Posted on 01/16/2014 1:51:29 PM PST by xzins
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A member of an elite Army helicopter unit was killed and two crew members suffered injuries when their aircraft slammed into the ground as they tried to land at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, a military spokesman said Thursday.
The MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was returning from a routine training flight when it made a "hard landing" just before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday on or near the airstrip at the base in coastal Georgia, said Army Maj. Allen Hill, a spokesman for the crew's aviation unit.
The three-man crew was assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which trains soldiers to fly helicopters behind enemy lines under cover of darkness. Nicknamed the Night Stalkers, the unit was responsible for flying Navy SEALs into Pakistan during the 2010 raid in which Osama Bin Laden was killed. The 160th regiment is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Ky., but has a battalion stationed in Savannah.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
Night Stalkers Don’t Quit!
Rest in Peace.
Those who keep us safe in a dark world.
These are career soldiers, the ones the likes of Paul Ryan has attacked and stolen from.
Bin Laden and around the world, but they are disrespected by their government.
Hard landing? More like a crash landing.
IIRC, hard landings by helicopters commonly result in compression injuries to the spine.
Lot of helicopters been falling out of the sky as of late?
Around 1997 I visited with a former Boy Scout from my troop who was recently honorably discharged from the 82nd Airborne Div. He was about 22 years old. He told me about his "epiphany". He looked around 1 day on the PT field at all the paratroopers around him and realized that virtually every 1 over the age of 28 was limping. My mother's general practioner always asked about my father's health. Dad had served 3 years in the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War. Her GP remarked that virtually all of the paratrooper veterans he encountered were walking cripples. Thankfully, Dad did not suffer any jump injuries.
Even in peace time, military service is hazardous duty for those at the tip the spear. My heartfelt condolences to the surviving family members for the service of their kin.
In certain circles, Motrin is known affectionately as, “Ranger candy.”
It actually first appeared in an essay in the Washington Times in 1993 by Richard Grenier, who was paraphrasing George Orwell's opinion--the person to whom the quotation is most frequently attributed.
RIP.
But for you overly euphemistic public relations and media types: if a ‘hard landing’ results in a fatality then it is called a CRASH.
There does seem to be an epidemic of helicopters crashing. We had one here in Knoxville back in Dec. A Delta Kiowah (National Guard). Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Our's, was described as a "hard landing", also. A night training mission. It caught fire and was damaged beyond repair. I always worry about one crashing on my home as they are flying directly overhead several days a week (rural location - guess they're looking for pot or stills). The Army is talking about eliminating the Kiowas from their inventory.
FYI from the source:
"The difference is in a hard landing the pilot [has] more control, as opposed to a crash which would have been something more severe," said Army Maj. Allen Hill.
You may know that SOAR operators are a very aggressive group of aviators. Hill may not have intended his terminology to apply to fixed-wing events.
Hooah
I live about 1 mile from where this happened (close enough to hear the bugle calls, and the 6:30am playing of the “Rock of the Marne” with accompanying 105mm fire) and didn’t hear anything when this happened. My sister is about 1/4 of a mile. These guys fly over her house all the time.
Scary, scary thing! Prayers up!
RIP
The fatality was after the fact. This morning when I heard about this on local radio, they didn’t say anything about fatalities, so, it was a hard landing.
They should now change the words now.
Yes...yes they are.
RIP.
Let’s see...one dead and two injured in a “hard landing”. How much more severe would it have had to be before it’s classified as a crash? Does everybody on board have to die first?
Active Duty ping.
It’s an automatic Class A Mishap with a fatality.
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