There have been zero communications from the five-person crew of the missing USMC helo. since the last known ping which happened around 11:30PM Tuesday night, as reported to the local San Diego first responders, per the USMC. Not a peep via the pilot or copilot using the helo. avionics equipment, nor a call using a personal cell phone from any one of the five crew members.
The media keeps FALSELY putting out stories that the helo. has been found, and they are looking for the air crew as if they landed somewhere and proceeded to self-rescue by walking somewhere in the rugged mountains for help. THIS IS DISINGENUOUS and is tantamount to using this tragedy for clickbait views.
No comms! NOTHING!
Draw your own conclusions.
Either the a/c developed a malfunction in flight and crashed, due to being out of control, or flew at cruise speed, fully under control, into terrain.
thanks for the info - keep it up, please!
Most likely had 'get-homeitis', ignored the worsening weather and didn't divert to NAS El Centro or even Holtville. Instead pressed on due to their familiarity with the area, iced up and crashed.
I can say with reasonable certainty that it will be pilot error as that is the usual finding when there are no survivors. Helicopter flight into icing conditions is prohibited by OPNAV 3710 and visible moisture with below freezing temps is icing conditions. They may have been on NVGs but snow on NVGs is a bitch. The Corps has a training film on flying in snow conditions and at elevation, they should have watched it. Poor judgement.