Coast Guard halts search for missing copter pilot

STORY SUMMARY | READ THE FULL STORY

The Coast Guard suspended its search yesterday for a pilot missing from a helicopter crash that killed the three other aviators aboard.

The missing pilot was identified as Cmdr. Thomas Nelson, 42, of Staten Island, N.Y.

Nelson, the executive officer, or second in command, at Barbers Point Air Station, was married with two children, officials said.

The Coast Guard searched more than 3,000 square miles, roughly five times the size of Oahu, on 91 patrols for the pilot of the HH-65 Dolphin, which went down south of Oahu on Thursday.

---

FULL STORY »

At dark yesterday the Coast Guard ended a three-day search for the missing pilot of a Coast Guard helicopter that crashed in the ocean Thursday.

"It's with a heavy heart that I announce my intention, pending further developments, to suspend the search for the missing crew member," said Rear Adm. Manson K. Brown, 14th Coast Guard District commander, at a news conference.

He identified the missing pilot as Cmdr. Thomas Nelson, 42, of Staten Island, N.Y.

Killed in the crash were Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Wischmeier, 44, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Petty Officer 1st Class David Skimin, 38, of San Bernardino, Calif.; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Nichols, 27, of Gloucester, Va.

Nelson joined the Coast Guard in 1988 and reported to Honolulu in 2007. He leaves a wife and two children.

He was the Barbers Point Coast Guard Air Station's executive officer, the second in command, responsible for a force of 300. He had been selected for promotion to captain, Brown said.

On Thursday the helicopter crew had been conducting drills with a 47-foot vessel five miles south of Honolulu.

The helicopter was about two miles away from the boat at the time of the crash, said Coast Guard Lt. John Titchen. Crews of the boat and a C-17 Globemaster cargo jet saw the aircraft crash at about 8:15 p.m.

Titchen said the boat's crew provided testimony that is part of the ongoing investigation.

Officials reported a possible problem with a wire to the helicopter's rescue basket before the crash. Without commenting specifically on the accident, Titchen said a hoist cable or basket line could become entangled in a helicopter's rotors.

Searchers recovered the floating fuselage, and the data and voice recorder is believed to be in the recovered debris, Brown said.

Coast Guard and Honolulu Fire Department rescuers completed a search of more than 3,000 square miles, roughly five times the size of Oahu, on 91 patrols.

The joint search effort included Honolulu firefighters, the Navy, Air Force, Hawaii Air National Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, the state fire department at Honolulu Airport and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Coast Guard air crews were brought in from California and Alaska to supplement the staff and ensure the Coast Guard could answer distress calls.

Debris will be gathered in a secure hangar at Hickam Air Force Base, where a Coast Guard investigative team from Washington, D.C., will try to determine the cause of the crash.