JUNEAU — The U.S. Coast Guard commander for Alaska is recommending that Lt. Lance Leone, the sole survivor of a 2010 Coast Guard helicopter crash, not be promoted or involved in flight operations again, an attorney for Leone said Tuesday.
Attorney John Smith called Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo’s recommendations a “career killer,” and said Leone would appeal.
In March, Ostebo dismissed negligent homicide and other charges against Leone in connection with the crash, a decision in line with the recommendations of an investigating officer who oversaw a three-day military hearing in December. But in administrative remarks for Leone’s personnel file, Ostebo found that Leone’s actions directly contributed to the deaths of his three colleagues and destruction of the aircraft. The Coast Guard’s final report on the crash also found that a lack of communication and a failure by Leone and pilot Sean Krueger to properly perform their duties contributed to the crash.
Leone was co-pilot of an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter flying from Astoria, Ore., to the crew’s base in Sitka when it hit an unmarked span of low-hanging wires and crashed off the Washington coast in July 2010. Killed in the crash were Krueger and crewmen Brett Banks and Adam C. Hoke.
Leone, 31, had recovered from his injuries and been cleared for flight re-training when he was charged last year with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and destruction of government property. He was accused of not actively navigating or challenging Krueger’s decision to drop in altitude seconds before the helicopter hit the 1,900-foot span of wires maintained by the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard’s vice commandant, in the final crash report, found that a lack of adequate markings on the power transmission lines — the site of at least two other accidents — may have contributed to the crash.
Smith has called the report “flawed and biased.”
“I think that the final real insult to all of this is the Coast Guard is doing this, they are taking advantage of Lt. Leone to hide their own misconduct in attention to detail and, quite frankly, their own criminality,” he said.
Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow confirmed that Leone is being transferred but said policy prevents him from releasing personnel information without a member’s permission
Smith said Ostebo’s latest recommendations came in a report that Leone received this week. Smith said Leone, who he said was in line for a promotion, is being reassigned next month to San Antonio, where he is to serve as a Coast Guard liaison to a military health system.
“It’s really a nothing job, and he’s not happy about that,” Smith said.
He said Leone’s legal team would keep working to ensure he gets his promotion and has the negative evaluation reports overturned and pulled from his record.
He said he knows of no other case where an aviator who survived a crash and was physically able to fly had not been allowed to do so if he chose to.
Comments (5)
Add commentScapegoat
This appears to me to be an internal crucifixion aimed at taking the focus off of the lack of visual warnings ( orange balls ) that were the Coast Guard's responsibility on power lines that previously caused two other arial crashes. Was Ostebo or one of his cronies in charge of the 'dropped balls' or did the edict come from above?
scapegoat
Could it possibly be any more obvious that the higher Coast Guard brass is making Leone a scapegoat for their own ineptitude?
To Lt. Leone: I used to work in a similar environment where higher ups were out to get me one way or another. They tried several times and failed, but ultimately, if they want a pound of your flesh, they will find a way one way or another. It appears they are making you a scapegoat and trying to demotivate you. Stand strong.
And nothing draws attention away from one's ineptitude better than throwing it someone else's direction and pointing fingers at them.
Cover-up
The ineptitude of the Coast Guard's upper echelon must be protected at all costs! Screw up this poor guy's career to obscure the negligence of commanders who should have marked this hazard many years ago, after other crashes!
He's just urinating into the wind if he continues to fight these idiots. Best to find a well paid private sector job. What a waste of all that training that the taxpayers paid for, just to cover some admiral's hind end.
I am entirely unimpressed with Ostebo. The sooner he leaves the 17th district, the better.
Obvious...
It's obvious none of the above bloggers have served their county in the military.
Men died, Leon could have prevented that but didn't, and a CO had to communicate the worst of all messages to a surviving spouse and family. Until you've had to perform that incredibly sad duty, your comments remain uniformed.
This was the only way the Admiral could assure those victims that this individual will not be the cause of such messages in the future.
Seriously?
"He was accused of not actively navigating or challenging Krueger’s decision to drop in altitude seconds before the helicopter hit the 1,900-foot span of wires maintained by the Coast Guard."
Note those 2 words - "seconds before". What on earth was he supposed to do in "seconds" to prevent this crash?? It's just ludicrous that he's now being punished for something that he could have done nothing to prevent.