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| Date: | Wednesday 8 January 2014 |
| Time: | 11:00 LT |
| Type: | Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon |
| Owner/operator: | HM-14 US Navy |
| Registration: | 163070 |
| MSN: | 65-570 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1987 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 5 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | off Norfolk in the Atlantic Ocean near Fort Story, VA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Norfolk, VA |
| Norfolk, VA |
A US Navy MH-53E on a training mission went down off the coast of Norfolk, VA.
Two crew members died and two are injured and admitted to hospital. One crew member is still missing. The helicopter was part of an anti-mine squadron based at Norfolk, Virginia.
The missing sailor is presumed to have died in the crash. The body of the missing sailor was found trapped inside the helicopter on Tuesday 14 January 2014.
The crash occurred as a result of a fire that erupted in the upper left side wall of the crew cabin, resulting in a thick smoke that filled the cabin and cockpit. This caused the aircrew to lose spatial awareness and become disoriented, resulting in the aircraft crashing into the ocean.
Chafing between insulation covering electrical wires and the surface of an aluminum fuel transfer tube had likely enabled an electrical arc from a wire to breach the transfer tube, igniting the fuel that was inside. Post-mishap analyses revealed two small holes in an aluminum fuel transfer tube. It is likely that the chafing breached through the insulation of a conductive wire, allowing shorting/arching to the aluminum surface. The wire bundling near the breach was not recovered, so while a short/arc event localized to the wiring within the bundle was possible, it could not be conclusively determined.
In the weeks following the crash, the Navy directed a one-time inspection of all CH/MH-53 cabin fuel tubes and electrical wiring within 12 inches of each other for signs of chaffing.
Callsign: Vulcan 543 BuNo. 163070 Sqdn mks: BJ / 543
Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-navy-helicopter-crashes-virginia-coast-article-1.1569768
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-navy-helicopter-crashes-off-virginia-coast-2-dead-1.2489528
https://www.denverpost.com/2014/01/08/navy-chopper-goes-down-training-in-atlantic-2-dead-1-missing-2-hurt/
https://www.stripes.com/news/second-crew-member-dies-after-navy-helicopter-crash-off-virginia-coast-1.261043_
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/01/missing-crew-member-presumed-dead-copter-crash
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/15/us/chopper-crash-missing-pilot/index.html
https://pilotonline.com/news/military/article_2ef12ff9-b89f-5d36-a020-d61009b4f03b.html
http://wtkr.com/2018/04/17/__trashed-15/
http://helihub.com/2014/09/15/cnal-releases-investigation-results-of-mh-53e-crash/
https://www.vandornmovie.com
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/sea-dragon-down-human-cost-navy-s-most-crash-prone-n281636
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 08-Jan-2014 17:37 | harro | Added |
| 08-Jan-2014 21:43 | gerard57 | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Jan-2014 07:23 | Tracy | Updated [Total fatalities, ] |
| 09-Jan-2014 08:19 | gerard57 | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Jan-2014 09:02 | gerard57 | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Jan-2014 11:21 | gerard57 | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 10-Jan-2014 06:34 | Anon. | Updated [Source, ] |
| 10-Jan-2014 08:17 | gerard57 | Updated [Total fatalities, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 15-Jan-2014 07:34 | gerard57 | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 07-Sep-2014 08:07 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 11-Sep-2014 06:27 | 78Delta | Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Narrative, ] |
| 12-Sep-2014 18:46 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, ] |
| 16-Sep-2014 09:28 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 09-Oct-2018 18:26 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, ] |
| 10-Feb-2020 12:25 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Operator, ] |
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