Thursday’s mid-air collision involving a Coast Guard C-130 and Marine Corps AH-1H Super Cobra was the second military helicopter crash that has occurred east of San Clemente Island since 2007.  

On January 26, 2007, four were killed when a Navy MH-60S Seahawk crashed just miles from the San Clemente Islandspot of Thursday’s accident.

The Navy was unable to determine the cause of the 2007 crash.  As reported by the Navy Times,

[Navy] investigators were unable to conclusively determine a specific cause for the mishap, unable to find fault, finding no culpability, no sign of neglect on the part of the aircrew nor the personnel responsbile for maintaining the aircraft. 

When the Navy was unable to determine a cause, the family members hired their own aviation experts to investigate.  But, as reported by the Aviation Internation News Network,  the Navy wouldn’t allow the families’ experts access to the wreckage, instead requiring them to file a lawsuit so that they could conduct their own investigation.