The Marine Corps helicopter that went down during humanitarian relief operations in the aftermath of a May earthquake in Nepal, killing all aboard, likely crashed because of unfamiliar terrain and unstable weather conditions, a report released over the weekend found.
An investigation into the crash ruled out mechanical failure as a cause of the crash.
A UH-1Y Huey helicopter crashed May 12 during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in and around Kathmandu, Nepal. A Nov. 6 report on the findings of a mishap investigation by 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (3 MEF), based at Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan, found that the crew decided to fly the most direct route from the village north of Charikot to Kathmandu after picking up injured civilians.
Photo: Bell Helicopter
“The chosen course required a brief period over unfamiliar terrain with unstable meteorological conditions,” 3 MEF said in a statement. “It is believed that the aircraft, call sign ‘Vengeance 01’ (VE01), was enveloped by rapidly developing clouds or lifted into a cloud by rising air currents. As they attempted to maneuver out of the weather conditions, they lost visual reference with the terrain and impacted the ground.”
Six Marines, two Nepalese military personnel and five injured civilians were killed when the UH-1Y crashed. The twin-engine, four blade UH-1Y crashed about 8 miles north of Chrikot, Nepal, while performing casualty evacuations following the May 12 magnitude 7.3 earthquake there, the second major tremor to strike the mountainous nation. All bodies were recovered from the crash site.
The UH-1Y Venom is the Marine Corps’ most advanced utility rotorcraft and is equipped to fly at the altitudes at which the crew were performing the rescue operations. The investigation concluded that mechanical malfunction or maintenance malpractices were not contributing factors to the mishap.
“The last received radio communication was approximately 40 minutes before the mishap, so it is impossible to know precisely what occurred or the factors that influenced the crew to fly this route,” the investigation found. “The most likely explanation is that the crew of VE01 decided to take the more direct flight back to Kathmandu due to a real or perceived urgency in the condition of one or more of the embarked casualties.”