Increasingly worried family members Thursday identified a second crew member of the five missing from an Army Black Hawk helicopter that went down at sea off Kaena Point on Tuesday night as an urgency was added to the search-and-rescue mission now entering its fourth day.
Brian Woeber, an instructor pilot at Wheeler Army Airfield, was identified as among the crew from the UH-60 transport reported missing at about 9:30 p.m. on what was supposed to be a routine two-helicopter training flight.
“Our son Brian was one of the pilots in the Hawaii helicopter crash. Waiting on search and rescue. Please pray,” Debbie Herbeck Woeber, who lives in Decatur, Ala., wrote Thursday on her Facebook page.
A person who answered the phone at Herbeck Woeber’s home said, “I’m sorry, sir, we’re not talking to any press.”
A multiagency search team is working around the clock to locate the five missing crew members. Lt. Col. Curt Kellogg, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said the entire search team is “resolute and determined” to bring the soldiers home. “It’s a true team effort, and it’s fixated on locating our soldiers.”
“There’s a purpose. There’s a seriousness and there’s a determination,” he said Thursday. Both the Army and Coast Guard said none of the aviators had been located.
Navy personnel used a SeaBotix remotely operated vehicle Thursday to scan the ocean floor, according to Navy Region Hawaii. Side scan and hand-held sonar devices also were used in the search. Officials previously said the helicopter went down about 2 miles west of Kaena Point in 500 to 600 feet of water. The depth is too deep for Navy divers to reach.
The Coast Guard expanded the search Thursday to 50 miles off Kaena Point due to possible drift from the initial crash location, said spokesman Lt. Scott Carr. The Coast Guard’s fixed-wing aircraft was searching the farther areas while its helicopter and surface assets were searching waters 15 to 20 miles offshore.
“Coast Guard cutters will stay overnight, and Coast Guard aircraft will continue the search throughout the evening, around the clock,” Carr said.
Navy personnel joined the Army, Coast Guard, Honolulu Fire Department, Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division as the search continued.
The searchers encountered windy conditions and 3- to 6-foot swells Thursday.
“Out here in Hawaii the ocean can be turbulent,” Carr said Thursday afternoon. “While there has been no sign of survivors as of right now, we continue to stay positive in our efforts.”
Search elements also included the Coast Guard cutter Walnut, a Black Hawk and CH-47 helicopter from Wheeler, a shore patrol and helicopter from the Honolulu Fire Department, and an Army shore patrol.
The Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division and the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement used jet skis to conduct a near-shore search for the missing crew from Haleiwa to Kaena Point.
The local, state and federal agencies involved are “great partners,” Carr said.
A team from the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center based in Fort Rucker, Ala., was on its way Thursday to assist.
Woeber is the second crew member to be identified by family.
Kentucky native Abigail Milam was identified by her wife, Tiffany Marie, in a Facebook post Wednesday. “Please say a prayer for my wife and for the other members on board the helicopter that went down. Please let them be found safe,” Tiffany Marie wrote.
The 25th Infantry Division has not released the missing crew’s names, but said all were with the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.
According to his LinkedIn page, Woeber has been an instructor pilot at Wheeler since August 2015. He had two previous assignments in Sinai, Egypt, and at Fort Rucker, Ala., as an instructor pilot.
His Facebook page said he’s married to Lori Barnes Woeber. The Decatur (Ala.) Daily said he is a father of three.
Anthony Gallas posted on Facebook that a “friend and fellow pilot I flew with in Egypt is missing after his helicopter went down in Hawaii. Great guy to work with and all my prayers are going out to him and his family during this time. Godspeed Brian Woeber, you are on all our minds.”
Two Black Hawks departed Wheeler on Tuesday night for a routine night- training mission between Kaena Point and Dillingham Airfield. About 30 minutes into the training, the second helicopter lost radio and visual contact with the first one.
The Coast Guard issued an urgent marine information broadcast and deployed assets after it received a call from Wheeler of the missing helicopter at 10:08 p.m. Tuesday. The Coast Guard and Army air crews spotted a debris field near Kaena Point shortly before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
A Honolulu Fire rescue boat crew recovered a piece of ragged fuselage and a helmet Wednesday and turned it over to the Army. The Coast Guard said responders are continuing to recover debris off Kaena Point.
A command post has been set up at Haleiwa Boat Harbor where the search-and-rescue team is coordinating its efforts. The Army’s Kellogg said officials are providing daily updates on the search efforts to family members of the missing soldiers.
The Coast Guard established a safety zone around a majority of the search area about 5.5 miles northwest of Kaena Point. It has a radius of about 5 miles. Carr said boaters are not authorized to enter the zone without permission from the port captain.
All large pieces of debris are brought to the Coast Guard station at Sand Island. Smaller debris is brought to the Haleiwa Boat Harbor.
Anyone who observes any debris from the aircraft in the water is asked to contact the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Command Center in Honolulu at 842-2600. Individuals who find any debris from the aircraft on the shoreline are asked to call the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at 656-1080.
