NORFOLK
Military officials have released the name of the soldier who was killed when an Army helicopter to crash into a Navy supply ship during a training exercise off the Virginia coast Thursday.
Army officials said the soldier killed in the crash was Staff Sgt. James R. Stright, 29, of Libby, Mont. Stright was assigned to Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.
Stright volunteered for Army service in 1998, and served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) since 2003 as a helicopter mechanic. He is survived by his mother, Kathy Stright, and his father, Robert N. Stright, both of Libby, Mont.
Three of the eight soldiers injured in the crash were also assigned to Hunter Army Airfield, officials said. None had life-threatening injuries.
Lt. Cmdr. Phil Rosi, a spokesman for the Navy's Fleet Forces Command, said both Army and Navy personnel were injured in the crash, which occurred around 8 p.m. Thursday.
Two Black Hawk helicopters, apparently from the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, were approaching the supply ship Arctic, steaming about 23 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, before the crash.
The choppers, each operated by a four-man crew, were ferrying Navy commandos from the Fort Story campus of the Joint Expeditionary Base to a training mission aboard the Arctic.
The sailors - members of an unnamed special warfare unit from the Little Creek campus of the base - were doing "visit, board, search and seizure" drills, in which a small team lands aboard a merchant ship to search for weapons, smugglers or pirates.
A boarding team typically slides out of a hovering helicopter and onto a ship's deck using a braided nylon line, a maneuver called "fast-roping."
It wasn't clear whether any of the sailors had exited the helicopter before the crash.
Officials gave no details about a possible cause. There were no reports of poor weather at the time.
The helicopter crashed into the back of the ship, said Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, commander of the Military Sealift Command, which oversees supply ships. A small fire on the deck was quickly extinguished.
The other Black Hawk transported the wounded to the Norfolk hospital.
The Arctic, which replenishes warships in foreign waters, is operated by a small Navy team and a larger civilian crew. Officials said the ship has no official home port but frequents naval stations in Norfolk and Earle, N.J.
"Crew members of the Arctic responded very courageously and very professionally," Buzby said.
The Arctic pulled into Norfolk Naval Station in the early hours of Friday morning, a red tarp covering the helicopter's frame.
There was minimal damage to the Arctic's deck, Buzby said during a news conference Friday.
"I'd like to extend our condolences and sympathies to the families of those that were injured and to the family of the service member that lost his life in this training accident yesterday," he said.
"We deeply regret that it occurred, but unfortunately, it is part of the business we do at sea."
Navy SEALs aren't alone in the practice of boarding non-compliant vessels: Coast Guard members and other Navy personnel also regularly board suspicious foreign ships while patrolling off the coast of Somalia, where piracy is rampant.
April Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Navy Safety Center, said there were no comparable accidents in the records of the sea service.
In 1999, a Marine helicopter crashed after getting tangled in the netting of an oiler during a similar boarding exercise off California. But in that case, the helicopter hit the water, not the ship, Phillips said. Six Marines and a sailor died.
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Ky., with additional battalions operating out of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., and Fort Lewis, Wash.
Maj. Brandon Bissell, a spokesman for the 160th SOAR, did not say which battalion the helicopter belonged to.
The regiment has experienced its share of loss.
In August, four soldiers died when their Black Hawk crashed into Colorado's second-highest summit.
Another eight SOAR soldiers, along with eight SEALs, perished in Afghanistan during a rescue mission in 2005, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their Chinook helicopter.
The Associated Press and Pilot writer Cindy Clayton contributed to this report.
Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com
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Sgt James Stright
JR was a wonderful friend. I still can not believe I will never see him again, or receive another text or call from him. He was fun to be around, and I will miss him more than he will ever know. I love you Jr, and am sorry to his family as this training accident has taken him away. You will be remembered always.
