The crash of a Marine Corps helicopter in July that killed five troops was caused by a fracture of the chopper's rotor mast.
Announcing the results of its investigation, an inquiry team consisting of civilian, government and military experts said that a foreign subcontractor that produced the rotor mast mistakenly used a water cooling-type heat treatment program when it was supposed to use an air cooling-type program.
The team said the supplier has acknowledged its production error.
The MUH-1 Marineon, a Marine variant of the Army's KUH-1 Surion helicopter, crashed shortly after a maintenance checkup at a military airport in the southeastern city of Pohang on July 17th.
It was seen falling after its rotor blades separated from the fuselage just seconds after takeoff.■
Please send comments to tbsefmnews@gmail.com / copyright © tbs. Unauthorized redistribution prohibited.
