'Fireball' Off California: Coast Guard Plane, Navy Chopper Collide
Nine missing after Coast Guard plane collides with Navy chopper.
Oct. 30, 2009— -- The search continues for nine military personnel missing after a mid-air collision of two aircraft off the southern California coast Thursday night. So far, rescuers have not found any survivors or remains.
Officials say a Coast Guard C-130 transport plane, which carried seven passengers, had been on a search and rescue mission for a small boat reported missing since Wednesday. The U.S. Marine Super Cobra AH-1W helicopter, manned by two aviators, was conducting a training exercise out of Camp Pendleton.
Shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday night, an eyewitness reported seeing two large explosions and a large fireball 50 miles off the San Diego coast and 15 miles east of San Clemente Island.
Watch Lisa Stark's report on the latest developments tonight on World News with Charles Gibson at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The Coast Guard told ABC News that the weather was clear at the time of the accident and search conditions remain very good.
"Throughout the night the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy have actively engaged in the search for survivors. There is a debris field that has been located, and we're continuing to search for survivors," said a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman, Petty Officer Second Class Jetta Disco.
The Coast Guard says the window of survivability for the nine personnel is 20 hours or more in the ocean waters, depending on their body type and the equipment they may have worn.
"We are always hopeful. We're working hard. And the assumption is always that they are alive," said Capt. Tom Farris, commander of the Coast Guard's San Diego sector, at a press conference this morning.
ABC News has been told the mid-air collision could have been much worse. Marine spokesman Major Jay Delarosa said the helicopter involved in the collision was flying in formation with three other helicopters at the time of the collision -- one other AH1-W and two CH-53s. The Cobras were flying escort for the CH-53s.
Investigators will likely focus on communications between the pilots and air traffic controllers, since early reports suggest there were not problems with the aircraft themselves.
