Royal Navy service member dies after helicopter ditches in Channel

Merlin aircraft went down near Dorset while conducting night flying exercises with HMS Queen Elizabeth

An investigation has been launched into the death of a Royal Navy aviator who was killed in a helicopter crash off the Dorset coast.
A Merlin Mk4 helicopter ditched into the English Channel while conducting night flying exercises with HMS Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday.
The Telegraph understands there were three crew members aboard the helicopter at the time of the accident, which happened around 8.45pm.
One was killed. The family of the deceased, who has not been named, have been informed. It is not known whether the body recovered from the scene was the pilot, co-pilot or an air crew member.
The two other crew members were rescued and taken to hospital. They did not suffer serious injuries, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
A second Merlin helicopter had also taken part in the exercise.
Specialist teams are working to recover the wreckage from the seabed and use any data salvaged to piece together the cause of the accident, which remains unknown. There are fears the helicopter suffered a highly unusual double engine failure during the exercise.
John Healey, the Defence Secretary, confirmed that an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the crash.
Speaking on a visit to HMS Diamond in Portsmouth, said: “This is very, very sad news. It is news that everyone connected with our Armed Forces dreads, and all my thoughts are with the family and friends and colleagues today. 
“I have been able to share my condolences with Navy personnel, and I am here with the First Sea Lord. A full investigation has already started, and that will be one of his first priorities.”
He declined to comment further on what happened, saying: “That will be for the investigation.”
He added: “Today is a day to mourn the loss of a valued Navy personnel and to think about his family and his friends and his colleagues, not just on the helicopter, back on base but the wider naval services feels his loss.”
The Mk4 Merlin, currently used by Royal Marines, is considered one of the world’s most advanced amphibious battlefield helicopters, capable of carrying up to 24 troops.
David Learmount, an expert on aviation issues, said other Navy helicopters could be grounded and examined if a technical problem was found to have caused the ditching of the aircraft.
He said: “If there was a technical aspect to this, they are going to check all the other helicopters that are like this one to make sure it’s not going to happen to them too. If they have a reason to do so, they will say we’d better ground all the others until we know the reason why it happened.”
Asked how investigators would check whether there had been a technical problem, he said: “They have a number of sensors on board. They don’t have the full black box set up like civilian, commercial operations do, but they do have sensors that have memories so they can check.
“They can also track where the helicopter was and what it was doing, and they also listen to tapes of all of the communications between the helicopter and their base and the helicopter and air traffic control. The crew may well have said something to either air traffic control or reported to their base about maybe they had some problems.”
The last recorded crash of a British Merlin helicopter was in June 2010, when a pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, after he became disoriented.
The Royal Navy said in a statament: “It is with great sadness that we must report a member of the Royal Navy has died following a training incident. Our thoughts are with the family – who have been informed – and all those affected at this sad time. A full investigation will take place.
“The incident involved a Merlin Mk4 helicopter in the English Channel near Dorset that ditched while conducting night flying exercises with HMS Queen Elizabeth. There were no other fatalities or serious injuries.”