The guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence steams toward San Diego Harbor. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Burke/U.S. Navy
Posted on 09/22/2015 5:58:30 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The widows of two pilots killed when a wave swept their helicopter off a U.S. Navy destroyer filed a lawsuit in San Diego on Monday, alleging the Navy and others knew of design flaws in certain Navy ships and their helicopter landing platforms.
The federal lawsuit, filed on behalf of Theresa Jones, Christina Gibson and their children, asks a court to declare the ships in question unreasonably dangerous and order that they be changed to prevent future accidents.
On Sept. 22, 2013, Lt. Cmdr. Landon Jones and Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Gibson lost their lives when the MH-60S helicopter they had safely landed was struck by a wave that crashed over the flight deck of the USS William P. Lawrence and washed the helicopter into the Red Sea with the two pilots aboard. Their bodies were never recovered.
The USS William P. Lawrence was launched in 2009 as a follow-on modification to the Navy’s original Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer and was equipped with what is known as a “low-freeboard” flight deck, according to the plaintiffs. The freeboard is the distance between the waterline and the flight deck.
The sea conditions experienced by the USS William P. Lawrence two years ago were reasonably foreseeable and occurred during normal operating conditions, according to the suit, which alleges the low-freeboard design defect on the destroyer was the cause of the pilots’ deaths and utterly preventable.
The Navy and the ship’s designers and builders had known of the low-freeboard defect since 1983, according to the suit.
From 1983 until the date of the accident, the Navy’s Safety Center reported at least 13 Hazard Reports about waves damaging helicopters and flight deck nets aboard low-freeboard destroyers and frigates, the lawsuit alleges.
Between January 2003 and March 2013, the Navy documented at least nine other mishaps involving waves washing over destroyer flight decks, the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs allege “systemic disregard” for the safety of personnel places the culpability for the deaths of Jones and Gibson “squarely on the shoulders of the Navy and the designers and builders of the ships.”
The maneuvers of the ship in speed and course exacerbated the already low-freeboard conditions and caused the ship to roll dangerously until it made its final roll of 17 degrees, “causing the deadly wave to crash into the helicopter, destroying it and killing the two pilots,” the suit alleges.
Although an initial investigation “found that the captain did not violate any Navy regulations per se” — a finding that was ultimately disagreed with by the highest echelons in the Navy — “it is abundantly clear that her actions contributed to the accident and even more clear that the Navy failed to train its crews to safely maneuver the defective ships with helicopters operating on their decks,” the lawsuit states.
— City News Service
The guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence steams toward San Diego Harbor. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Burke/U.S. Navy
The Captain in his case is a her?
Never named...
If this is correct and the skipper was a she then the navy will have to dig in its heels and do everything they can to protect her career, including coverups, lying to everyone and what not.
If the ship had a design flaw, the Captain is responsible for taking that into account and operating the ship safely and if it can’t be operated safely, to declare it so and resign if necessary, there is no excuse.
Otherwise it was pilot or mechanical issues with the aircraft.
A wave broke over the landing platform and washed the helicopter into the sea. I don’t see how that could be considered a mechanical failure or pilot error.
Probably a 'cad grad ....
Apparently she was a few years behind me ...
No point in speculation. Her bio is available publicly.
Her commissioning source has literally nothing to do with this case.
If it washed it over, it wasn’t secure to the deck (with chains and anchors that have to be stress tested twice a year), the helo is supposed to be secure or under power with thrust to a landing cable (under tension).
I was in the Navy, I know the rules and worked on those ships.
I have seen helos loose power and have to land without following procedure and they have ended up over the side hanging by the landing cable. That’s mechanical failure.
Even with waves, the cable is strong enough to keep the helo from breaking free on its own, it would have been dragged along hanging over the side of the ship.
Info for all, navsource.org.
The Red Sea is not the Pacific how did they not recover the bodies? Did they find the helo?
Operating a copter off of a small ship in rough seas can be dangerous? Someone should have warned the pilot.
My take is that the Navy, under pressure from Obama et al, is circling the wagons to protect the career of this female Captain.
My 7 years in the Navy reminds me that if this were a white guy Captain his balls would already be hanging from the yard arm under that ancient law of the Sea that the Navy nearly always follows re white guy Captains, to wit: .....”the Captain is ALWAYS responsible”......
Two non combat (i. e. Accidental) dead pilots in the Navy is a BIG DEAL....unless one of the “girls” is responsible.
A lot going on with this. Having operated from small ships (FF, FFG) in a former life it is a challenging environment when things are going well.
Was it chocked and chained? was the RAST attached? I heard that the Lynx that was on the flight deck of the HMS Sheffield was still firmly attached to the the deck with the ship on it’s side at the bottom of the South Atlantic (Falklands), using their version of a RAST. Aircraft are unchained only briefly for take off and on landing or doing bounces in the pattern.
As for legal action good luck. Dave Boyle was a fellow pilot who drowned trying to egress from a CH-53 that crashed off of Norfolk in early 1983. Since one can not sue the federal government, they tried to sue UT for defective design, it went to the Supreme Court , they lost.
On FFG’s the flight deck was seemingly added as an after thought, that close to the water left a great deal more opportunity for bad stuff to happen. I always felt safer on FF (Knox) class ships.
Sad.
If this is correct and the skipper was a she then the navy will have to dig in its heels and do everything they can to protect her career, including coverups, lying to everyone and what not.
...
Yep. I can hardly blame the women for suing. I hope they aren’t affirmative action feminists, because that would be a tremendous conflict.
I defer to your expertise.
I was unaware that the USN had CWO pilots.
The RAST on these ships is on a track, even if it wasn’t chocked and chained, the RAST actually is used to move the helo in and out of the hanger. It isn’t allowed to be detached from the RAST (landing cable) except in the hanger.
Aircraft safety is serious business, you should see all the paperwork that has to be signed at risk of military prison time just to sign it off for flight. This is serious business, no short cuts are tolerated. No margin for error.
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