The U.S. Navy’s salvors have recovered the wreck of a helicopter that went down in San Diego Bay final week.

At about 1840 hours Thursday night time, a Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter went down simply off Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado. The plane was conducting nighttime SAR coaching for rescue swimmers, and there have been six servicemembers on board, together with two pilots and 4 different crewmembers.  

The service retains security boats available throughout these coaching evolutions, and the safety-boat crews rescued the helicopter aircrew members and introduced them to shore. None suffered critical or life-threatening accidents, and so they have been all launched from the hospital by the weekend.

The wreck web site was boomed off to include any potential gas leaks, and salvors started planning to get well the airframe. At about 1200 hours Saturday, the helicopter was hoisted out of the water and positioned on a barge for switch again to shore at Naval Base Coronado.

“I am immensely proud of the teamwork and determination shown by our Sailors and civilians throughout the recovery. Most importantly, I am grateful the crew is safe, and I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who swiftly and effectively accomplished this significant task,” mentioned Capt. Newt McKissick, commanding officer of Naval Base Coronado.

Like all helicopters, the H-60 class does often crash, usually (however not all the time) attributable to human error. In a U.S. Army security report performed in 2021, the service decided that throughout all H-60 variants, 160 mishaps occurred over a five-year interval, leading to 18 fatalities and $370 million in harm. The mishap charge per 100,000 flight hours was 0.87, beneath the service’s rotary-wing plane common.  

In November, an Army MH-60 went down over the Mediterranean throughout an aerial refueling accident, killing 5 particular operations personnel. In August 2021, a Navy MH-60S crashed throughout touchdown aboard the provider USS Abraham Lincoln off San Diego, killing 5. Both airframes have been recovered by Navy salvors. 

The reason behind the crash shouldn’t be but identified, however the survival of all aircrew members and the complete restoration of the airframe could assist in the investigation.