RIP NSDQ
RIP
NSDQ
To the families and crew of the Arctic
My condolences to the families and crew of the Arctic. I was in the Navy and am a plankowner to that ship. We had a death in the crew back then and I know from experiance that it was difficult to bare. Some people might say things a, " I don't understand why we have ships like that," or, " Why do we have such dangerous jobs?" and I can only say that those dangers and jobs exist for the reason of supporting those who would protect us all from harm. I know that when I served on that ship, we trained everyday to do our jobs as best as we can, but still things do not always happen as they should. My heart goes out to the families and crew of the Artic, and I hope thatthose whom were injured have a speedy recovery.
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A tragedy . . .
I feel so sorry for the families of those who were killed or injured in this training accident. The simple fact of the matter is, accurate training is dangerous and accidents can and will happen. But there is no substitute for accurate training. In the past, America has paid the price with too many lives by not training realistically. We cannot let tragedies such as this turn away from having our military do the training it needs to do. Hopefully lessons can be learned from this accident to make such exercises safer without losing the accuracy.
blakhawk accident
Sorry, ran out of space_ to continue my thought,
Maybe if someone in your family or circle of friends put their life on the line day in and day out to protect your freedoms, you'd understand. And just remember, we have a bigger problem if that sound of freedom ever stops around here.
blackhawk accident
As with everyone else, my condolencses to the families of those hurt or killed in this crash.
I work on the base and saw the Arctic sitting down there on the pier with the chopper still on it every time I went past today.
As for Ct using this to whine about the jets over their home, all I can say is deal with it! Oceana was there long before you moved into your home, so you obviously knew there would be noise when you made the decision to move there. You should have expected that with technological advances, planes would get faster and louder. I live in the Mt. Trashmore area and we still get the choppers and jets overhead at all hours, and I love it! And with being on base all day, NOB has several jets that practice there almost every day, not to mention all the navy and marine choppers going in and out all day, as well as all military flights on commercial and air force planes that are taking soldiers over to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as bringing those who are fortunate enough to come back back to their loved ones and homes.
My husband was in the navy and my father served in the air force during Vietnam, as well as many of my friends being ex-navy. Maybe if someone in yo
You know it's stupid people like CT that tick me off
Those who complain about the sound of jet noise are the same people who complain about the tank noise or the sounds of the gun ranges that the other branches of service had. Just to let you know that the sound of jet noise is a very welcoming sound to a place where there is no peace. I have been deployed to many place (Bosnia and Iraq) where they welcome that sound of freedom and envy us for having it. then it's idiots like you who don't want to hear it and HEAVEN forbid your day is ruined by someone who has dedicated their lives to give you the freedom to have a job, a family and a house to live in. Step back and see that someone who was training to go to war some day was killed and maybe you will see their dedication and loyalty which is something that you obvious lack. My heart goes out to the family who lost a loved one and hope those injured are better soon.
Condolences
My condolences to the family of the pilot, and best wishes to the injured for a speedy recovery and return to service.
It has been quoted, " The more we bleed in training, the less we bleed in combat." This is true of the gallant aviators at Oceana, so when you hear those jets, be thankful they are ours.
To Missing Friends................
You who was here in 1959 - the Base was here first
First my condolences to the families of the man killed and the injured.
Oceana was here in 1945. George H. Bush (41) was stationed here at Oceana during the summer of 1945 preparing to support an invasion of japan. He had married Barbara while on leave. Truman decided to drop the bomb on Japan and they surrendered. Barbara Bush danced in the streets of the old town of Virginia Beach on VJ Day in Sept 1945.
When GHB was discharged they went to New Haven where he enrolled at Yale. The future President (43) was born in New Haven on July 12, 1946.
Jets were inevitable. The Tuskee Airmen shot down three German Jets in the closing days of WWII in Europe. Surely by 1947 anyone with a brain knew America would develop Jets.
