Hearing against Leone concludes after 3 days

Juneau | The hearing into a Coast Guard pilot’s alleged negligence is over.

The Article 32 proceeding against Lt. Lance Leone wrapped up this afternoon in Juneau after the last round of witnesses.

Leone is the only survivor of last year’s fatal Coast Guard helicopter crash off the coast of Washington State.

Friday morning, some of the pilots that Leone flew with testified to his skills and professionalism. A Federal Aviation Administration official said that he would’ve likely recommended better warning measures for a set of power lines near La Push, Wash., had he been called in to evaluate the site. Leone’s H-60 flew into the lines and crashed. His defense says the wires were poorly marked as hazards to aircraft.

The pilot at the controls of the H-60 was Lt. Sean Krueger. He was killed in the crash along with Aviation Maintenance Technicians Adam Hoke and Brett Banks.

Coast Guard lawyers serving as prosecutors said that Leone showed no reasonable duty of care as navigator and co-pilot of that flight. Leone’s civilian defense council said the “U.S. Coast Guard set a trap that was spring-loaded and that had already worked twice before.”

The power lines are owned and operated by the Coast Guard and they’ve already been implicated in at least two other accidents.

Capt. Andrew Norris, who led the Article 32 hearing, says he’ll consider an additional charge of dereliction of duty against Leone. Norris was already investigating Leone for one count of dereliction for failing to navigate the helicopter to avoid hazards. Leone is also charged with destruction of government property, and negligently causing the deaths of Hoke and Banks.

The new dereliction charge is for not following proper Crew Resource Management procedures. It follows testimony yesterday Thursday from Leone’s commanding officer, Air Station Sitka Cmdr. Doug Cameron, who suggested Leone may have been reluctant to question Krueger as the helicopter’s pilot-in-command.

Cameron speculated that Leone deferred to Krueger, because of rank and experience.

The Article 32 hearing – similar to a grand jury proceeding in civilian court – began on Wednesday. Formal motions and one last piece of written testimony will be considered on Monday.

Then Norris will make a recommendation to Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, commander of the 17^th Coast Guard District in Alaska. Ostebo will decide whether to drop the charges, pursue discipline internally, or through a court martial.

Today’s proceedings marked the third and final day in the hearing. Thursday’s testimony included more from lead crash investigator Capt. Timothy Heitsch.

Heitsch was asked to draw the power lines that the helicopter hit when it crashed. They spanned 1,900 feet, from a height of 36 feet on the mainland to 190 feet on James Island.

The lines were used by the Coast Guard to power their own nearby marine aids to navigation. Heitsch drew aviation hazard marker balls at the far lower end of the wire span, suggesting that they had already slid down, nearly out-of-sight of any nearby aircraft. Counsel for the Government repeatedly pointed out that, at the highest point, the power lines were still 10 feet lower than Federal Aviation Administration guidelines for marking or lighting hazards.

Leone’s counsel asserted that those very same lines were the subject of a lawsuit over whether they contributed to another pilot’s death decades ago.

Testimony also touched on the Sectionals, or Visual Flight Rules navigation maps used by aviators. Heitsch, investigating officer Capt. Andrew Norris, and counsels for both sides had the Canadian and American maps of La Push opened up on the witness stand, trying to determine if markings for the power lines were accurate.

“Where is James Island on this map?” asked Norris, who is presiding over the Article 32 hearing.

“I think it’s this small dot,” was one response.

After Heitsch’s testimony, Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Kenneth Compton testified that on the day of the crash, an H-60 turned toward his 47-foot motor lifeboat and passed a hundred feet overhead before heading into the wires.

Then, Leone’s defense brought in his commanding officer, intended to counter Heitsch, the government’s own primary witness.

Cmdr. Doug Cameron of Air Station Sitka described how it made sense for Leone and Krueger to do the ferry flight, taking an H-60J model to Astoria, and returning with a newer H-60T model. Krueger was very familiar with the J model and flying in Alaska, while Leone was more familiar with the T model.

The publicly-stated top speed for an H-60 is about 183 knots.  But Heitsch stated Wednesday that Krueger and Leone exceeded the normal maximum operational airspeed of 125 knots for most of the flight. Go much higher than that without good reason for too long, and it’s hard on the aircraft.

Cameron acknowledged that the “couplers,” or a rudimentary autopilot, may have been set at 125. But it could have constantly varied between 119 and 133 knots simply because of aircraft performance and wind.

And on the issue of fly-bys of a Coast Guard boat, Cameron says they’re not unusual. They’re actually traditional. Like a friendly waggling of wings to a buddy or service mate.

Cameron also says flying through wildlife refuges at low altitude in Alaska is not only common, it’s sometimes necessary – whether to repair an aid-to-navigation or use a low-level route to escape poor weather and dropping visibility.

Part of the Government’s case involving neglect is the allegation that Leone did not fulfill some of his duties as co-pilot, essentially not questioning the pilot, Krueger, for his decisions and maneuvers. But Cameron, an experienced H-60 pilot himself, suggested that a more-complicated crew dynamic may have been at play in the cockpit that day.

First, Leone and Krueger apparently went to the academy together with Krueger two years ahead. Also, Leone had just arrived in Sitka from Elizabeth City, N.C., where they did things differently – flew much higher along the shoreline for example. He was now brand-new in a challenging environment where low-level flying was sometimes necessary, while his mentor Krueger already had a strong, solid reputation as a good Alaska pilot.

Cameron called it a perfect set-up for excessive professional courtesy. The junior officer was still learning and might have yielded to the senior officer’s experience on that flight. At the same time, yanking the controls away from a fellow pilot is almost never done.

The highlight of Cameron’s testimony came, though, when he described getting a copy of the accident report and was asked whether he preferred charges against Leone. He ultimately decided against it. But Cameron said that Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, the new commander of the 17th District in Alaska, apparently didn’t like that.

Cameron testified that Ostebo told him that he was too close to Leone and had lost his objectivity.  According to Cameron’s view of one encounter, it was a “classic discussion” with the high-intensity Ostebo. Cameron was asked to type up his reasons for the Commandant of the Coast Guard, who was expected to soon visit Alaska. Then this past September, Leone’ s orders to train and requalify for the H-60 were canceled. He was charged in connection with the crash by another officer in District command.

At least a half-day of testimony is expected Friday, possibly with more explanation of the 200-foot minimum for marking aviation hazards. Then, the investigating officer, Norris, will consider the testimony and evidence before submitting his recommendations to Ostebo, who has the final say about whether the matter proceeds to a court martial.