San Diego, California.– Five years after one of the most devastating U.S. Navy aviation accidents in recent years, the service and sacrifice of Lt. Bradley A. Foster, Lt. Paul R. Fridley, James P. Buriak, Sarah F. Burns and Bailey J. Tucker continue to be remembered.
The five sailors lost their l1ves on August 31, 2021, when an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, known by the callsign Loosefoot 616, crashed into the Pacific Ocean approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of San Diego, California.
The aircraft belonged to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 8 (HSC-8) and was operating from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).
Those who per1shed were:
Lieutenant Bradley A. Foster, 29, of Oakhurst, California.
Lieutenant Paul R. Fridley, 28, of Annandale, Virginia.
Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) James P. Buriak, 31, of Salem, Virginia.
Hospital Corpsman Sarah F. Burns, 31, of Severna Park, Maryland.
Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Bailey J. Tucker, 21, of St. Louis, Missouri.
Foster and Fridley were the pilots aboard the Seahawk.
The crew had completed approximately 2.5 hours of plane-guard and search-and-rescue support operations before returning to the USS Abraham Lincoln.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., the helicopter touched down on Spot 7 of the aircraft carrier’s flight deck.
Seconds later, something went catastrophically wrong.
The helicopter began experiencing intense lateral and vertical vibrations. As the vibrations increased, its main rotor blades struck the carrier’s flight deck.
The aircraft then went over the starboard side of the USS Abraham Lincoln and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.
There were six crew members aboard.
One sailor managed to escape from the helicopter after it entered the water and survived. The Navy has kept that crew member’s identity redacted from the publicly released investigation.
Five additional sailors who were working aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were also injured during the accident.
A massive search-and-rescue operation followed.
For approximately three days, Navy and Coast Guard crews searched the waters off Southern California hoping to locate the five missing sailors.
Eventually, the active search was suspended and Bradley Foster, Paul Fridley, James Buriak, Sarah Burns and Bailey Tucker were declared d3ad.
But the Navy did not leave them behind.
A complex underwater recovery operation was subsequently launched.
In October 2021, approximately five weeks after the crash, the Navy successfully recovered the wreckage of the MH-60S and the r3mains of the fallen crew members from the ocean floor.
The Navy later conducted an extensive investigation to determine why the helicopter had suddenly become uncontrollable.
The final investigation, released in May 2022, determined that an in-flight failure of a damper hose resulted in the complete loss of the helicopter’s main rotor damping.
That failure produced extreme vibrations immediately after the Seahawk touched down.
Investigators concluded that the damaged hose triggered the sequence that caused the rotor blades to strike the flight deck and ultimately sent the helicopter into the ocean.
The Navy could not definitively determine exactly when or how the hose had originally been damaged.
Behind the military titles were five people with families waiting for them at home.
Lt. Bradley A. Foster was survived by his wife, Beth Foster, and their one-year-old daughter, Audrey.
Lt. Paul R. Fridley was survived by his wife, Sarah Fridley.
James P. Buriak was survived by his wife, Megan Buriak, and their one-year-old son, Caulder.
Sarah F. Burns was survived by her husband, Lucas Burns.
And Bailey J. Tucker, the youngest member of the fallen crew at just 21 years old, was survived by his parents, Jill and Jay Tucker.
The five sailors were serving aboard one of America’s most recognizable aircraft carriers and belonged to a squadron whose missions included combat support, logistics and search-and-rescue operations.
Their final flight itself had included search-and-rescue support duties.
The U.S. Navy has continued to remember Bradley Foster, Paul Fridley, James Buriak, Sarah Burns and Bailey Tucker, stating after completing its investigation that the service continued to mourn their loss and remember their families and loved ones.
Five years later, August 31 remains a solemn anniversary for the families, friends and fellow sailors of HSC-8.
They were five sailors of different ages and backgrounds who boarded Loosefoot 616 together and never returned home.
Lt. Bradley A. Foster.
Lt. Paul R. Fridley.
James P. Buriak.
Sarah F. Burns.
Bailey J. Tucker.
Five names forever connected by service, duty and sacrifice.