2016 United States Marine Corps helicopter collision
United States Marine Corps (USMC) Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion and Usmc Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion · Mid-air collision
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 12 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 12
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Aircraft 1 · Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky CH-53
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 163061
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Occupants
- 6
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 2 · Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky CH-53
- Category
- Helicopter · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 161255
- Operator
- Usmc
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Occupants
- 6
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Organizational issues › Management
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On January 14, 2016, two Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters belonging to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing of the United States Marine Corps collided over the Pacific Ocean off Oahu's North Shore in Hawaii. Each helicopter carried six U.S. Marines from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463. The search and rescue operation located the debris field from the two craft. On January 20, all twelve crew members were declared deceased.
Accident
The two aircraft, Pegasus 31 and Pegasus 32, departed in the late evening hours on a routine training mission from the Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay and flew over the North Shore in the vicinity of Haleiwa. They were conducting complex maneuvers in formation when Pegasus 31, with the less-experienced pilot, fell a little behind Pegasus 32. Pegasus 31 increased speed in the dark to catch up to the other helicopter. The low light conditions prevented the pilots from seeing each other's craft as Pegasus made a sharp left turn in front of the less-experienced pilot. Local residents later reported hearing two distinct explosions. A resident on a beach reported seeing the two helicopters flying in the distance, then a fireball.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Marine Corps' investigation found that both airframes were mechanically sound and in good repair. The immediate cause of the collision was pilot error, but the Marine Corps identified underlying causes contributing to this.
The Super Stallion is oldest and largest of Marine helicopters. The ones belonging to the Marine Corps were put to hard use in Iraq and Afghanistan and never adequately refurbished afterward. Super Stallions are out of production and spare parts are so difficult to procure that the Corps itself was manufacturing some of these parts. Therefore Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) didn't have the parts to keep enough helicopters flight-ready. They had to cannibalize parts from other aircraft around Hawaii in order to make it to training exercises in Australia in 2015. Across the Marine Corps, only 5 of every 16 Super Stallions were flyable at any given time. HMH-463 failed an inspection in September, 2015. They were unable to get 50% of their helicopters in the air by Thanksgiving and even though maintenance crews worked 12 hours daily there were days during the month of the crash that no helicopters were able to fly. This prevented pilots from accumulating the pilot training hours they needed. According to the copilots, they were supposed to be training 16 hours a month but were lucky if they flew 10. When pilots don't fly, their skills get rusty. In addition, two of the pilots were not adequately trained in the use of night-vision goggles.
Three days before the crash their commander, Lt. Col. Edward Pavelka, was relieved of his command for not getting enough helicopters flying. He told his superior, Brigadier General Russell Sanborn, commander of the 1st. Marine Aircraft Wing, "If the General wants up aircraft, the Marines will get him up aircraft," implying that his firing would not solve the problem and that his successor would feel forced to either file false reports of flight or send Marines up in improper conditions. Squadron members reported low morale. The maintenance crews were fatigued by the grueling work schedule and air crews were worried by their lack of flight hours.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2016 United States Marine Corps helicopter collision” (revision 1369165416, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2016 United States Marine Corps helicopter collision
- Revision
- 1369165416 · 2026-08-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q22093745
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2016 United States Marine Corps helicopter collision" (page 49124856, revision 1369165416)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.