Navy crew retrieves victims from wreckage of helicopter crash

     Associated Press
      CRESTLINE, Calif. -- A Navy crew worked over the frozen wreckage of a helicopter on Saturday in the San Bernardino Mountains, retrieving the bodies of five people who died when the craft went down a day earlier.
      The SH-60B Seahawk was on a training mission from North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas when it vanished from radar screens Friday afternoon, said Navy Lt. j.g. Charlie Brown. All aboard died.
      The Navy identified them as:
      Lt. Kelly Mackey, 30, of San Jose, Calif.; Lt. John Lee, 28, of Oceanside, N.Y.; Lt. j.g. Kent Koontz, 29, of Nashville, Tenn.; Lt. Donald Hillegas, 25, of Raleigh, N.C., and Daniel Garber, 24, an aviation anti-submarine warfare operator third class of Perry, Iowa.
      The Navy said the cause was under investigation, but it released few details. Civilian authorities said the pilot had reported icy rotor blades shortly before the crash.
      The chopper went down in fog. Searchers combed canyons and mountain tops for five hours before finding the wreck on 5,000-foot Monument Peak southwest of Lake Silverwood, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
      A U.S. Customs helicopter using night vision gear spotted the helicopter, said Cindy Beavers, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County sheriff.
      The Navy ground team battled blustery wind, thick woods and steep, icy terrain Saturday to bring the bodies down to the nearest road. They were taken to the San Bernardino County coroner's office, said Lt. Pauline Storum, a Navy spokeswoman.
      Skies were clear and sunny Saturday, but this winter's storms have coated Southern California's mountains in snow.
      The pilot had told air traffic controllers at Edwards Air Force Base he was going to make an emergency landing because the rotor blades were icy.
      "We talked to him at 1,500 feet above ground and the aircraft was in control and not disabled," controller Michael Harne told The Press-Enterprise in Riverside. "He said, `We are taking on ice' and he was going to descend. There was no panic."
      The chopper was assigned to Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron Light-47. Besides sub hunting, the Seahawks are used for reconnaissance and search duties.