Coast Guard C-130 transport alleged to have collided with a marine Cobra attack helicopter. Believed to have 7 people on board.
The AH-1 Cobra helicopter is the same type of attack helicopter that reportedly collided with a Coast Guard C130 transport plane off San Clemente Island. Cobra believed to have 2 pilot.
Jayhawk H-60 helicopter Coast Guard rescue helicopter searching for survivors and missing planes.
Navy T-34 training aircraft. Search began when the T-34 were reported to be missing.
The Coast Guard confirmed to reporters in San Diego tonight that a crash occurred between two aircraft -- possibly a Coast Guard C-130 transport airplane and a Marine AH-1 Cobra helicopter -- and said that rescue crews have spotted debris in the water.
Rescue units from the Coast Guard and Navy have responded to the crash site to search for survivors. The airplane was reported to contain seven crew members, while the helicopter contained two. No survivors have yet been spotted. Three Coast Guard cutters and four Navy ships, along with several helicopters, are involved in the search.
A Coast Guard spokesman said that search conditions were good with calm waters and light winds. The spokesman described the aircraft as a Coast Guard airplane and a Department of Defense aircraft. Federal Aviation Administration officials have identified the aircraft as a C-130 and a Cobra helicopter.
The collision is thought to have occurred 15 to 25 miles off San Clemente Island, the FAA said.
Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said that a pilot reported seeing a fireball about 7:10 p.m. near the suspected crash site. Earlier reports stated that a single Navy helicopter may have crashed.
The Coast Guard says an overnight search yielded no sign of a Navy plane and two pilots who failed to return from a flight.
Petty Officer Randy Hale told The Associated Press early Thursday that search aircraft were out all night and "we haven't been able to find anything as of yet."
The search began Wednesday afternoon for the crew of a Navy T-34 training aircraft after an air traffic controller at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas lost contact with the pair.
The single-engine trainer's last known location was near San Jose Island, east of Rockport and 2 miles off shore in the Gulf of Mexico.As many as nine people were believed to be missing after a Coast Guard plane collided with a military helicopter off the Southern California coast Thursday, officials said.
The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m., about 15 miles east off San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson Conroy said.
A pilot reported seeing a fireball in the vicinity of the suspected crash site, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
Gregor said preliminary information indicated the crash was between a Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra and a Coast Guard C-130 transport plane.
There were seven people on board the C-130 and two on the chopper, Gregor said.
Marine Corps spokesman Cpl. Michael Stevens confirmed an AH-1 Cobra had crashed. He had no additional details.
A search and rescue mission was underway.
San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the eight Channel Islands, is 68 miles west of San Diego.
A Navy helicopter has collided mid-air with a Coast Guard transport plane, leaving a reported 9 people missing, according to the FAA. A search and rescue operation is underway.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says a Coast Guard C130 transport plane is believed to have collided midair with a Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra helicopter at 7:10 p.m., approximately 25 miles east of San Clemente Island.
A pilot reported seeing a fireball in the vicinity of the suspected crash site.
The Coast Guard cannot account for a C130 and the Marine Corps cannot account for a Cobra, Gregor said.
The Coast Guard sent a Jayhawk H-60 helicopter to assist in the search for the downed aircraft, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said.
There were reportedly seven people aboard the C130 and two aboard the AH-1 Cobra.
Originally reported by the Coast Guard as a possible helicopter down, the crash has since been classified as a collision by the FAA.
The pilots were not talking to FAA air traffic controllers at the time of the collision, Gregor said.
Three Coast Guard cutters and four Navy ships, along with several helicopters have been dispatched to the suspected crash site and will search throughout the night to find any possible survivors, said Lieutenant Josh Nelson of the Coast Guard in a press conference.
Officials are calling search conditions in the area "ideal," with calm waters, light winds, and no cloud cover.
Search crews have reportedly found debris in the water, but have not located any survivors, according to Nelson.
Officials could not comment on where the aircrafts originated or what sorts of missions they were conducting.
San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the Channel Islands off California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County.
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