Posted on 10/17/2009 12:53:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
RIO DE JANEIRO – A police helicopter flying over an intense shootout between rival drug gangs in a Rio slum was hit by gunfire Saturday and crashed in a fiery explosion on a football field.
Two officers were killed while the pilot and another officer on board suffered burns but managed to escape, a police spokesman said.
Bullets flying from the Morro dos Macacos ("Monkey Hill" in Portuguese) slum in northern Rio de Janeiro hit the pilot in the leg as he hovered above the clash, causing him to lose control and crash, turning the helicopter into a blackened wreck.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Police inspect the remains of one of their crime-fighting helicopters lying in a soccer field after it was shot down when trying to intervene in a battle between two opposing drug gangs, in a Rio de Janeiro slum October 17, 2009. Police sources confirmed at least two policemen dead and two injured in the crash, as the gangs began to attack and burn public buses to distract the police away from their battle. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (BRAZIL CONFLICT CRIME LAW)
Rio or Chicago?
amazing beaches though...
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An armored police vehicle sits near two public buses set on fire by drug gangs trying to distract the police from their battle for the control of a slum, in Rio de Janeiro October 17, 2009. A police helicopter was shot down by the gangs when it tried to intervene in the battle, leaving two policemen killed and two injured in the crash. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes (BRAZIL CONFLICT CRIME LAW)
The Chicago choppers have better armor.
I see two kinds of multicultural street art in this picture.
Graphic and sculpture.
Jack Bauer has downed multiple helicopters with his pistol. I thought that was unrealistic, but I guess not.
The shooter should be on their Olympic sharpshooter team... talk about lucky shot (just kidding folks)
Condolences to the families.
Man can they spray some pretty art on walls though huh?
Good thing Rio got the Olympics; much safer than Chicago... < /s>
Nothing to see here. They’re just gearing up for the new Olympic game; Target Copter at 400 yards...
I suspect a military style police purge of Rio criminals prior to the Olympics.
I suspect so too.
Not unusual for places that get the Games.. having it in Chicago would have been interesting ,, good luck clearing out that place.
One can hope.
in Chicago this would have been an Olympic event
A former friend of mine returned from Rio and called it the largest enclave of thieves and whores in the world.
In Rio when they go after criminals, they don’t arrest them. They will sweep the place clean before the Olympics. The smart criminals will choose that time to take a vacation.
“A former friend of mine returned from Rio and called it the largest enclave of thieves and whores in the world.”
Per capita, Congress is first.
The possibilities .. oh yeah
They didn't down the helicopter. They downed the pilot. He downed the helicopter.
At any rate, it seems like a light helicopter in a low-altitude hover would be easy work for a Kalashnikov.
You got that right.
Ya got your packs of thieves, yur gang of hooligans and then ya got CONgre$$.. but I repeat myself. :-}
More Chicago than Chicago.
wasn’t necessarily a handgun
Brazil is much more advanced that us. Their gangs can actually shoot down police helicopters./s
Its a good thing we aren’t protecting our borders or offending them with illegal alien Halloween outfits.
Isn’t that what Obama thought the U.S. is?
Man you got that right. The graffiti is fricking life-like.
I guess Brazil has just qualified for the Olympic Riflery competition... Seriously, Brazil doesn’t have a ‘crime problem’ so much as a total breakdown of social order in the slum areas.
I've also read about a 'private walled community' of 30,000 that has its own 1,200 man security force and all no-resident visitors are searched coming and going to this community.
Hell Yeah,
So let’s put an Olympics in this third world cesspool. Instead of the first world cesspool known as Chicago.
I bet corruption is about the same in both toilets.
No, they don't.
I thought that was DC.
A handy rule of thumb.
Extend your arm with thumb up, like an artist viewing an aircraft.
If your thumb blocks the view of the aircraft, save your ammo.
If your view is not 100% blocked, go for it.
One person with an elk rifle could knock down every helicopter any police department could throw at him.
There is a movie about the gangs of Rio called "City of God." It is a very hard R movie and quite educational about the slums of Rio and the gangs who control them. If you watch the movie, definitely watch the part of the DVD about the filming of the movie. It'll explain more about the gangs, law enforcement and what happened to the "stars" of the film (actual gang members). You'll do some serious thinking about the Olympics being awarded there after you view it.
Yeppers, choppers in hover at low altitude over a gunfight are nothing but an easy inviting target.
Their police flight training should change to minimize this happening again. In other words, don’t hover. Maintain as much airspeed and altitude as necessary.
1500 AGL minimum, but even that’s not safe. And you’re right. Don’t frigging hover.
More backgound on the drug fueled wars
http://greatreporter.com/mambo/content/view/249/4/
Near as I can find the A/C was a locally built Eurocopter EC 135 variant. EC135 = (about) Bell JetRanger.
Thanks. I’ve already wondered about the Olympic assignment to Brazil. I think it’ll prove to be a mistake for everyone involved.
Wow, when they say war on drugs down there they aren’t kidding.
That’s immediately what I thought of when I read this. Great movie BTW, if not extremely disturbing.
Brazil has perfected the art of the Gated Community. And the uber rich never set foot on an urban street, ever. They take private helicopters from the roofs of downtown buildings to their ranches. The higher up you go on the food chain, the less you see or care about the poor or the criminals.
And Brazil is our future.
The federal government will force section 8 housing into any large gated community in this country. May be safer to move to Brazil, ahem.
Just think of the Kennedy Kompound in Hyannisport, and the various Rhode Island sized “ranches” owned by the likes of Ted Turner. That’s the model.
Don’t worry, Hugo Chavez’s buds are doing better than ever in Venezuela. You just have to support El Supremo. Think Hollywood.
Had an uncle in Korea who said he watched a medivac chopper flying over and a North Korean fired one shot, it went through the bubble, hit the pilot square in the head and the chopper went down. Pilot dead and the 3 injured guys he was flying out dead, 1 in the chopper and 2 on the skids. Chopper was at about 800 feet. Uncle said they caught the guy, dragged him to the crash site and shot him dead there. Guess they didn’t take a liking to guys shooting at medivac choppers.
Ted Turner owns more private land in the US than any other person
I saw Ted being interviewed once and the only thing I remember was his answer when he was asked what was the purpose of his 10,000 acre compound somewhere in Patagonia. He said laughingly, "That's where I'll go when the revolution begins."
A search reveals this about Ted and Patagonia.
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