thedrifter
08-12-04, 12:35 PM
Issue Date: August 16, 2004
Suit blames power company in helo crash
Poorly marked lines to blame for Huey crash, families say
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — An attorney representing three families is blaming a Jan. 22 crash of a UH-1N helicopter that killed four Marines on a local electric company’s failure to properly mark its high-tension power lines.
The Huey helicopter was flying an evening search-and-rescue mission over Camp Talega in the hilly northern area of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
In a lawsuit filed July 30 in San Diego, the families of Cpl. Joshua D. Harris, 21; 1st Lt. James Lawlor, 26; and Capt. Adam E. Miller, 29; claim that San Diego Gas & Electric Co. was negligent in the Marines’ “wrongful death.” Also killed was Staff Sgt. Lori Anne Privette, 27, whose family in Zebulon, N.C., is not involved in the suit.
The Marines were with the Pendleton-based Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 and were detached to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166, the air combat element for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit now operating in Iraq.
“This whole accident could have been avoided,” Todd E. Macaluso, one of two attorneys who filed suit in San Diego Superior Court, said Aug. 2. The families could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of money, contends that the power company “failed to provide reasonable safety devices, including warnings and conspicuity markers” and the company’s failure to mark power lines and towers “was a substantial factor contributing to the wrongful death” of the Marines.
The cause of the accident has not yet been made public, although the helicopter is believed to have struck power lines before crashing to the ground. The investigation has been completed, but a copy was not available by Aug. 6.
The Huey crashed on federal property, but the families are suing only SDG&E, not Camp Pendleton or the federal government, which Macaluso said were not responsible for operating or maintaining the power lines.
“The responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of SDG&E,” he said. “They are in the best position to mark power lines.”
SDG&E is a public utility that owns and operates electric transmission lines at Pendleton.
Company officials say SDG&E is not to blame.
“It clearly was a tragic accident, and our hearts do go out the families,” Ed VanHerik, a company spokesman, said Aug. 4.
VanHerik said the company makes the safety of its employees and equipment a priority. “SDG&E transmission and power lines are properly marked as required” by the state Public Utilities Commission, VanHerik said. He would not comment further on the lawsuit.
Wire strikes are considered rare. Chip Lancaster, a retired Navy pilot with the Naval Helicopter Association’s San Diego chapter, said some transmission towers are marked with lights and some power lines are strung with bright orange balls for sighting. But not all are marked this way, he said. So pilots use navigation charts that note the location of obstructions such as those lines.
Charts used by the military usually are updated several times a year to reflect changes.
Macaluso was the attorney in a suit against a local electric company from a fatal 1998 crash of a Navy Huey helicopter that clipped power lines in California’s central valley. That daytime accident killed the crew of five from the China Lake Naval Weapons Station in the Mojave Desert.
The power company settled out of court for an amount that Macaluso said was “eight figures.”
Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief for Marine Corps Times. E-mail her at gfuentes@marinecorpstimes.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-292535.php
Ellie
Suit blames power company in helo crash
Poorly marked lines to blame for Huey crash, families say
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — An attorney representing three families is blaming a Jan. 22 crash of a UH-1N helicopter that killed four Marines on a local electric company’s failure to properly mark its high-tension power lines.
The Huey helicopter was flying an evening search-and-rescue mission over Camp Talega in the hilly northern area of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
In a lawsuit filed July 30 in San Diego, the families of Cpl. Joshua D. Harris, 21; 1st Lt. James Lawlor, 26; and Capt. Adam E. Miller, 29; claim that San Diego Gas & Electric Co. was negligent in the Marines’ “wrongful death.” Also killed was Staff Sgt. Lori Anne Privette, 27, whose family in Zebulon, N.C., is not involved in the suit.
The Marines were with the Pendleton-based Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169 and were detached to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166, the air combat element for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit now operating in Iraq.
“This whole accident could have been avoided,” Todd E. Macaluso, one of two attorneys who filed suit in San Diego Superior Court, said Aug. 2. The families could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of money, contends that the power company “failed to provide reasonable safety devices, including warnings and conspicuity markers” and the company’s failure to mark power lines and towers “was a substantial factor contributing to the wrongful death” of the Marines.
The cause of the accident has not yet been made public, although the helicopter is believed to have struck power lines before crashing to the ground. The investigation has been completed, but a copy was not available by Aug. 6.
The Huey crashed on federal property, but the families are suing only SDG&E, not Camp Pendleton or the federal government, which Macaluso said were not responsible for operating or maintaining the power lines.
“The responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of SDG&E,” he said. “They are in the best position to mark power lines.”
SDG&E is a public utility that owns and operates electric transmission lines at Pendleton.
Company officials say SDG&E is not to blame.
“It clearly was a tragic accident, and our hearts do go out the families,” Ed VanHerik, a company spokesman, said Aug. 4.
VanHerik said the company makes the safety of its employees and equipment a priority. “SDG&E transmission and power lines are properly marked as required” by the state Public Utilities Commission, VanHerik said. He would not comment further on the lawsuit.
Wire strikes are considered rare. Chip Lancaster, a retired Navy pilot with the Naval Helicopter Association’s San Diego chapter, said some transmission towers are marked with lights and some power lines are strung with bright orange balls for sighting. But not all are marked this way, he said. So pilots use navigation charts that note the location of obstructions such as those lines.
Charts used by the military usually are updated several times a year to reflect changes.
Macaluso was the attorney in a suit against a local electric company from a fatal 1998 crash of a Navy Huey helicopter that clipped power lines in California’s central valley. That daytime accident killed the crew of five from the China Lake Naval Weapons Station in the Mojave Desert.
The power company settled out of court for an amount that Macaluso said was “eight figures.”
Gidget Fuentes is the San Diego bureau chief for Marine Corps Times. E-mail her at gfuentes@marinecorpstimes.com.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-292535.php
Ellie