Family of fallen Chandler Marine reacts to findings of helicopter crash report
CHANDLER, AZ (AZFamily) — Investigators now know “pilot error” was the root cause of a helicopter crash near San Diego last year that killed five U.S. Marines, including one from Chandler.
The more than 1,100-page report released by the Marine Corps found the crew was battling weather and night vision goggles, which most likely made navigating the terrain much more difficult.
On Thursday, the family of 23-year-old Sgt. Alec Langen shared their hopes to get military helicopters retrofitted with newer technology, so that other families do not need to be left with lingering questions.
“For the past year we’ve been not able to fully grieve because we just don’t know what his last day or two look like. And for me, that was really especially tough,” said Steve Langen, Alec’s dad.
It’s a tough reality for Steve to come to terms with because he was once a Marine too. “I did the same exact job in the Marine Corps and the same type of helicopter for a number of years,” he explained.
The CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter Alec was on crashed and hit a mountain in Southern California, on its way back to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar last February.
“With the recent report coming out, we’ve got a lot of questions answered, and there are a lot of questions that we still have yet to have answered, but most of them never will be,” Steve said.
The report outlines the many things that likely led to the crash, including night vision goggles paired with icy weather and precipitation. According to investigators, that could have caused issues with the visibility needed to avoid the collision. Ultimately, investigators found that the pilot’s failure to avoid the terrain was the primary cause of the crash.
“We, in our hearts, believe that they all made a decision to go, and they made it together. However, if we had data recorders, cockpit voice recorders, we would be able to fully understand what transpired in those final four minutes from the time they made that turn by the Acorn Resort and Casino to the time of impact; there’s only four minutes,” Steve argued.
Steve was told that incorporating crash-survivable recorders would be too costly. It’s an answer he isn’t willing to accept.
“I’ve reached out to Senator Mark Kelly, Congressman [Greg] Stanton, and I’m hoping to get a hold of others,” he stated. “It’s something small. It’s so easy to do this. So you know, we have to be able to find the funding because a price tag can’t be put on the service members’ lives.”
In November, the squadron’s commanding officer, who approved the return flight, was relieved of duty “due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to continue serving,” the report said.
The full report can be found here.
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