Reports: Cause of Black Hawk crash released

Multiple media outlets are reporting the cause of the March 10 Black Hawk crash in the Santa Rosa Sound was the result of "spatial disorientation."

A joint investigation by U.S. Special Operations Command and the Louisiana National Guard found that the cause of the accident was that both pilots of the doomed aircraft developed "spatial disorientation," in which human senses lose track of where they are in space, according to The Washington Post. Between 5 percent and 10 percent of all general aviation accidents can be attributed to it, and 90 percent of those are fatal, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The pilots — Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Wayne Griffin Jr., 37, and Chief Warrant Officer 4 George David Strother, 44 — likely struggled "after deciding to fly the mission in weather conditions that had lower ceilings and less visibility than they had been briefed as the minimum weather conditions authorized to conduct the mission," according to the investigation's report, first detailed Wednesday by The Irish Times and later reported by The Washington Post.

The men onboard were performing training exercises with elite Special Operations Marines. Fog was so thick on takeoff that the first helicopter aborted the mission and returned to base, while the second helicopter continued in the dense fog.

The Black Hawk UH-60 crashed into the water southwest of Navarre at 8:21 p.m., killing all seven Marines and all four Louisiana Guardsmen on board.

"Shortly after going over the water, both CW4 Griffin and CW4 Strother exhibited signs of spatial disorientation," said the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

"The flight data recorder and the cockpit communications transcripts indicate increasingly erratic flight control inputs and anxious verbal exchanges as both pilots tried, yet failed, to gain control of the aircraft," it added. "Approximately two (2) minutes and five (5) seconds after going over water, MOJO 69 crashed into the water ... There was an attempt to engage the autopilot, but the aircraft was outside the required flight parameters and the autopilot failed."

Search and rescue efforts were delayed for several hours and later days because of heavy fog in the area the day after the crash.

The U.S. Coast Guard and local responders searched for more than 36 hours in a 94-square-mile area.

Two days after the devastating crash, the Coast Guard officially suspended the search for any soldiers and Marines missing in the Santa Rosa Sound.

Seven days later, all 11 crew members had been recovered and identified.

A spokesperson for the Louisiana National Guard said that the reporting on the cause of the crash is accurate, but that the military had not yet officially released the report to the media. The copy of the document that's being reported on was likely leaked through a family member of one victims, the spokesperson said.

The full document is expected to become available in approximately the next 6-8 weeks .