under the auspices of the Army Combat Readiness Center (CRC) at Fort Rucker, Ala., is continuing its inquiry into the cause of the crash. The team is made up of four representatives from the CRC, one subject matter expert from the Army Aviation Center’s Directorate of Evaluation Standards, two representatives from the U.S. Navy, and two from the Army National Guard.
Mike Negard, a spokesman for the Combat Readiness Center, said it’s impossible to estimate how long the inquiry will take.
“There’s no such thing as a typical investigation,” Negard said. “The team is currently in the information gathering phase, which includes collecting as much evidence as possible from the scene.”
After the team returns to Fort Rucker, they will analyze the data and determine a preliminary cause of the accident.
“We look at three main factors: human, environmental, and material,” Negard said. “The cause could be due to human error, environmental factors like the fog, a mechanical or electronic problem with the aircraft, or a combination of those factors.”
Negard said a technical report will be prepared for the National Guard.
“From our perspective, we’re not trying to point fingers at anyone,” he said. “The purpose of our review is accident prevention. If there are applicable lessons learned, we want to apply them to other operations.”
While the recovery operation slowly winds down, Northwest Florida residents continue to be touched by the tragedy.
Destin, Fla., resident Jon Richards said he was shaken by the news of the crash.
“Just over 24 hours before it happened, I got to meet some of the guys,” he said. “On Monday, I was getting gas in Destin when I saw the two Black Hawks zooming overhead. I knew they had to be going to the Destin airport, so I raced over there as fast as I could, hoping that I could see them.”
Richards said the rotor on the UH-60 was still spinning when he pulled up near the helicopter.
“I called over to them and said, 'I guess you guys can't talk to me right now,’” Richards recalled. “But they said, ‘Sure, come on over.’ ”
Richards said the National Guard pilot he spoke to was very friendly. He told Richards his aircraft was “brand new,” and invited him to come back the next day to watch them take off.
“When I heard about the crash, I couldn't believe it,” he said. “I don't know if the guy I met was on the bird that crashed or the one that turned back.
"Either way, it makes you appreciate what these guys do for our country.”
©2015 the (Fort Walton Beach) Northwest Florida Daily News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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