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KCBSTwo Marines Killed In Helicopter Crash

Two Others Injured
Second Fatal Training Exercise Accident This Month

(BRAWLEY, Calif.) (AP) Feb. 15, 2002 4:44 pm
Two Camp Pendleton Marines were killed in a military helicopter crash in the
Chocolate Mountain Range, the second fatal accident during training for Marines
from the base in less than two weeks, officials said Friday.

A UH-1N Huey helicopter went down about 11 p.m. Thursday just west of Mount
Barrow, near the California-Arizona border, said Capt. Tanya Murnock of the
Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.

Two Marines were injured in the crash, the cause of which was under
investigation.

Officials from Camp Pendleton identified the dead as the pilot, Capt. Theodore
S. Treadwell, 29, of Phoenix, and Staff Sgt. Roderick D. Nesmith, 30, of Cortez,
Colo., the aircraft's crew chief

The two crash survivors were flown by a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, which had
accompanied the downed aircraft during the exercise, to Yuma Regional Medical
Center. They were then transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
in Phoenix.

The UH-1N's co-pilot, 1st Lt. William E. Malsch, 29, of Allentown, Pa., and Cpl.
Andrew S. Leyda, 24, of Kent, Ohio, were both listed in fair condition.

The Marines were assigned to the Medium Helicopter Squadron 166, which is part
of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Pendleton.

Earlier this month, three Marines were killed and four others injured when a
5-ton truck rolled over during a night artillery exercise at Camp Pendleton,
about 45 miles north of San Diego. The canvas-topped truck overturned during a
Feb. 6 exercise in which an artillery unit was practicing firing and moving from
one location to another.

Both training accidents follow the deaths of nine Southern California-based
Marines in aviation crashes this year while supporting the war in Afghanistan.

The UH-1N Huey helicopter is a twin-piloted, twin-engine helicopter used in
casualty evacuation and troop transport. The $4.7 million aircraft is considered
to be the most widely used
helicopter in the world, with more than 9,000 produced since the 1950s.

The crash site was in southeastern California, just east of the Salton Sea. The
mountainous area is home to the Chocolate Mountain Naval Reservation Aerial
Gunnery Range.

In April 2000, an AV-8B Harrier jet crashed in the same area during a training
flight. The pilot survived the crash.

(© 2002 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)