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Seattle pilot, others "should have walked away" from crash By LEVI PULKKINEN SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Gravity and, likely, a mechanical failure brought down the helicopter in August 2007, impacting on a hillside a few miles outside of Easton. It was the fire that followed that ended the lives of four on board, a timber owner, two Korean furniture makers and the pilot. And that fire, attorneys for one of the dead now claim, could have easily been prevented had the helicopter's manufacturer acted to remedy a long-known design flaw in the popular aircraft. Ilyas Akbari, an attorney representing killed furniture manufacturer...

LEADVILLE, Colorado — Four soldiers died after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission on Colorado's second-highest mountain, the Army's Special Operations Command said Thursday. The helicopter crashed Wednesday afternoon near the summit of 14,421-foot Mount Massive. The Army initially said two were killed, one was injured and one was missing. The missing man was found dead late Wednesday, and the injured man died on the way to the hospital Wednesday, said Lt. Col. John Clearwater, a spokesman for the command at Fort Bragg, N.C. All were male soldiers from Fort Campbell, Ky., he said. Their names haven't...

Here is raw video from yesterday showing debris in the Hudson River in the immediate aftermath of a tragic Helicopter / Plane Crash that occurred in New York killing nine people. As of tonight, seven bodies have been recovered. . . . . (Watch Video)

BAGHDAD -- A Black Hawk helicopter went down Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said, the deadliest crash since January 2005. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, lashed out at American criticism a day after President George W. Bush expressed frustration with the Iraqi government's inability to bridge political divisions. "No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people," the Shiite leader said at a news conference in Damascus at the end of a three-day visit to Syria.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ nothing follows at the moment ...

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE - "Three Marines and one Navy sailor are dead and one Marine is injured after a helicopter from the Yuma Marine base crashed 20 miles north of Yuma near the Colorado river, according to a military official. The accident involved a search and rescue helicopter that crashed late Thursday afternoon while returning from a routine training flight near the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground. The crashed helicopter was one of four in the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron at Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma. The names of the dead and injured are being withheld for 24 hours until the...

PHOENIX — Federal investigators on Saturday began gathering debris from two news helicopters that collided while covering a police chase on live television and crashed, killing all four people aboard. The investigators plan to lay out the wreckage elsewhere to try to determine the point where the two aircraft collided Friday, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Howard Plagens said. "We're just mapping out the locations ... how things are scattered, that's our main focus," he said. Investigators said they'll need at least another day to finish going through the debris, which was sprayed across the ground and landed atop nearby...

14 Iranian troops killed in helicopter crash 23 minutes ago Fourteen Iranian military personnel were killed in a helicopter crash last week during an operation against rebels close to the Turkish border, the Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Monday. A statement carried by the ISNA agency said that two commanders of the Guards' ground force and 12 other military personnel were killed in Friday's accident. Kurdish rebels had claimed they shot down the aircraft. "Commanders Ghahari Said and Dorosti of the Guards' Hamzeh Army 3, along with 12 other members of the Islamic republic's army and the Guards, were martyred in...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2006 – The bodies of two soldiers missing after an Aug. 8 helicopter crash in Iraq’s Anbar province have been recovered, U.S. officials announced today. Both soldiers died as a result of the accident. “Our thoughts are with the families of the soldiers,” Marine spokesman Maj. Riccoh Player said. The U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the 82nd Aviation Ambulance Company, in direct support of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, went down with six servicemembers on board during an area familiarization flight. The remaining four servicemembers, two Army and two Navy, are in stable condition. Aircraft recovery efforts...

The bodies of two American service members missing since a helicopter crash were found west of Baghdad, officials said Friday. The U.S. military said the bodies of two American service members missing since a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter crashed Tuesday have been uncovered. The helicopter crashed in an undisclosed body of water during a routine flight in Anbar province west of the capital, and divers had been looking for the two Americans, U.S. officials said. Meanwhile, gunmen loyal to a prominent Shiite cleric torched an office of the Iraqi president's Kurdish party Friday. Some 50 gunmen stormed the office of the...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. servicemen were missing in Iraq's restive Anbar province after their helicopter crashed, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. The military said the helicopter went down with six crew aboard on Tuesday and that the other four survived and were in a stable condition. It said that the crash did not appear to have been the result of enemy action. "We are using all the resources available to find our missing comrades," said Marine spokesman Major Riccoh Player in a statement. The helicopter, a U.S. army Blackhawk from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, was on an...

