Fuselage of 1 of 2 SDF helicopters in April crash found

If they've found one the other one must relatively nearby. Hope they're able to find and retrieve the missing crewmembers' bodies for their families.

On July 9, the Defense Ministry said that crew failing to keep a lookout was among the causes of the collision.

So not looking where they were going?

So not looking where they were going?

In a sense yes, a primary duty of any pilot is "see and avoid". Now having said that have you ever done night ASW in a helicopter with dipping sonar? There are no lights with which to orient oneself while flying over water at night. You are looking at your instruments to maintain altitude, airspeed and heading. A moment's inattention is enough to get you in trouble, something vividly demonstrated to me one dark night making an instrument approach to a frigate where my altitude dropped below 25 feet or about 7.5 meters. I recovered but another half second and we would have crashed.

In this situation you have two helos chasing a sub, both sets of pilots eyes glued to their instruments flying to waypoints communicated to them by their ship dropping these devices called sonobuoys that float on the surface with an antenna to communicate with the helo that lower a microphone deep into the ocean to listen for a sub.

Done right the TACCO in back should have a plot going that has the ship, the other helo and their sonobuoy pattern. No excuse for a collision but I will tell you night flying from a ship is very different that night flying from land, and it can be disorienting. Rain on the windshield and a little motion can mess with your inner ear and cause spatial disorientation. Been there done that. Scary to happen at night over water.

You also have no depth perception at night. That white light on the tail could be a meter away or ten, or 100. There is literally no way to tell. It is creepy making a night approach to a ship because it is this little kind of orangy dot in the water as you approach it at 70 knots. Then all of a sudden it's like a switch is flipped that flight deck is right effing there so you have to be prepared to slow down rapidly. It's hard sometimes sweaty work. We used to joke about squeezing black juice out of the stick you tended to grip the controls so hard during these evolutions. Night flying at sea is hard work.