U.S. Coast Guard to suspend search for missing pilot; releases identity

HONOLULU — U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue crews plan to suspend the search for a Coast Guard pilot missing after an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crashed Thursday evening approximately five miles south of Honolulu International Airport.

The pilot, Cmdr. Thomas Nelson, 42, of Staten Island, N.Y., went missing after the HH-65 crashed with three other crewmembers aboard during a training flight off the south shore of Oahu. The three crewmembers were recovered Thursday evening and pronounced dead at The Queen’s Medical Center.

“Coast Guard crews, with the generous assistance of our local, state and federal agency partners, have diligently searched around the clock since Thursday for our missing aviator, but I have decided to end our active search for Cmdr. Nelson,” said Rear Adm. Manson K. Brown, the Fourteenth Coast Guard District Commander.

Nelson, who reported to Air Station Barbers Point in July 2007 to serve as the executive officer, joined the Coast Guard in 1988. The executive officer is the second in charge of a Coast Guard air station.

Nelson most recently served as the Deputy Chief, Office of Security and Defense Operations, at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., from July 2004 to June 2007. Prior assignments included: Air Station Brooklyn, N.Y.; Air Station Port Angeles, Wash.; and Air Station New Orleans. Nelson also served as a deck watch officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Basswood.

“Cmdr. Nelson’s Coast Guard service of two decades demonstrates his unwavering commitment to the Coast Guard and to the protection of mariners across the country,” said Brown.

The Coast Guard and HFD crews searched an area of more than 3,000 square miles — roughly five times the size of Oahu. Search crews on 91 different sorties (or patrols) scoured an area from shore to 40 miles out and from Barbers Point to Diamond Head.

On scene Saturday night and Sunday were crews aboard 41-foot and 47-foot motor lifeboats from Coast Guard Station Honolulu, aboard the Coast Guard patrol boats Kiska and Kittiwake, Cutter Rush, an HH-65 and C-130 from Air Station Barbers Point and HFD crews aboard the Fire 1 helicopter, two small boats and two jet skis.

Brown thanked HFD rescue crews as well as crews from the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Hawaii Air National Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, the state fire department at Honolulu International Airport and with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for assisting in the search.

Over the weekend, the Coast Guard brought in air crews from Air Stations San Francisco, Humboldt Bay, Calif., and Kodiak, Alaska. The air crews are augmenting the staff at the 300-member Air Station Barbers Point to ensure the Coast Guard can answer distress calls and allow local Coast Guard members time to rest.

Coast Guard crews continue to recover debris from the downed helicopter and are transporting the debris to the Coast Guard’s Sand Island base. Investigative teams are in place to determine the cause of the accident.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. The debris recovered from the search area will be gathered in a secure hangar at Hickam Air Force Base, where a Coast Guard investigative team from Washington, D.C., will try to determine the cause of the crash.

The investigative team will begin examining the recovered debris Sunday evening.

UPDATE: Search continues for missing U.S. Coast Guard air crew member

HONOLULU — The U.S. Coast Guard continues to search the ocean south of Oahu today for one its own, a missing aviator from a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter which crashed Thursday.

The search area extends 40 miles off shore and stretches 35 miles from Barbers Point to Diamond Head. Coast Guard and Honolulu Fire Department search crews have conducted more than 60 sorties, or missions, in the search area, covering more than 2,500 square miles.

“We are essentially saturating the search area with as many assets as possible,” said Rear Adm. Manson K. Brown, the Fourteenth Coast Guard District Commander. “We are extremely grateful for the assistance from HFD, the Navy, Air Force, Hawaii Air National Guard, state DLNR and Honolulu Police Department during this trying time.”

Coast Guard air crews from Air Stations San Francisco, Humboldt Bay, Calif., and Kodiak, Alaska, have been flown out to augment search crews here to maintain the Coast Guard’s ability to respond to other calls during the search. In addition, U.S. Navy Combat Task Group 32 (a P-3 squadron) and the Navy’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 37 — both at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe — are on standby to provide search and rescue support for other missions in Hawaii and the Pacific.

Coast Guard assets on scene Saturday in the search area were the 378-foot high endurance cutter Rush, with a crew of 140, the 87-foot patrol boats Ahi and Kittiwake, with crews of 11 and crews aboard 41-foot and 47-foot motor lifeboats from Station Honolulu.

“Our hearts are with the loved ones of our lost aviators,” said Brown, who visited with cutter and Station Honolulu crews today. “But, we have an active search and we’ll continue while there’s a chance of survival.”

Small pieces of the downed HH-65 were recovered by the cutter crews today and were taken to the Coast Guard’s Sand Island base. The pieces will be transferred to a secure hangar at Hickam Air Force Base where it will be examined by Coast Guard investigators. The pieces were exterior panels of the fuselage.

The three aviators recovered from the downed HH-65 Thursday night and pronounced dead at Queen’s Medical Center were all Coast Guard aviation veterans:

Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Wischmeier, 44, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., had served at Air Station Barbers Point since July 2004 and had 19 years Coast Guard experience. Previously, he had served at Air Station Miami, Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, and at Group New Orleans. He went through Naval Flight School in 1991. He was a pilot aboard the downed HH-65.

Petty Officer 1st Class David Skimin, 38, of San Bernardino, Calif., had served at Air Station Barbers Point since June 2005 and had 16 years Coast Guard experience. Previously, he had served at Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, and at Barbers Point in the late 1990s, Station Golden Gate (San Francisco, Calif.) and Station Freeport (Freeport, Texas) and Group Galveston, Texas. He was the rescue swimmer aboard the downed HH-65.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Nichols, 27, of Gloucester, Va., had served at Air Station Barbers Point since July 2007 and had eight years Coast Guard experience. Previously, he had served at Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala., Air Station San Francisco and the cutter Morgenthau, home ported in Alameda, Calif. He was the flight mechanic aboard the HH-65.