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Four Army special operations soldiers killed when their helicopter crashed in a rural Georgia field during a training flight were experienced and combat-tested aviators. They shared 31 years of combined service in the Army, as well as 22 deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the two pilots on board, Chief Warrant Officer Michael L. Wright, had earned two Bronze Stars and an Air Medal for Valor. The Army released the soldiers’ identities Saturday, two days after they died when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed and broke apart after clipping a wire on a...

One survivor after helicopter clips tower Lori Glenn DOERUN — Four Army soldiers died in a helicopter crash after it clipped a television transmitting tower early Thursday morning. Amazingly, a fifth crew member walked away from the wreckage. Just after 8 a.m., the MH-47 Chinook helicopter en route from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah to Ft. Rucker, Ala., hit the WFXL tower just off Ga. Highway 270 east of Doerun during a routine training flight. The military has yet to confirm the cause of the accident. The U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center from Fort Rucker is investigating. All on board...

NAIROBI, Kenya (Feb. 19) - The U.S. military confirmed Sunday that 10 U.S. troops died when two transport helicopters crashed into the sea last week off the coast of the African nation of Djibouti. The CH-53E choppers, carrying a dozen crew and troops from a U.S. counterterrorism force, went down Friday in the Gulf of Aden, near the northern coastal town of Ras Siyyan. Two crew members were rescued. The search for the others was called off Saturday when the military said it had accounted for the 10 troops but it declined to reveal their fate until family members were...

Two U.S. Marine Corps helicopters crash It happened off the coast of Djibouti AP (Washington-WABC, 2006) - Two Marine Corps transport helicopters crashed Friday off the coast of Djibouti, the Pentagon said. A search-and-rescue mission was under way. The status of the crews of the CH-53E helicopters was not known, said Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter. A CH-53E normally operates with a crew of between three and eight people. Carpenter said there was no indication that hostile fire was involved. The helicopters were based at Camp Lemonier, a French military base that serves as headquarters for a U.S. military operation called...

US helicopters in Iraq face menace of 'aerial bombs' By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 18/01/2006) American helicopters in Iraq are facing a new threat from so-called aerial bombs, which are fired into the air from the ground and explode close to passing aircraft. The new home-made weapons, known to the Americans as "aerial improvised explosive devices" have been used on numerous occasions. US troops clear up after an unexplained helicopter crash "The enemy is adaptive. They makes changes in the way they fight, they respond to new flying tactics," Brig Edward Sinclair, a US army aviation commander, told Defense...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2006 – The Pentagon is seeking answers as to why three U.S. helicopters have crashed in Iraq within the past two weeks, a senior Defense Department official said here today. "Is there a pattern? Certainly, in recent weeks three helicopters have gone down. Nothing has been ruled in or out in any of those three cases yet," DoD spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told Pentagon reporters. Twelve U.S. servicemembers and four civilians were killed as the result of three separate helicopter crashes that occurred in Iraq this month: Two U.S. soldiers died yesterday when their AH-64 Apache helicopter...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2006 – Two Task Force Ironhorse soldiers were killed today when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed, and various operations in Iraq netted terrorism suspects and weapons, military officials in Baghdad reported today. The Apache crashed in a swampy area north of Taji at about 8:20 a.m. while conducting a combat air patrol, officials said. Though emphasizing that it is premature to determine the cause of the crash and that an investigation will be conducted, military officials said the area where the aircraft went down has been known for terrorist activity. The soldiers' names are being withheld pending...

Reuters - U.S. HELICOPTER SHOT DOWN NORTH OF BAGHDAD -- WITNESSES

Al Qaeda in Iraq said on Saturday it was behind the downing of a U.S. military helicopter near the northern city of Mosul which killed its two pilots, according to a Web posting. "Our lions in Mosul ... succeeded to shoot down a U.S. helicopter on Friday by targeting it with medium-sized weapons," said an Internet statement attributed to al Qaeda. The statement's authenticity could not be verified. It was posted on a Web site often used by insurgents. Witnesses had reported seeing gunmen armed with heavy machineguns open fire on the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, a two-seat, single-engine helicopter, in...

