Black hawk down

[Jinef 2]

I hope no one has been killed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11224-2003Mar11.html

There were 15 soldiers on board, bad luck.

[Jinef 2]

Latest update has reduced the number of soldiers on board to nine, it has been found and one survivior is walking around outside the crash. Multiple injuries are reported but noone is thought to have died.

link - http://www.msnbc.com/news/883840.asp?cp1=1

[Jinef 2]

Okay American news agencies are confusing    

They can't get their story right. It's either 15 or nine soldiers -maybe they are calling the crew soldiers?

It's in New York state somewhere, on or near the vicinity of Fort Drum," Bohr said.

Greg Burnelle, a Jefferson County emergency management official, said the helicopter crashed on the Army post between the tiny towns of Antwerp and Philadelphia. Burnelle said there were "critical injured people."

It's snowy there, i like snow  

The news people are saying this should not have happened due to the blackhawk having lot's of high tech stuff on it.

[Jinef 2]

Okay it looks like there are deaths now but it's not being disclosed.

Maj. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, refused to take questions at a news briefing but indicated there were fatalities.

"I would like to extend my condolences to the families of our fallen comrades and I want to assure you that we will fully investigate this terrible accident and do everything in our power to take care of all the families involved in this tragedy," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11224-2003Mar11.html

[Guest]

11 killed

[Jester983 0]

Man that sucks. I wonder what the cause of it was...? Too much weight somehow? Or just bad weather conditions...

[drewb99 0]

Possibly a mechanical failure, it's rather cold up there and ice tends to accumulate on things rather quickly.

[NavyEEL 0]

exactly 17 years ago my father was killed while piloting his UH-60 Blackhawk.  March 11, 1986.  Two crew members were also killed.  I suppose this just isn't a good time of the year for Blackhawk pilots to fly...      May they all rest in peace.

[ralphwiggum 6]

sorry to hear that navyeel.

[Mister Frag 0]

I'm with Ralph, I'm truly sorry to hear about your dad, NavyEEL.

[FSPilot 0]

Sorry to hear about your dad NavyEEL, that's quite a horrible coincidence.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Possibly a mechanical failure, it's rather cold up there and ice tends to accumulate on things rather quickly.<span id='postcolor'>

That would be pilot error.

[LT.Schaffer 0]

Indeed a sad day

my heart goes out to the loved ones of these 11 Brave Soldiers   and to the 2 that survived,may they have a speedy recovery also sorry to hear about your Dad Navyeel

[Jinef 2]

That's the problem with helicopters.

[cam0flage 0]

Wasn't there a Blackhawk crash in Kuwait (or maybe it was Saudi Arabia) a while ago, and now this? Somehow I've been getting the picture lately that Blackhawk isn't that reliable.

[ale2999 0]

Sorry NAvyEEl

[Jinef 2]

The chinook also has problems with the whole staying airborne concept.

My condolences to Navyeel and his family

[Othin 0]

Sorry to hear that Navyeel, really can't say more then that over the net

The past year or so has been pretty bad for Helos. We've had a few U.S. choppers go down, and I think Russia has lost two or three themselves. It probably has more to do with aging platforms then anything else...

[cam0flage 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Othin @ Mar. 12 2003,19:55)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The past year or so has been pretty bad for Helos.  We've had a few U.S. choppers go down, and I think Russia has lost two or three themselves.  It probably has more to do with aging platforms then anything else...<span id='postcolor'>

Well, I think the Russian helicopters that were downed last year are even older design than UH-60, and what is most different when compared to the crashes suffered by the US is the fact that at least two of them were shot down in Chechenya.

Sorry to hear about your father, NavyEEL

[Winters 1]

More victims of the crash-hawk,

we never liked it when i served in the army and it is still just as dangerous.

when will they ever learn?

[Jinef 2]

I would think the Blackhawk would be relatively stable considering how much it costs.

I still fly the good old SeaKings, nice and reliable.

[FSPilot 0]

I haven't heard anything mechanically bad about blackhaws. And the blackhawk cant do much about icing (unless it's got de-ice equipment, which I don't know exists for helos).

[Jinef 2]

Our Helicopters definitely have deicing stuff, true it's not very good and certainly isn't as effective as fixed wing systems but it'll do if it's just overcast.

[NavyEEL 0]

Thanks so much for all your kind remarks, it really means a lot. As for the Blackhawk being a "crash hawk"... I have mixed emotions. My father's crash was caused by a common system failure that Sikorsky KNEW about at the time, but was reluctant to fix. So could my father's life have been saved? Possibly, but it's not worth dwelling over it. However, I would hope that over the past few decades the UH-60 has been improved to the point that such fatal failures are far less common. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but it's a shame to see service members killed at home, especially when the error is due to mechanical failures.

[drewb99 0]

I'm pretty sure the UH-60 of today is close to or the same as the UH-60 flying in 1986

Helicopters tend to slide off the Army's budget to make room for more HMMWV variants and rifles that blow up tanks.

[LBGS_Stewart 0]

I have a friend who use to be in the Army who was a UH-60 Pilot, he told me he never did turst those de-icers. he served in the desert war. good man he is now he paints cars in Florda. sorry to hear about your dad Navy