Salvage crew at site of Black Hawk crash that killed 11
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Salvage operations were expected to conclude Saturday night in the recovery of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that rests in 25 feet of water in the Santa Rosa Sound after a crash this week near Navarre in the Florida Panhandle.
Seven Marines and four soldiers were killed.
The largest section of the helicopter was extracted from the sound Friday prior to a change in weather conditions, which prompted a delay until Saturday.
Weather has hampered the search-and-rescue operation and recovery efforts since the crash at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Those weather conditions, specifically the dense fog, are thought to have contributed to the crash. Military officials won't speculate on a cause other than to say a second helicopter flying Tuesday aborted its mission just after take off when weather conditions turned poor. That helicopter returned to base safely.
A black box recording device was on board the helicopter is expected to provide some answers.
As for now, responders continue to focus on collecting human remains and debris from the helicopter along the shoreline and in the debris fields around the accident site.
"We will continue our recovery efforts as needed to ensure we collect as many human remains as possible," said Andy Bourland, director of public affairs at Eglin Air Force Base.
The pieces of the helicopter that have been recovered are in the process of being collected for transfer to Hurlburt Field for review by the investigation teams that have already arrived and begun their work.
Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of Marine Corps special operations forces that were flying with the Louisiana National Guard unit, said the Marines had been flying offshore earlier in the day Tuesday to practice rappelling down ropes into the water and then heading for land.
"They literally had done it hours before in daylight as part of the rehearsal for being able to do the nighttime operations, which inherently are more difficult," Osterman said at a news conference at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Friday.
It was a judgment call by the Marines and National Guard crews in the helicopters to determine whether to proceed with the mission.
All of the Marines killed were from the 2nd Special Operations Battalion:
• Staff Sgt. Marcus Bawol, 27, of Warren, Mich.
• Staff Sgt. Trevor P. Blaylock, 29, of Lake Orion, Mich.
• Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn, 33, of Queens, N.Y.
• Staff Sgt. Kerry Michael Kemp, 27, of Port Washington, Wis.
• Master Sgt. Thomas Saunders, 33, of Camp Lejeune.
• Staff Sgt. Andrew Seif, 26, of Holland, Mich. Seif had received the Marine Corps third highest medal for valor, the Silver Star, four days before his death.
• Capt. Stanford Henry Shaw III, 31, of Basking Ridge, N.J.
The Guardsmen who died were from the Louisiana National Guard's 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Hammond, La. Family and friends have said these are among the men killed:
• Thomas Charles "TC" Florich, 26, of DeRidder, La.
• Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Strother, a native of Pineville, La.
Once the helicopter salvage operations are completed, recovery operations will continue and will eventually transition to the Safety Investigation Board, which is already on site. That effort is being headed by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center out of Fort Rucker, Ala.