MOSUL, Iraq - A U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter went down near Mosul in northern Iraq on Friday while aiding Iraqi police who came under hostile fire, and its two pilots were seriously injured, military officials said. Both pilots of the OH-58 Kiowa, which is armed, were alive but unconscious when they were evacuated, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joel Burger, of the 172nd Stryker Brigade's 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, said at the scene of the crash. It was unclear why the helicopter went down at about 2:15 p.m. "They were not conscious. It's not looking good. I've spent a lot...

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Three Sailors from Naval Station Mayport’s Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron (Light) (HSL) 44, who were killed when their helicopter crashed off the coast of North Carolina Sept. 25, have been identified as: Lt. Robert L. Elortegui, 32, pilot, of Miami, Fla. Lt. Thomas Brantley, 27, pilot, of Ahoskie, N.C. Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 3rd Class Nestor L. Oterolebron, 27, of Caguas, Puerto Rico. The helicopter lost communications while conducting deck landing qualifications off the coast of North Carolina as part of the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group Sept. 25 at 10:50 p.m. A search and rescue operation was...

Michael Wittenberg, husband of Broadway musical-theater star Bernadette Peters, died Monday in a helicopter crash in Montenegro. He was 43. Wittenberg, an investment adviser, was on a business trip, Judy Katz, a spokeswoman for Peters, said Tuesday. Three other people were killed in the crash, which occurred when the aircraft struck a high-voltage cable, police in Podgorica, Montenegro said. Wittenberg married the Tony Award-winning actress in July 1996. They wed at the home of Mary Tyler Moore, a longtime friend of Peters. Peters most recently appeared on Broadway in the 2003 revival of "Gypsy." Her other Broadway shows include "Sunday...

A Wisconsin man celebrating his wedding anniversary was one of three people killed in Friday's tour helicopter crash off Kauai. The man's daughter and her husband, who are newlyweds, survived the crash. She spoke with KITV for the first time since the crash. Laverne Clifton died in a helicopter crash off Kauai. Here's he's pictured with his wife, Barbara, during their vacation on Kauai to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. Karen Clifton and her husband traveled from Beloit, Wis., just south of Madison, to her honeymoon on Kauai. Her father and mother came along on their wedding anniversary."God only takes...

Navy Suspends Search For Missing Helo, Crew JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Navy has suspended search-and-rescue efforts for three service members from a Mayport-based helicopter lost off the coast of North Carolina. The search was called off at 11 a.m. Monday after debris from the wreckage of the SH-60B Seahawk from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Light Wing 44 was located and no survivors were found. The Navy reported losing communication with the helicopter at 10:50 p.m. Saturday while it was conducting landing qualifications on two ships off Cherry Point, N.C. as part of the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast...

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. military says a U.S. military Chinook helicopter has crashed in Afghanistan, killing all on board.

U.S. military copter crash kills 5 in Afghanistan Chinook does not appear to have been shot down, officials say - A U.S. Chinook helicopter crashed Sunday in remote mountains of southern Afghanistan, killing all five crew members on board, the U.S. military said. It did not appear to have been shot down. The CH-47 chopper was supporting military operations when it went down near Daychopan district in southern Zabul province, a military statement said. U.S. ground forces had reached the crash scene and were providing security for recovery operations Gulab Shah, a spokesman for Zabul’s governor, said there had been...

It has now been confirmed that our dear brother, Dr. John Garang, 1st Vice President of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan, with others, died in a helicopter crash, South East of New Cush on the Sudan- Uganda border slightly beyond Kidepo National Park. Dr. Garang's party comprising of 5 other Sudanese and a number of Ugandans were flying to a place known as New Site, one of his Headquarters in Southern Sudan. He was returning from a two days consultation with me at Rwakitura.

