Copter Pilots Wore Night-Vision Goggles

Marines flying two helicopters that collided in the dark during a war exercise were wearing night-vision goggles and made no apparent mistakes during a dress rehearsal the night before, the deputy Secretary of Defense said Saturday.

“Everything was done the way it ought to be done,” John White told reporters from the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, about an hour’s drive from the site of the crash that killed 14 servicemen and seriously injured two others.

“We don’t know what went wrong,” he said.