Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 12/22/2010 9:37:01 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Two Navy instructor pilots from San Diego have been forever stripped of flying status and two student pilots will have to repeat training because of a September incident in which they dipped two $33 million helicopters into Lake Tahoe while trying to take photos for the squadron’s Facebook page, a Navy official said Wednesday.
The Sept. 13 incident became public because a bystander caught the event on video and posted it on YouTube.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
I remember seeing this video.
It looked like on of the helicopters was very close to crashing.
These two clowns deserve what they got.
Both helicopters were damaged. Repairs to electronic antenna and other equipment totaled $505,000.
The Navy’s report on the incident, released Wednesday, holds harsh words for the two flight instructors, both lieutenants, at the controls that day.
“Their complacency, lack of flight discipline and succession of poor judgments nearly led to the loss of two aircraft and 10 U.S. Navy sailors for no benefit and did result in the damage of two aircraft.”
That one chopper looks like it hit the water pretty hard. They’re probably lucky to be alive. Any idea why they would have lost control like that? Would they loose lift due to the spray coming off the water or something?
2nd video here with closeup of incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql0-xDne42U
probably an optical illusion, but it looked like that helicopter went almost completely under before pulling out.
Seeing how far the chopper went into the water on the second video, the pilot was very fortunate he not crash it. I cannot see how he recovered, to fly himself out of the water like he did? Pretty good flying under pressure, considering what happened. Whew!
What ever happened to that dufus who flew around the Statue of Liberty to get photo ops for oBama? NYC wasn’t even notified. What happened to them?
I guess they forgot who pays for those helicopters.
Hot rodders. I wonder how old they were. It seems that their brains weren’t mature enough to have fully installed their JUDGMENT CHIPS.
Any chopper pilots that can attest to the alleged risk shown in the video?
They should be fired so they can join the non-existent job market. “Hit the bricks pal!”
Can't say much about the first helo... But the second one looks like it could have had a "water line" about half-way up the airframe. Somewhere there was a crew chief ready to commit at least one murder...
Regards,
Raven6
So did the pilots report the incident when they got back to base or is the video the only thing that kept these fools from getting away with it.
Not sure, but kinda hard to conceal over half a million dollars worth of damage.
The 33-page report drew an unflattering portrait of the squadron involved, HSM-41 at North Island Naval Air Station. The unit’s purpose is to train pilots to fly the Seahawk.
The commanding officer at the time, who was not named, created a climate that contributed to the mishap, it concluded.
The year before, the commander himself flew over Lake Tahoe at a low altitude, about 200 feet from the water — something that had “no valid training or operational reason.” The report also criticized the commander for laissez-faire oversight of flights headed outside of San Diego.
That officer was replaced in the squadron 10 days after the September crash and is now doing graduate work at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, a Navy spokesman said.
The former commander’s career was not affected by the Tahoe incident because “ultimately, nothing in the investigation indicated that accountability rested solely with him,” said Lt. Aaron Kakiel, a spokesman for Myers.
The two Navy helicopters were returning from participating in the California Capital Airshow at the former Mather Air Force Base. The report said one of the flight instructors organized the trip because the airshow was close to family members in Sacramento.
They decided to hover over Tahoe’s Emerald Bay so they could get a nearby island in the background of the shot, which they planned to offer for the squadron’s Facebook page.
Anyone remember the stupid jackass who did a flyover pass trick in a B-52 and crashed it. B-52 were not meant to be flown like that.
The idiot in the Navy gets to go to grad school with the taxpayers footing the bill? Some punishment. What a joke.
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