Lake Tahoe Helicopter Mishap: Eyewitness View

Family saw Navy helicopters 'dip' in Lake Tahoe.

Sept. 27, 2010 -- The video recording of two Navy helicopters dipping dramatically into the blue waters of Lake Tahoe that has become an Internet sensation was made by a family on a hike. They said they thought they were seeing a training exercise and posted the video on YouTube as a way to ask friends about it.

Micah Erickson, vacationing with his family near Emerald Bay, on the California shore of the lake, thought he was seeing an accident at first.

"We were scared," he said in an interview with ABC News. We thought the chopper had actually crashed into the water, and then it came out."

But "when the second chopper did the same thing, we thought it was some kind of a training thing because it did the exact same thing that the first chopper did. So we thought they were performing some kind of a flying training maneuver of how to dunk a helicopter in the water."

The Navy is investigating the September 13 incident, in which two of its MH-60 Romeo helicopters dipped into Lake Tahoe and sustained at least $50,000 in damage each. The flight crews of both helicopters have been grounded pending the results of an investigation to determine what actually happened that day.

Click here or in the player above to view the video.

Each helicopter normally carries two pilots and a crew chief.

Since news of the investigation became public last Friday, the video has been viewed online at least 400,000 times. The Navy's investigation was already under way before the video went viral. An Aviation Mishap Board was convened shortly after the helicopter crews landed at the nearby Lake Tahoe Airport and reported to their superiors that they had sustained damage during the incident.

Erickson says his family stopped to watch the helicopters circle slowly above the water and expected they might see Navy SEALS diving into the water for a training exercise.

"That didn't happen, and suddenly the first chopper went into the water, and then it came back out again and that's when we pulled out the camera and started to video," said Erickson.

On the video posted on YouTube, the voices of Erickson's wife and mother-in-law can be heard reacting to what they were seeing. One can be heard saying, "The other one's going to do it," before exclaiming "Oh my gosh…Oh!!" as the second helicopter dips into the lake.

Another voice replies, "They're totally practicing, aren't they." The first speaker then says, "I didn't even know it was possible."

Lake Tahoe Helicopter Maneuver: Eyewitness View

Erickson said that after both helicopters dipped in and out of the lake they both flew away slowly.

He says the family was impressed by what they had just seen, "we thought that was something pretty cool. Man, these guys could really fly." He adds, "We didn't know it was a stunt. We thought it was some kind of training maneuver. We were very impressed."

The video's popularity has been a welcome surprise to Erickson, who said he posted it to YouTube to show friends with flight experience about what it was he and his family had witnessed. "It was to find out what the heck they were doing," said Erickson.

If the helicopter maneuvers were unauthorized, then it wasn't "the smartest idea" to do them at Lake Tahoe. Emerald Bay, he said, "is a high tourist area and… in a day and age where everyone has a video camera."

Another surprise for Erickson has been the tone of some of the commentaries the video has generated on the site from people who think the video has gotten the pilots in trouble. He says some people are "angry at us for posting it" saying "you shouldn't have done that, you just got these chopper pilots in trouble." "You know what?" says Erickson, "that wasn't our intention."

The Ericksons are from Southern California, they said, though they asked that more details about them not be published to protect their privacy. Erickson said he and his wife have two small children, and they were at Lake Tahoe with his wife's mother.

The helicopters were returning from an air show in Sacramento to their home base in San Diego via Lemoore Naval Air Station, which is south of Sacramento. Lake Tahoe is out of the way, 80 miles east of Sacramento.

Erickson said he is willing to tell Navy investigators what he and his family witnessed, though he has not been contacted by them. In addition to the video, he said he also took some still photos showing the helicopters touching down in the water.

Ultimately, Erickson thinks what he and his family witnessed on their hike "was a pretty impressive bit of flying, but a poor judgment call.

"Doing that in very public place where there's a ton of people was a very unwise decision."