New York Army National Guard officials say human error caused the military helicopter crash that killed three soldiers in Mendon earlier this year.
Col. Richard Goldenberg, public affairs officer for the New York National Guard, said that a procedural error while rehearsing an emergency training maneuver caused the fatal Jan. 20 crash. Specifically, he said, actions taken by the crew during training put the aircraft in a position where it became unrecoverable. It was, he said, an in-flight emergency related to the controls of the aircraft itself.
Killed were all three soldiers on board, chief warrant officers Steven Skoda and Daniel Prial, both of Rochester, and Christian Koch of Honeoye Falls.
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He joined the U.S. Army right after high school and spent two years in Alaska. He later joined the National Guard because “he could sign up to be a pilot,” she said. He eventually settled in Rochester, but would keep in touch with his mom via phone.
‘These guys are being called heroes by so many people.and he was a dear, sweet hero,” Barbara Skoda said. He wanted to be called Steve
Skoda was what you’d call an “Army dad,” said Amber Davis, 36, of Ogden, a Staff Sergeant who served with both Skoda and Koch in Company F, 1st of the 169th General Support Aviation Battalion. She now works in administration with the New York National Guard.
Christian Koch never would have kept them waiting.
On Wednesday evening, when Koch s family first heard rumblings on social media about a military helicopter that crashed in Mendon, they tried to call him.
Two helicopters had gone out for a training exercise that night, said his sister-in-law Aimee Koch. Frantically, they tried to figure out which aircraft he was on. It became increasingly clear as we tried to reach him by cellphone that he was involved, she said. Christian never would have made anybody worry. . As time went by and we didn t get that call, we knew.
Koch, 39, died Wednesday along with two other New York Army National Guard soldiers when their UH-60 medical evacuation helicopter crashed while on a routine training mission just after 6:30 p.m.