DEMAND PROBE INTO CAUSE OF COPTER CRASH.

ORDER CRAFT GROUNDED FOR INQUIRY.

All Los Angeles Airways commuter helicopters were grounded today while an investigation was conducted into the crash of one Wednesday which killed 21 persons in an effort to determine if mechanical failure or man-made sabotage was the cause.
Supervisor KENNETH HAHN, meantime, demanded the FBI be called into the case saying, "this could be a man-made accident as well as or instead of mechanical failure."
HAHN'S office said FBI agents visited the scene of the crash in Compton Wednesday night with the supervisor, but the FBI said today it lacked jurisdiction because Los Angeles Airways is a purely local line.
Meantime, the coroner's office worked to identify the bodies of the victims, who included the grandson of the president of the line, a recently retired San Francisco police captain, his wife, his daughter, and 8-year-old grand-daughter.
The twin-turbine Sikorsky S61L helicopter lost its tail rotor and plunged to earth in a Compton playground Wednesday morning in a crash remarkably similar to one that took 23 lives in Paramount last May.
In crashed in Pop Leuder's Park, Rosecrans Avenue and Bullis Road, about 50 feet away from a playground where children were playing. All aboard were killed either on impact or in the explosion and flames which followed.
It was the third worst commercial helicopter crash in the United States. The worst, involving a New York Airways helicopter in 1963, killed 33 passengers and three crewmen.
The crash of the Los Angeles Airways helicopter in May ranks as the second worst such disaster.
A spokesman for Sikorsky Aircraft reached by telephone in Stratford, Conn., declined specific comment on the crashes but said they were the first reported as a result of the loss of tail rotors in flight.
The spokesman said nearly 600 of the huge helicopters have been supplied the military since production began in 1960 and that 32 commercial models have been delivered.
Asked specifically if any crashes blamed on losses of tail rotors have been reported either by military or civilian users of the craft, he said "just those two out there."
Aboard the craft that crashed Wednesday were a crew of three and 18 passengers.
The dead included CHRISTOPHER BELINN, 16, grandson of CLARENCE BELINN, president of the helicopter line. The youth had been visiting his grandparents in North Hollywood and was returning home to his parents, MR. and MRS. LAWRENCE BELINN of Santa Ana.
Also on the list of dead was JOHN P. MEEHAN, 65, who retired two weeks ago after 38 years on the San Francisco Police Department. Among those identified were his wife, HELEN, 63, his daughter, PATRICIA MEEHAN, a schoolteacher and their granddaughter, ANNE MARIE MEEHAN, daughter of JOHN J. MEEHAN, 35, an Alameda County deputy district attorney.
MEEHAN'S daughter, PATRICIA, 29, a schoolteacher, was reported to have flown to Los Angeles with her father. She was not included in early incomplete casualty lists.
The crewmen were identified as Capt. KENNETH L. WAGGONER, 33, of Costa Mesa; co-pilot CHARLES FRACKER, 28, of Redondo Beach and Flight Attendant JAMES A. BLACK of Wilmington.
National Transportation Safety Board experts began gathering the strewn wreckage to see if the cause of the crash could be determined. Cause of the May 22 disaster still is a mystery.
Witnesses said they heard a "thump, thump, thump," as the helicopter plunged earthward, followed by an explosion on impact.
The craft took off at 10:25 a.m. and was due at Disneyland at 10:41 a.m. Witnesses said it fell at 10:34 a.m.
In the May tragedy, the copter went down 11 minutes after takeoff in a Paramount dairy farm 2 1/2 miles east of Wednesday's crash. It was en route from Disneyland to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Country Supervisor KENNETH HAHN demanded that the FBI be called in. Similarities between Wednesday's crash and the May disaster, he said, suggested "this could be a man-made accident as well as or instead of mechanical failure."
Just before the helicopter hit the ground, said CARL SHAW, 14, of Compton, he heard the pilot scream "hell-l-l ... hell!" There was no other human sound from the craft, he said.
STEVEN FUSS of Hollywood, who was working nearby, said he saw the tail rotor fall off "as if it were sheared from the shaft."
"It then went straight out," said FUSS. "Then the copter rolled back end over end toward the tail, made two loops. Thirty seconds later it hit the ground."
Witnesses fought the spreading flames with small extinguishers as the fire streaked along the full length of the fuselage.
JOHATHAN DOLLAR,48, said the pilot tried to the end to keep the copter airborne. "God bless that man," he said.
The other dead identified so far include:
PETER C. SMITH, age unknown, Centerville, Ohio.
WALTER L. LISK, 72, Bieber, Calif.
WES ELDERENKAMP, 39, Denver, Colo., director of advertising and promotion for Mr. Steak, a national restaurant chain.
L. E. BAKER, 44, Denver, Colo., Western area coordinator for Mr. Steak.
KENNETH J. ATWELL, age unknown, Denver, Colo.
MRS. KENNETH J. ATWELL, age unknown.
EARL R. WALLACE, age unknown, Bellaire, Tex.
JOSEPH J. KAUL, age unknown, Garden Grove, Calif.

Press-Telegram Long Beach California 1968-08-15

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!