Newsday

Military Officials Investigating Deadly Helicopter Collision in Hawaii

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to Hawaii, where officials are investigating the second military accident in less than four days. Two Army helicopters collided off the coast of Oahu last night during training exercises. And that accident killed six soldiers.

Joining us now live from Honolulu is our Martin Savidge.

Marty, hello.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

As you can see, the sun has rised right here in Honolulu, and it's also hoping to give some evidence to the Army investigators as they try to determine what was behind this deadly accident that took place on the north shore. That is the opposite side of the island from where we're standing here.

We do want to point out to you the weather conditions. Weather conditions this morning very similar, at least here in Honolulu, to what they were like at this time of the accident last night. We've had heavy downpours of rain. And there you might see in the background you have rain and a mixture of very low clouds. And behind those low clouds is a range of mountains. So it shows you how the clouds can actually obscure the landscape.

Weather is one factor they will be checking into. The two Blackhawk helicopters were involved in the military exercise. They had 17 soldiers onboard. And there were basically practicing, taking the soldiers from one battlefield situation and inserting then into another when something went tragically wrong at about 7:40 p.m. last night. You have now six soldiers that were killed and 11 that were taken to the hospital. Seven of them have since been treated and released.

This exercise is one of the things they will be focusing on. The investigators are expected to arrive from Alabama, the fort there where they're being dispatched from tomorrow.

Right now, the condolences are going out and notifications to the families here. It is a troubling day, to say the least, for the Army after the incident of last night -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Marty, what do we know about the Blackhawk helicopter involved in this incident?

SAVIDGE: Well, the Blackhawk helicopter has been the mainstay of the military since 1979. It is a helicopter that can carry up to 13 people. That would be three crewmembers, 10 soldiers, has a range of about 375 miles, and it measures about 50 feet long. It has been involved in incidents before, but you have to remember -- excuse me -- that there are quite a few of them, and they often fly under hazardous circumstances.

Last night, they were flying not only in potentially bad weather, they're flying in the dark, and of course the pilots are navigating by using their night vision system.

And we understand that, in this operation, there could have been as many as 23 helicopters in the air at the same time for this military exercise.

KAGAN: Investigation should tell us more. Martin Savidge in Honolulu, Hawaii, thank you.

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