An Air Force accident investigation found that the crash of a HH-60 Pave Hawk on May 11 near Angel Fire, N.M., that resulted in the death of flight engineer TSgt. Scott A. Bobbitt, was caused primarily by pilot error. Contributing to the accident, though, were unfavorable weather conditions and “general complacency” of the flight crew, stated an Air Education and Training Command recap of the accident report. The HH-60 was assigned to the 58th Special Operations Wing, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
NASA, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance are all preparing to launch their next-gen rockets from Florida’s Space Coast, two of them before the year is out. One is expected to liberate the U.S. launch enterprise from its reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines, while all three rockets could eventually carry astronaut crews.