A seasoned combat aviator who recently adopted a special-needs child was among the four soldiers who were killed in a training accident involving two helicopters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Monday night, according to a nonprofit group and media reports from his home state.
Chief Warrant Officer Frank Buoniconti III of the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade leaves behind his wife, Kryste, and four children, according to several newspaper and television reports out of southern Colorado.
The Army on Tuesday had not yet confirmed his death or released the names of the other three OH-58 Kiowa helicopter aviators who were killed on a clear, cold night. Their bodies were recovered from the crash site near the town of Rainier in Thurston County.
A seven-member team from Fort Rucker, Ala., was to arrive late Tuesday to begin piecing together what caused the deadliest training accident at the base south of Tacoma in recent memory.
“The actual events are unknown at this point,” said Lewis-McChord’s safety officer, Chief Warrant Officer James Oliphant. “We’re really just in a holding pattern.”
It could take months for the Fort Rucker team to complete its work and determine what caused the crash, said Lewis-McChord spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield.
Kiowa training missions are suspended for now; it was unclear Tuesday if other helicopters would be grounded, too.
Condolences poured into the base even with little known about the victims. The City of University Place, which has a community connector relationship with the fallen soldiers’ brigade, was collecting cards and messages of condolences at City Hall that will be forwarded to the unit. Flags there are flying at half-staff.
President Barack Obama, Gov. Chris Gregoire and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith of Tacoma were among those expressing sympathy.
“We can only imagine the heartache that is going through those families, and we wish them all the best and we want them to know all of America will be behind them during this very tough time,” Obama said in an interview with News Tribune news partner KIRO-TV.
A nonprofit group raised money to cover expenses Buoniconti’s family reportedly incurred while adopting a child. Project Hopeful spread word about the family on its website and on Twitter, and it said it raised $11,000 to pay for the child’s adoption.
Silvia Buoniconti, the pilot’s mother, told the Colorado Springs Gazette that her son and his wife – his high school sweetheart – took in a child nobody else wanted, and that the adoption was finalized in the last few weeks.
Buoniconti was a seasoned Kiowa pilot with three combat tours behind him, and had confidence in his armed reconnaissance aircraft.
In April 2010, an Australian journalist reported from a convoy on a dangerous highway in southern Afghanistan. U.S. scout and attack helicopters swooped overhead, watching for danger and ready to give coalition forces what Buoniconti figured was a decided advantage against the enemy.
“Nobody wants to fight a fair fight,” he told the West Australian newspaper.
Versions of the Army’s Kiowa helicopters have been in the air since Vietnam, usually serving as scout aircraft or as security protecting others. It has flown more than 690,000 hours of combat flights, according to a July review of the helicopter’s history.
The Army said its 84 percent mission-capable rating is tops among Army rotary wing aircraft.
“This is the most successful helicopter program in the Army, no doubt,” retired Lt. Gen. William “Bud” Forster, the Army’s first program executive officer for aviation, said at a July event.
Yet the OH-58 is grounded from time to time as the Army upgrades the aircraft. Fort Rucker’s fleet of Kiowas were grounded in October for “specific security system” concerns.
Twelve of the 38 soldiers who died in aerial accidents over the past three years were flying in Kiowas, according to the Army Combat Readiness Center.
Kiowas are a key part of the aviation units at Lewis-McChord as the base builds up its helicopter assets to meet a greater demand for training and combat missions overseas.
Lewis-McChord’s 16th Combat Aviation Brigade set up its headquarters at the base in August. It’s due to bring 44 new helicopters and 1,400 more soldiers to the base, giving Lewis-McChord a total of 143 helicopters.
The only helicopter units at the base that answer to other commanders are part of Special Forces or National Guard units, Maj. Chris Ophardt said.
The Army’s environmental impact study for the new brigade said aviation training hours would increase significantly as the aviation units grow. It imposed restrictions on the altitude at which the helicopters must fly to limit noise over the civilian communities south of the base.
Lewis-McChord’s 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment was the base’s main active-duty aviation unit for years before the brigade established its headquarters. The squadron has since been folded into the new brigade.
Eight aviators from the squadron have been killed in combat or in training accidents since 2006. Three died on Dec. 21, 2006, when a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crashed on a training mission near Enumclaw.
Adam Ashton: 253-597-8646
adam.ashton@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/military
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