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
ct62661, you and I are probably neighbors. The main reason I bought my house was to wake up every day and hear that sound of freedom roaring overhead. I love it and would trade it for nothing. How you can selfishly state that it ruins your day and you wish disaster on the pilots encumbered with protecting even you, is baffling. And then to tag your comment to a tragic story. All of our soldiers, and a bump to those flyers overhead, are protecting our God-given freedoms - even the freedoms that allow you to move somewhere else.
My thoughts go out to the families and service members impacted by this accident. The unfortunate reality is that our freedom is not free, and one of our soldiers paid the ultimate price last night. The least I can do as a grateful citizen is offer my prayer as a thank-you.
Misconception
There seems to be some misconception on what happened yesterday. Granted, I wasn't there, but have driven ships during flight operations long enough to know a few things. As far as the gentleman who spoke of this being "only a matter of time," I would point out that the folks who fly at tree-top level are highly trained, extremely skilled professionals and accidents happen with much less frequency than you could probably comprehend. The alternative to these pilots flying at a greater altitude is to be exposed to hostile fire in a real-world situation. So, I am sorry that it may offend you that they are flying too close for your comfort, but they are training to not get killed in the real world. Your discomfort not only pales in comparison to theirs, but is the price YOU pay for living in a democracy. That is not even the issue though, these soldiers were flying to a ship AT SEA, so your notion seems a little off, or I don't understand why you even said it. However, picture, if you will, a helicopter flying at tree-top level only the tree-top level is not fixed rather it is moving up and down. This is the difficulty of flying over a ship at sea AT NIGHT with the pitch and r
ct
Hey, you guys need to give ct a break. He/She was only stating the obvious hazard of flying low. There was no mention of jet noise, simply peril to the pilot. IMHO there was no disrespect to the fallen and injured service members intended.
re: ct
katet43483 wrote:
"Hey, you guys need to give ct a break."
No we don't, Kate. CT and his/her ilk love to opportunity to interject their position into any thread they deem fit. The 'jet noise' complaints are tired and unfounded, PERIOD (you moved into a jet zone, GET OVER IT or MOVE).
As far as planes flying low, the two are completely different. A plane flying at 100 ft in clear conditions over land is nothing like hovering a helicopter over a ship pitching in 3 axes and trying to get rappelling men on the deck of a ship safely.
My sincere condolences to the families of our brave men and women.
Well said.
Moreover, the people whom CT is complaining about are doing what they do so that CT can complain without fear of being shot by the government. So, complain away, CT but realize that you have the freedom to not only think about what you are saying before you end up sounding like an ignorant ingrate, but you also have the freedom to move to a place where jet noise is not an issue... perhaps another country even.
Rebutal
CT, It is a shame that someone has to use a story about the loss of our proud soldiers and sailors to voice thier opinion on a non-related subject(jet-noise.)But since you have opted to, I feel compelled to rebut your views. You state that you have lived in your house since 1959 and today jets flyng over your house ruin your day. Check your history since your memory must fail you, but Oceana was established as an airbase long before 1959 (during WWII!) This means that when you did move there you had the drone of prop driven planes buzzing your house daily as they flew lower than jets. Further, the housing market over during the recent past was robust and strong in your area, so you could have/should have moved to an area where jet noise isn't a problem. Don't complain because progress has left you behind. If launching rockets from Oceana aids in securing my freedom, I'm all for it. And if C&B means crash and burn as I suspect it does, you should be ashamed of yourself for wishing this ill-fate on OUR proud aviators. Apparently you never served. EMCM(SW/AW)RET
Hoorah, Master
Hoorah, Master Chief!
R/
LTJG (former ET1(SS)) Active
ct62661
Can you please give the Jet matters a rest for just a minute and remember that someone DIED here!! A family has lost one of its members and the military has lost one of their own!!!! You should be ashamed for using this story to sit on your soap box!! Karma does happen you know!!!!!
Fast, trained responders
In tribute to Navy Training the responders are to be congratulated and applauded.
Home Port
The Arctic is homeported at Naval Weapons Station Earle, in New Jersey.