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Search and Rescue Continues After Coast Guard and Military Helicopter Collide, Communications Investigated

Locations in this article:  San Diego, CA

Coast Guard helicopterInvestigators are focusing on communication between pilots and air traffic control after a U.S. Coast Guard transport plane and military helicopter collided mid-air Thursday night.

Rescuers continue to search the waters off the coast of San Diego for the nine missing people who were aboard the aircraft.

The clear morning weather and high visibility have made for excellent search conditions.

Rescue teams remain hopeful even though 12 hours of scouring the area has yielded no returns. Experts claim a person could survive 20 hours or more in 65-degree ocean waters.

According to officials, the weather was clear at the time of the accident and there was no indication of any problems with either of the aircraft involved.

If the skies were clear and there was nothing wrong with the plane or helicopter, what caused this crash?

Learn more about Travel Safety & Security in our Plane Crashes section.

Coast Guard memorialThe seven people aboard the C-130 US Coast Guard plane were on a nighttime search-and-rescue call themselves at the time of the crash. They were flying over waters near San Clemente Island in search of a small dinghy, about 1,000 feet over the ocean and entering airspace used for military exercises.

San Clemente Island is owned and operated by the U.S. Navy and the two people aboard the Marine AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter were on a routine training exercise.

The Federal Aviation Administration says its controllers alerted the pilots of the C-130 before the crash to contact military air traffic control. At this point, neither FAA nor military officials can confirm that the pilots ever got in touch with military controllers.

Rescue teams are using boats and helicopters to scour the waters around a field of debris from the crash, roughly 50 miles off the coast of San Diego.

By Dan Bence for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: ABCNew York Times, Associated Press

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