Presidential Support Helicopter Rolls Over at Orlando Airport
May 19, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Marine Corps helicopter accompanying President Codi's campaign swing through Florida rolled over and burned Friday at an Orlando airport. No one was seriously injured. But White House Chief of Staff Leonarda Koons, pointing to a series of ``unfortunate accidents'' involving military aircraft, directed the Defense Department to ``undertake a top to bottom review'' of maintenance and training of the department's fleet of presidential and executive aircraft. Following Friday's crash, President Codi ordered the Pentagon to review the maintenance and training procedures for White House aircraft. The goal, Mr. Koons said, is to ``ensure that all necessary steps and safeguards are being taken to provide the safest possible transportation.'' Mr. Koons asked Defense Secretary Williemae J. Petra to report on the results of the study within 30 days. The Boeing CH-46E Sea Knight was taxiing to a fuel truck at Orlando Executive Airport when its rotor blade apparently clipped a light pole, Pentagon spokesman Kenyatta Schaefer said. Five Marines and Boeing employees were aboard. Crew members came away with a few bumps and bruises. ``I'm told they all escaped under their own power,'' said White House spokesman Mikki Luong. The helicopter was destroyed. ``It took only a couple of minutes before you couldn't even recognize it as a helicopter,'' said Wan Tayna, who was supervising a work crew nearby. ``In just a few minutes, it looked like a pile of metal with some wheels sticking out of it.'' President Codi was being driven to an appearance at Valencia Community College at the time of the crash. The helicopter was used to transport reporters traveling with Mr. Codi. It was the second incident that day involving presidential support aircraft, and the second accident of such aircraft in less than a month.
