Posted on 09/19/2025 9:55:22 AM PDT by Red Badger
Four special operations soldiers were aboard an Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Wednesday night in a rugged area of Washington state.
This is “currently a search mission” involving the “most professional and skilled addressing the situation,” Army representative Ruth Castro said, according to the Associated Press.
The Army has not released any comment about the conditions of the soldiers.
The MH-60 Black Hawk, assigned to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, was on what the Army called a routine training flight at the time of the crash, according to The New York Times.
The helicopter crashed at about 9 p.m. PT in the area around Summit Lake near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Army said.
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...
I was in USAF communications 1982 - 1986. I saw all of the reports of aircraft losses in the pacific theater during that period. I found the reports of Marine choppers going down on flights between Okinawa and Iwakuni especially troubling. It seemed like there were at least two per year, and always the large choppers full of troops.
How light is it at 9 PM pacific? Much of the training and ops are done under cover of darkness under night vision devices. Very risky at best. Telephone and power lines are virtually impossible to see during the day from above, at night forget it. Not saying that’s what happened here, just that training itself is risky.
The 160th has been headquartered at Ft Campbell, KY. I was stationed there when it was called Task Force 160th and just getting started in the early 80s.. They only flew at night and used a lot of small OH 58 helicopters. Praying for these heroes.
Yeah, that't it. Always good to speculate first.
Good grief.
9 pm at this time of year is pretty dark. Sunset is about 7:15.
About 2,500 miles away.
About one year ago, the Navy lost an EA-18G Growler in Washington state. Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay P. Evans, 31, a Naval flight officer, and Lt. Serena N. Wileman, 31, a Naval flight aviator, were both killed in the Oct. 15, 2024 crash. Both were from California.
They were on a routine training flight when the electronic warfare plane crashed east of Mount Rainier at around 3:23 p.m. “It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” said Cmdr. Timothy Warburton, commanding officer of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130.
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, you need to read up on it. Great Army pilots, a meritocracy.
RadAlt settings more so, no good pilot uses BarAlt for low level training. These are good pilots.
Right now it’s dark here at 8pm. I live nearby.
Jblm is a huge air army base. Hundreds of copters.
Yep, some with too many because the other bird had the General’s furniture.
This happened two days ago. Why is the Army so late with the story?
President's was a leak, there are more than that in a week with similar. Had it not been the President aboard, it is no news. This is a Class A with dead.
For those without training, These guys probably have 85% of their extensive time on NVGs.
Happened late Wednesday night. Stories published Thursday.
Downed? That makes it sound like it was shot down. They should have said crashed, IMO.
“Downed? That makes it sound like it was shot down. “
Washington state. It might have been!..............
Helichopters are really cool - until they lose lift.
Hopes & prayers up. My condolences to the families.
And the 160th takes it to a level nobody flying in the US military does.... I mean nobody.
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