Pilot error was the root cause of a military helicopter crash near Pine Valley, California, last year that claimed the lives of five U.S. Marines, an investigation has found.
The CH-53E Super Stallion, callsign “TIGER 43,” was conducting a routine flight from Imperial County Airfield to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when it crashed into a mountain ridge on Feb. 6, 2024.
U.S. Marine Corps investigators found that the pilots failed to maintain safe obstacle clearance and did not adhere to visual flight rules visibility requirements, likely due to spatial disorientation caused by challenging environmental conditions, according to a May 7 Corps statement….