News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Three Missing - Presumed Dead

Date: March 14, 2001

"Navy quits search for three helicopter crew members
By DENNIS O'BRIEN, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 13, 2002

The Navy today called off the search for three air crew members missing since their Seahawk helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday morning.

None of the crew was recovered, a 6th Fleet spokesman said.

Missing and presumed dead are helicopter pilot Lt. Terri Sue Fussner, 27, of Manchester, Mo.; Lt. Wayne Francis Roberts, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Edward Lawson, a 21-year-old aviation anti-submarine warfare operator from Smyrna, Ga.

The crew was from the light helicopter squadron HSL-46, based in Mayport, Fla.

The SH-60B chopper crashed 90 miles west of Greece during a routine flight from the Norfolk-based destroyer Hayler.


Background coverage: Navy helicopter crashes in Mediterranean

The ship, part of the Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group, is making its way back to Norfolk from operations in support of the war in Afghanistan.

Hayler, the Norfolk-based destroyer Ross and several aircraft searched for the missing crew through Tuesday night and this morning.

Searchers found only an oil slick and some debris believed to be part of the downed Seahawk. The Seahawk is the Navy's version of the Army Blackhawk helicopter.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Navy said.


Reach Dennis O'Brien at dobrien@pilotonline.com or 446-2355. "