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3 dead, 1 missing in CG helo crash off Hawaii

Three Coast Guardsmen are dead and one remained missing Friday after an HH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter crashed at sea Thursday night off the coast of Hawaii during a training exercise with a motor lifeboat.

The Dolphin was practicing raising and lowering its rescue basket with a 47-foot motor lifeboat when it crashed, said Lt. John Titchen, a spokesman for Coast Guard District 14, which covers Hawaii. A Honolulu Fire Department boat pulled three of the crashed Dolphin’s crew members from the water and transferred them to another Dolphin, which flew them late Thursday to a hospital, where they died.

The dead were identified as co-pilot Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Wischmeier, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; rescue swimmer Petty Officer 1st Class David Skimin, 38, of San Bernardino, Calif.; and flight mechanic Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Nichols, 27, of Gloucester, Va., according to the Coast Guard. The name of the missing crew member was not released.

There was no early indication of what caused the crash. A Coast Guard announcement described the weather conditions at the time of the crash as “favorable,” with winds below 15 knots and seas below 8 feet.

The crew members of an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane radioed the FAA and the Coast Guard that they had seen the helicopter crash Thursday, Titchen said, and circled the crash site until other boats and aircraft could get to the scene. The Coast Guard continued searching through the night for the missing fourth crew member, Tichen said, including the 110-foot patrol boat Kiska, homeported in Hilo, and a C-130 Hercules patrol plane from Coast Guard Air Station Barber’s Point. The Honolulu Fire and Police Departments were set to join the search after first light.

The crashed helicopter, one of four Dolphins stationed in Hawaii, had completed the Deepwater modifications to upgrade it to a “C” model by the end of 2007, Titchen said. The “Charlie”-model Dolphins have more powerful engines and improved electronic systems than the stock variant.

Rear Adm. Mason Brown, the commander of District 14, called the crash “a terrible circumstance” in an announcement, and Titchen said that the deaths were devastating for Coast Guardsmen everywhere.

“The Coast Guard’s a small service, especially here in Hawaii, and this loss is felt by every Coast Guard member, especially here, and our hearts go out to the families of the missing, and our lost shipmates. We grieve for them. It’s been a really hard day.”