Pilot error was the root cause of the helicopter crash that killed five Marines during a severe storm near Pine Valley in February 2024, the Marines Corps said in an accident report released on Wednesday.
The CH-53E Super Stallion was flying from Imperial County Airfield to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when it encountered snow, rain and strong winds shortly before midnight on Feb. 6, 2024.
The helicopter was designed to fly in such weather, but it went down in an area of rugged mountain ridges roughly 50 miles east-northeast of San Diego.
The accident killed Lance Cpl. Donovan Davis, 21; Sgt. Alec Langen, 23; Capt. Jack Casey, 26; Capt. Benjamin Moulton, 27; and Capt. Miguel Nava, 28.
The pilot’s mistakes included a “failure to maintain safe obstacle clearance and Visual Flight Rules (VFR) visibility requirements, which was likely influenced by aircrew spatial misorientation due to environmental conditions,” the report said. “This tragically resulted in a fatal, Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) event.
“The mishap was not a result of a material or mechanical failure of any component on the aircraft.”
Lt. Col. Nicholas J. Harvey, the commander of the MCAS helicopter squadron involved in the crash, was relieved of duty nine months after the accident.