NV Energy faces wrongful death suit in Navy helicopter crash

By Steve Green (contact)

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 1:50 a.m.

NV Energy faces a wrongful death lawsuit filed by family members of five Navy crew members killed when their helicopter crashed after striking a power line in Northern Nevada in 2007.

The suit was filed Monday in Clark County District Court over the May 7, 2007, crash near Naval Air Station Fallon in which the crew members died while conducting a night training mission in a Navy SH-60F Seahawk. Investigators said the aircraft hit a line or lines, flipped over, crashed and burst into flames.

The family members and an administrator of the estates of the crew members allege NV Energy and its subsidiary, Sierra Pacific Power Co., failed to properly mark their power lines, poles and transmission towers with warning devices such as ball markers, reflective signs or placards, and that this caused the accident.

The crash occurred in the Fallon Range Complex about 10 miles west of Austin.

An NV Energy spokeswoman had no immediate comment Tuesday on the allegations.

While the lawsuit blames NV Energy for the accident, a Navy investigation suggested a lack of planning prior to the flight played a role. The Navy Times, citing a Navy investigative report, last year reported the crew skipped a safety briefing before the flight.

An unnamed commanding officer waived the briefing prior to the crash, the Navy Times said. The briefing would have covered flight routes and potential hazards, but was waived to make more time for preparations for the search and rescue training, the report said.

"Aircrew coordination/cockpit coordination was a factor as the aircrew did not brief the routes of flight, airspeed, or update their charts with the Chart Updating Manual prior to flight," the report said.

The Navy Times said investigators found the helicopter's pilots also were not briefed about maximum airspeed in a "low-illumination mountainous environment."

The Navy Times reported investigators determined the pilot of the downed helicopter announced upcoming power lines over the radio, but neither that aircraft nor a trailing helicopter had visual contact with the wires. The pilots thought the power lines were 100 feet lower than they were, the report said, according to the Navy Times.

The Navy said the crew was assigned to Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Seven based in Jacksonville, Fla. The squadron, part of Carrier Air Wing 3 that deploys on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, was part of a month-long training detachment at NAS Fallon.

Monday's lawsuit said NV Energy failed to properly mark the power lines despite knowing they were in an area "frequented by pedestrians and persons in aircraft ... and that among the class of users who might and did use said property included, but was not limited to, pilots and passengers of helicopters and military aircraft."

Killed were Commander Michael Sheahan, 40, Augusta, Ga.; Lt. Richard Francis Andersen Jr., 27, Virginia Beach, Va.; Aviation Warfare Systems Operator Andrew Robert Bibbo, 22, Clinton, Mass.; Aviation Warfare Systems Operator Jared John Rossetto, 24, Corralitos, Calif.; and Petty Officer First Class William Weatherford, 30, Wichita, Kan.

The suit was filed by attorneys Steven Guinn and Michael Large of the Reno law firm Laxalt & Nomura Ltd.