(RFE/RL) -- Russia's Defense Ministry now says that eight people were killed and one seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Chechnya today. Russian Colonel Aleksandr Drobyshevskii said all three crewmen and five of the helicopter's six passengers were killed. He said the surviving passenger was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital. Russian officials initially said there were only four people aboard the helicopter. It's not yet clear what caused the crash near the village of Itum-Kale. (ITAR-TASS)

VIRGINIA BEACH — More than a mile above sea level in the Afghan mountains, four SEALs on a reconnaissance mission on June 28 took enemy fire in terrain thick with Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. A crew of eight Army Special Forces and eight Navy SEALs heard their emergency call, boarded a specially-equipped MH-47 Chinook helicopter and sped into the mountain fight. They would not return alive. On Friday morning, the aftershock of the Afghan battle resonated through a naval base and a community 7,000 miles away. Nearly 2,600 mourners converged on Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base to remember and...

KABUL, Afghanistan, June30 - United States and Afghan troops today reached the site of a downed military helicopter that crashed in a mountainous area this week, the United States military announced. The military said Wednesday that the aircrft appeared to have been brought down by hostile fire. The Chinook helicopter was carrying 17 people, including 8 Navy Seal commandos and other Special Operations troops, members of a so-called quick reaction force that had been sent after radio calls from troops on the ground saying they were in combat with insurgents, according to a military official in Washington. There was no...

The U.S. military confirmed Thursday that all 16 servicemembers aboard a special forces helicopter died when it crashed into a mountain ravine earlier this week, apparently after being shot down. The remains of those killed were being recovered at the site in eastern Afghanistan where the MH-47 chopper went down Tuesday. The helicopter crashed while ferrying reinforcements to a battle against the insurgents, the military said in a statement. The military reported earlier that 17 people were on board but revised that figure to 16 later Thursday. "At this point, we have recovered all 16 bodies of those service men...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Rescuers have reached the wreckage of a U.S. special forces helicopter that crashed in a rugged mountain ravine in eastern Afghanistan, but there was no immediate word on the fate of the 17 troops on board, a U.S. military spokesman said Thursday. "We are at the wreckage as we speak," Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara told The Associated Press. "We are conducting search and recovery operations. But we are more into the recovery stage." He declined to elaborate on efforts to find survivors or the bodies of the 17, who were believed to have died in Tuesday's crash....

KABUL (Reuters) - All 17 U.S. troops aboard an American helicopter that crashed after being hit by ground fire in an anti-militant operation in Afghanistan are believed to have died, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military said Wednesday that hostile fire likely brought down a Chinook helicopter that crashed in eastern Afghanistan, and officials said the status of the 17 American servicemembers aboard was "unknown." The Chinook helicopter was carrying members of a special operations unit into an operation against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the rugged mountains near the border with Pakistan when a second helicopter reported seeing an explosion, reports CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin. It will take an investigation to determine whether or not this helicopter was, in fact, shot down, Martin added. If it was, this...

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. Chinook helicopter (search) that crashed in eastern Afghanistan was likely shot down by hostile fire, and the fate of 17 American service members aboard was unclear, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The troops were on a mission against Al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan (search) when the helicopter went down on Tuesday in mountainous terrain near Asadabad, in Kunar province.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A big U.S. military Chinook helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan on Tuesday was carrying between 15 and 20 American troops, according to preliminary reports, a U.S. defense official said. The official, who asked not to be identified, cautioned at the Pentagon that early reports were sketchy from the rugged area near the border with Pakistan.

<p>A U.S. CH-47 Chinook (search) military transport helicopter crashed in Afghanistan Tuesday, FOX News has learned.</p> <p>The chopper went down west of Asadabad (search), the capital of Konar (search) province, while bringing reinforcements into an area where U.S. forces have been fighting Taliban rebels.</p>

US pilots killed in Iraq helicopter crash Monday 27 June 2005, 17:07 Makka Time, 14:07 GMT US helicopters have been the target of RPG attacks Two American pilots have been killed in a helicopter crash north of Baghdad. The US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed in a field and burst into flames at about 11.45am on Monday in al-Mashahda, 30km north of the capital. Iraqi journalist Ziyad al-Samarai told Aljazeera that the aircraft was hit by a rocket in the farm-rich area. The journalist said a meeting of officials was being held in al-Mashahda police station at the time...

U.S. Helo Crashes Near Baghdad Associated Press June 27, 2005 BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. military helicopter carrying two pilots crashed north of Baghdad on Monday, a day after a spate of suicide attacks left nearly three dozen people dead in northern Iraq. An AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed in Mishahda, 20 miles north of the capital, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. The helicopter was in flames on the ground. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The U.S. military confirmed that a helicopter carrying two pilots crashed near Baghdad. The crash was under investigation and a recovery...

