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"Andy" Baker HS-3 HH-60H BUNO: 165255 Born: March 6, 1960 Died: March 13, 1997 Weirton, WV |
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"Andy" Baker HS-3 HH-60H BUNO: 165255 Born: March 6, 1960 Died: March 13, 1997 Weirton, WV |
The night of 20 March 1997, while flying a training mission 80 miles off Cape Hatteras, NC, these AW's along with two good pilots were lost at sea when they waved off an approach to the back of a frigate and never returned. The aircraft was conducting a night refueling operation with the frigate USS Taylor (FFG-50) when it was lost.
The AW's were close friends and will be missed greatly. Like all good Sailors, we will press on but we shall not forget the contributions these men made as Sailors and as friends. We will miss them!
AWC Bobby Wickes:
I remember Andy when he was LPO at HS-1 in Jacksonville when I went through the H-3 rag there a few years ago. A tall, strong, and gentle guy who loved his H-3 and knew it inside and out. And, yes, they will all be missed...fly safe.
Dennis Smith:
Andy was very outgoing, easy going, and just a lot of fun to
be around. I don't recall too many times when he didn't have a
smile on his face. Andy was a big guy. Anyone who knew him, would tell
you he had certain charisma and warmth to him.
Eleven-foot seas and winds of more than 60 miles an hour hampered efforts to find the crew members today. Their names were not immediately made public.
The helicopter, operating out of Mayport, Fla., went down 23 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras while taking part in a refueling exercise with the frigate Taylor.
Navy copter crashes on training flight
Details were sparse as the military continued
to search the area about 23 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras where the
helicopter went down about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.
The helicopter crashed during a refueling
exercise with the frigate USS Taylor, based in Mayport, Fla.
“They’re still searching out there,” said
C. Patrick Dooling, public affairs officer at the Naval Air Station in
Jacksonville, Fla. “Evidently the efforts are being hampered by some heavy
seas.”
A rescue ship spotted wreckage, Coast
Guard Petty Officer Joan Pedeschi said, but she had no details. Naval officials
said they could not confirm that wreckage had been found.
The National Weather Service reported
11 foot seas in the area of the crash and winds of 51 mph to 62 mph for
much of Friday.
The helicopter, operating out of Mayport,
was based on the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and conducting training
as part of a joint task force exercise
Dooling said the exercise prepares the
carrier battle group to deploy and conduct operations together.
“Whenever a battle group deploys, a JTF
exercise is conducted as sort of the last certification as sort of the
last test of that battle group’s ability to work together before a major
deployment,” Dooling said.
He said the Kennedy battle group was scheduled
to deploy next month, but he could not say where.
At the time of the accident, winds were
30 to 35 mph and seas were about 5 feet in the area, meteorologist James
Ireland said.
The names of the crew members were
being withheld until relatives are notified, naval officials said.
Fayetteville Observer Times:
Saturday, March 15, 1997
HATTERAS (AP) -- Rough seas hampered search
efforts Friday after a Navy Seahawk helicopter with four people aboard
crashed during a training exercise.
WRAL 5 Online:
Crew members of the missing helicopter were identified as pilots Lt.
Commander Joseph F. King of Orange Park, Fla., and Lt. Christopher
D. Buckley of Hampton, N.Y.; and aircrewmen Chief Petty Officer Andrew
K. Baker of Middleburg, Fla. and second class Petty Officer Edward J. Kos
of Jacksonville, Fla.
The HH-60H Seahawk crashed Thursday night about 23 miles southeast
of Cape Hatteras during a refueling exercise with the frigate USS Jesse
L. Taylor, based in Mayport. Fla.
Lt. Karen Brown of the Coast Guard said sometimes they heard a signal,
then it would disappear.
"On-scene commanders have praised the heroic efforts of Navy and coast
guard rescue personnel who conducted search and rescue operations in extremely
rough seas and under very hazardous conditions," C. Patrick Dooling, public
affairs officer at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., said.
The crash occurred as the aircraft made a single pass across the stern
of the frigate Taylor, preparing to land on its stern helicopter platform,
the Pilot and Ledger Star of Norfolk, Va. reported.
At the time of the accident, winds were 30 to 35 mph and seas were
about 5 feet in the area, The National Weather Service said. Friday's rough
weather continued to hamper search efforts. Ships used spotlights to comb
the area Friday night.
The helicopter had been based on the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy.
March 15, 1997 - 2:01 p.m. EST
ELIZABETH CITY -- Coast Guard crews and the Navy have called off their
search of the waters off North Carolina for a Seahawk helicopter and its
crew of four.
Search Ends for 4 Navy Crewmen Lost at Sea
A spokesman for the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., where the HH-60H helicopter was based, said it could not discuss whether the four crewmen were believed to have died.
The Seahawk, operating off the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, crashed about 11:30 P.M. during a training exercise about 80 miles off North Carolina. It crashed while trying to refuel from a Navy frigate.
Neither the aircraft carrier nor the frigate was involved in the crash, and no other personnel were injured.
Members of the missing crew were identified as Lieut. Cmdr. Joseph King of Orange Park, Fla., and Lieut. Christopher Buckley of Hampton, N.Y., the pilots, and Chief Petty Officer Andrew Baker of Middleburg, Fla., and Second Class Petty Officer Edward Kos of Jacksonville.
Navy and Coast Guard aircraft and sea vessels had searched for the missing men in extremely rough seas after the crash.
N.Y. Times, March 16, 1997
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 16 (Reuters)--The Navy said today that it had called off the search for one of its Seahawk helicopters, missing with four crewmen on board since crashing off the North Carolina coast late Thursday.