Hubraucker crash, in which 5 marines in Southern California were caused by pilot errors – East Bay Times

The pilot error was the basic cause of the helicopter accident, in which five marines were killed in February 2024 during a heavy storm near Pine Valley, the Marines Corps announced in an accident report published on Wednesday.

The CH-53e superstallion flew from the airport of the Imperial County to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when he pushed snow, rain and strong winds shortly before midnight on February 6, 2024.

The helicopter was designed in such a way that it should fly in such a weather, but it fell down around 50 miles east of San Diego in an area with robust mountain struggles.

The accident killed Lance Cpl. Donovan Davis, 21; Sgt. Alec Langen, 23; Capt. Jack Casey, 26; Captain Benjamin Moulton, 27; and captain Miguel Nava, 28.

The pilot's errors included an “failure to maintain safe freedom of obstacle and VfR requirements (visual flight regulations), which was probably influenced by the spatial miserrying of Akluen complaints on the basis of ambient conditions,” the report said. “This tragically led to a fatal, controlled flight into the terrain (CFIT).

“The mishap was no result of a material or mechanical failure of a component on the plane.”

Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas J. Harvey, the commander of the McAS helicopter shaker, which was involved in the accident, was relieved of duty nine months after the accident.

Originally published: May 8, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. PDT