U.S. Apache helicopter down in Iraq -military 4 minutes ago BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. Apache attack helicopter crashed in Iraq on Monday, a U.S. military spokesman said. ADVERTISEMENT "We had a helicopter crash northwest of Taji," Lieutenant Colonel Cliff Kent, spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division said, referring to a major airbase north of Baghdad. He said an investigation was underway. It had not yet been determined whether there were casualties aboard the AH-64 helicopter, which carries a crew of two, Kent said. Local people said they saw one of a pair of helicopters crash out of the sky...

Average Joe New Yorkers - including a deliveryman who plunged into the East River like a Coney Island lifeguard - joined hands with the elite professionals yesterday to rescue the helicopter crash victims. "I just wanted to help the people," said Miguel Lopez, 38, a FreshDirect deliveryman who pulled one man out of the treacherous water with a rope and then courageously dived into the chilly river to help three more waterlogged passengers. "It's my first swim in the East River," he said. Lopez, a father of four who grew up in Puerto Rico, said he had just made a...

(4th LD) U.S. Apache Helicopter Crashes SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. Apache helicopter crashed into a hill in northern South Korea Saturday, killing one crewmember and critically injuring another, a spokesperson for the U.S. military said. The AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopter went down during a routine training exercise near its military base in Paju, north of Seoul, said Kim Yong-kyu, a spokesman at the U.S. military command in Seoul

An RAF C130 Hercules transport aircraft, believed to have been carrying SAS troops, crashed 20 miles north-west of Baghdad yesterday. Rescue helicopters flew over the crash site searching for any sign of life. But with the wreckage said to be spread over a wide area there was little hope that anyone had survived. At RAF Lyneham, Wilts, Wing Commander Nigel Arnold said: "We are in the process of contacting the families of those involved and until that is done I'm, afraid we will not be releasing any details of the crew." A senior US military officer in Iraq said the...

A Canvas of Tears and Blood My Marine son, Adam called me a few minutes ago. For the first moment or two I didn’t recognize his voice; it was raspy, tired and older than when I spoke with him last. I suppose that is to be expected. One doesn’t endure the hell that he has and go on with business as usual. “Son, are you okay? “ I asked quietly. The response was forced. “I’m not sure,” he said. “Adam, I’m so sorry. I am so very sorry,” I struggled to get the words out. His whispered voice screamed with...

By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2005 – A spokesman for the Hawaii-based Marine unit that lost 26 Marines and one sailor from the Jan. 26 helicopter crash that killed 31 troops in Iraq says the incident has impacted Marines like the 1983 Beirut bombing. "It was a tragic helicopter crash," noted Marine Lt. Col. Owen Lovejoy, the executive officer of 1st Marine Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, deployed in Iraq. The Marine CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopter crashed near Rutbah, in Anbar province, Iraq. "I think...

The words came crashing through the speakers in my car this morning. “What the hell…Oh no…Oh my God” were about all the words I could muster after hearing this report. The framework for measuring this loss began to take shape in my mind. This is about three fourths of a full rifle platoon…an entire Marine unit went down here. Who were they, where were they from? What were they talking about when the full realization struck them that this was their last flight…anywhere? How did those left behind respond when the news was radioed back to their base camp? The...

1/26/2005, 12:22 a.m. ET The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed Wednesday in western Iraq, the U.S. military said. There was no immediate word on casualties. The helicopter went down near the town Rutbah around 1:20 a.m. while conducting security operations, the military said in a statement. The aircraft was transporting personnel from the 1st Marine Division. A search and rescue team has reached the site and an investigation into what caused the crash is underway, the military said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine transport helicopter crashed early on Wednesday in western Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement. It said a search and rescue operation was under way. The statement said casualties would be confirmed later. The military said the crash happened shortly after midnight in the western desert close to the Jordanian border, but it gave no details on the cause. Some of the deadliest incidents for U.S. forces in the Iraq war have been helicopter crashes. In November 2003, two Black Hawks collided and crashed in Mosul after coming under fire, and 17...

Can someone confirm