Camp Pendleton, California: helicopter crash kills two US marines

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Two U.S. Marines were killed at Camp Pendleton, California when their AH-1W Cobra Helicopter, belonging to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, crashed on Monday at about 1 p.m. local time. The crash occurred in the southeast corner of the base, near the community of Fallbrook.

The Marines were pronounced dead at the scene. They were named as Captain Jeffrey Bland and First Lieutenant Thomas Heitmann.

The crash started a brush fire that reportedly spread to about 50 acres in three hours, later 120 acres, but was about 80% contained, within the base, by Monday evening. The Fallbrook Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service are assisting.

The crash is the latest in a series of accidents in southern California involving U.S. Marine Corps flight training. An investigation is still underway to discover what caused this latest accident. The Marines have ordered an "operational pause" for all training flights for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The pause also applies to aircraft training at the Yuma and Miramar bases as well as Camp Pendleton.

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Sources

Gretel C. Kovach. "Pendleton copter crash kills 2 Marines" — The San Diego Union-Tribune, September 20, 2011
Associated Press. "Training flights suspended after Calif. air crash" — Boston Globe, September 20, 2011
"2 Dead In Camp Pendleton Helicopter Crash Identified" — KGTV, September 20, 2011
Associated Press. "Helicopter Crash At US Base Kills 2 Marines" — National Public Radio, September 19, 2011

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Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.