At least four die in Hawaii helicopter crash near Kauai missile facility

At least four people died in a helicopter crash in Hawaii on Tuesday, which prompted U.S. military to respond when the aircraft went down near the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai County.

Emergency personnel at the facility responded to the crash, which occurred near the north side of the Barking Sands installation just after 10am on Tuesday, according to a statement from the PMRF. 

None of the victims of the crash have yet been identified and the details of the crash are currently unclear. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation, according to the missile range facility. 

The helicopter was a Sikorsky S-61 flown by Croman Corp., which describes itself as one of the world’s most experienced operators of Sikorsky S-61 helicopters. It’s aircrafts are used to pull material from the water used in open ocean testing at the missile facility. 

A helicopter crash in Kauai County, Hawaii, killed at least four people on Tuesday morning

The U.S. military responded when the aircraft, a Sikorsky S-61, went down near the Pacific Missile Range Facility

The chopper was flying in support of a range training operation, the statement continued. Brian Beattie, director of operations for Croman Corporation, told Hawaii News Now that the helicopter had just retrieved an object from the ocean and was flying back to drop it when the incident occurred. 

‘NTSB is investigating the Feb. 22, 2022, crash of a Sikorsky S-61N helicopter near Kekaha, Hawaii,’ tweeted the National Safety Transportation Board on Tuesday.

Kauai County police and firefighters also assisted with the military response and police helped the U.S. Navy secure a perimeter and investigate, Coco Zickos, a county spokesperson, told the Associated Press. 

Video taken by witnesses and shared with KTLA show a dark gray plume of smoke rising from the crash site, while the witnesses filming spoke about seeing the aircraft ‘go sideways’ just before crashing.   

The cause of the crash is currently under investigation, according to the missile range facility

“It didn’t drop, that’s the key. Something caused that helicopter to accelerate and go down,’ witness Chris Turner told Hawaii News Now.

‘It tweaked to the right and then immediately went straight nose-down in an accelerated speed ― straight down with like one second. That was it,’ he said.

Turner added that the weather was ‘absolutely perfect, there were no clouds, winds were less than 5 mph on leeward side. ‘It couldn’t have been a nicer day in that area so that’s why it kinda spooks all logic.”   

The Pacific Missile Range Facility is a U.S. naval facility noted as the world’s largest instrumented, ‘multi-dimensional’ testing and training missile range, according to the U.S. Navy.

“PMRF is the only range in the world where submarines, surface ships, aircraft, and space vehicles can operate and be tracked simultaneously,” according to the Navy’s website.

Sikorsky S-61N helicopters were created to be used effectively over water for uses such as supporting oil rig operations. All branches of the U.S. military also use versions of the model and licensees in the United Kingdom and other countries have also built the aircraft.

It was built between 1959 and 1980 by Sikorsky Aircraft, which is now part of Lockheed Martin, and was designed to carry a substantial freight or passenger payload. One version was built to carry up to 30 passengers, according to the Igor I. Sikorsky Historical Archives website.

The crash happened the same day as an unrelated training accident involving two Black Hawk helicopters. There were no fatalities or injuries reported during the accident, according to the Utah National Guard.