A UH-60 Black hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Hawaii on Aug. 16, prompting a search and rescue effort by the Army and Coast Guard that is ongoing.
Two Army Black Hawks were conducting training flights about two miles offshore of Kaena Point on the island of Oahu, when communications to one of the aircraft – carrying five soldiers – was lost, according to a Coast Guard statement.
Coast Guard Joint Rescue Command Center in Honolulu received a call at 10:08 p.m. local time, Tuesday, from Wheeler Army Airfield stating they lost communications with a UH-60 Black Hawk aircrew. An urgent marine information broadcast was issued.
Coast Guard aircraft including an HC-130 Hercules and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter were dispatched from CG Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, to assist with the search for the mission soldiers.
The aircraft joined Coast Guard Cutter Ahi, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Honolulu, a 45-foot response boat-medium, an Army UH-60 from Wheeler Army Airfield and Honolulu fire department shore patrol personnel.
A debris field was spotted near Kaena Point by the Coast Guard HC-130 and Army Black Hawk aircrews at 11:28 p.m. Tuesday. Responders are currently searching for the five missing aircrew.
Sikorsky, a unit of Lockheed Martin [LMT], builds the Black Hawk.