There was no "rescue" mission, the Rangers wanted someone to cut off the surviving Taliban who were fleeing for their lives.
If this trap was planned over a period of days it might give Al Qaeda time to acquire a man-portable SAM to attack the Chinook. Instead of a “lucky shot” with an RPG the chopper might have been hit by something like a Russian 9K34 Strela-3 or even a Stinger from friends in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
But the insurgents wouldn't necessarily need a “lucky shot” with an RPG if the path between the LZ and the Rangers took the Chinook through a pass. A group of insurgents, up in the pass with RPGs, could fire a volley of rockets horizontally as opposed to trying to fire a much more difficult shot, at a high angle, from a valley floor.
I'm not saying any of this happened but it could have.
Since the helicopter was hit with an RPG, just what is all that nonsense about?
This is a long headline from the UK’s Daily Mail a day after the tragedy:
Inseparable in life and in death: The high school best friends who died together on Navy SEAL rescue mission when helicopter was shot down in ‘lucky shot’ in Afghanistan
Here's one from CNN:
NAVY SEAL TEAM SIX KILLED DURING RESCUE MISSION
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Nearly two dozen U.S. special forces killed early Saturday in Afghanistan were on a mission to rescue another team of military personnel pinned down by insurgents, a U.S. military official told CNN.
The helicopter that went down in eastern Afghanistan carried 31 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs, who were part of a “quick reaction force” sent in to pick up others engaged in a fierce firefight, the official said. . .
http://www.realnewsreporter.com/?p=7002
USA TODAY:
SEALS KILLED IN AFGHAN CRASH ON RESCUE MISSION
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. Navy SEALs and other troops whose helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan had rushed to the mountainous area to help a U.S. Army Ranger unit that was under fire from insurgents, two U.S. officials said Sunday.
The rescue team had completed the mission, subduing the attackers who had the Rangers pinned down, and was departing in a Chinook helicopter when the aircraft was apparently hit, one of the officials said. . .
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2011-08-06-nato-helicopter-crash_n.htm
This FR thread infers that a conspiracy exists to hide what was a Taliban or Al Qaeda plot to exact revenge
on Navy SEALS for the death of Osama Bin Laden. If one accepts that premise then public information about the Aug. 6, 2011 event may be distorted or made up.
The conspiracy theories arose in part because the Afghan military, who also lost people in the crash, was telling a story that conflicted with the U.S. account:
From WIKIPEDIA:
. . .Other reports alleged that the Taliban had laid an elaborate trap for U.S. special operations forces, luring them in with false information. A senior Afghan government official, speaking anonymously, said that Taliban commander Qari Tahir had fed U.S. forces false information about a meeting of insurgent leaders and fighters waited for the helicopter from both sides of a steep valley: “The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take. That's the only route, so they took position on either side of the valley on mountains and as the helicopter approached, they attacked it with rockets and other modern weapons. It was brought down by multiple shots.”[26]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Chinook_shootdown_in_Afghanistan
If I believe the conspiracy theory over the CENTCOM explanation then I try to find an alternative to the Chinook hit by a “lucky shot” with an RPG. I offer an alternate scenario which you label as “nonsense.” You may believe the RPG explanation because that's what was reported. I'm not saying you're wrong in anything you stated. But I try to keep an open mind.