Posted on 04/06/2005 5:17:42 AM PDT by jmc1969
A US military CH-47 Chinook helicopter has crashed in south-eastern Afghanistan, with officials saying the bodies of at least two Americans have been recovered from the wreckage.
The US military had no official confirmation of the number of casualties from the accident in Ghazni province, US military spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore said.
But provincial governor Asadullah Khalid said a number of people had died in the crash in Dah Khudaidad district, 2.5km south-west of the provincial capital, Ghazni city.
"I went to the crash site," Mr Khalid said.
"We took two bodies out of the helicopter. There were more than two people in the helicopter.
"They were Americans" he said, without elaborating how he knew their nationality.
Mr Khalid said the crash was due to "bad weather".
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Actually, the V-22 isn't replacing the CH-47, it's replacing the CH-46. The CH-47 is actually a good bird with decent speed when unladen. It also has two engines so it doesn't have a nasty habit of falling out of the sky at random intervals like the CH-46. And the CH-47 is operated by the Army, where the CH-46 and MV-22 will are operated by the Marines.
They still make the CH-47. The CH-46 is the troop-killer you're thinking of, having killed more Marines than any other helicopter type. It's an unstandable mistake since the two choppers look similar, externally differing in size and number of engines only.
16 dead , 4 crewmembers ...all believed to be American..Rest in Peace.
Assuming it passes the latest series of tests without blatently falsifying the records again, maybe. Real IOC has been pushed back (again) to at least 2007, with the SOCOM version a couple of years afterwards.
Any bets on whether it will meet the latest top-down schedule?
I think he is referring to the age of the program. They have been around since Nam. A lot of older ones are still around. My unit in Nam had one go down about two weeks before I got there. It injured about 25 or 30 people very badly, but as I remember, no one was killed.
Ghazni city (and the surrounding Ghazni province) is the AO of my son's unit, the 3d Bn, 116th Infantry, ("Stonewall Brigade") Virginia ArNG. They've been there since July of last year. Anxiety pings to the Shennandoah Valley, where the 3/116th calls home. Pray for our troops.
Ahhhhhhh man.
Prayers, MANY prayers for our military and their families.
Do you have any idea what you're talking about? The CH-47 is a great aircraft, the fastest helicopter in the Army, and has an overall superb maintenance and safety record. Pilots and crews love them, especially the special ops community. Stop talking out of your ass about something you obviously know nothing about. My qualifications: CPT US Army, Maintenance Test Pilot for over 9 years. Ever try and fly in bad weather with little or no nav-aids, with no way of declaring inadvertant IMC? Plus you have the added bonus of flying low level with hostile fire? I didn't think so.
He's confusing the CH-47 with the Marines' CH-46. See my posts above.
The CH-46 is a widowmaking POS.
The V-22 hover issue has been dealt with and it can hover at 1' to unload troops. Short unload times. As for door gunners, they're going to have a chin turret with a .50 BMG in it, as well as a tail/ramp gunner like the CH-46/47s.
Armed or not, it's STILL going to get less Marines killed than the CH-46.
They are about to new-build some of the CH-47F. A deal was signed during December 2004. First deliveries are expected by 2006.
MSNBC reporting 16 dead with two missing. All American.
If they were still 80 miles from Kabul I don't understand why they didn't climb to altitude on instruments?
A few months ago there was a Blackhawk out of Ft. Hood that hit the wires of a radio tower in reduced visibilty.
Sometimes you just can't scud run.
Thanks, AM.
The V-22 is and will always be a hangar queen because it's a deathtrap. The Marines should have gone to Blackhawks and Chinooks instead of trying to stay with the CH-46 and 53. If they do make a buy, the SecDef should stipulate that only 07s and above be allowed on as passengers for the first year.
I don't know.....my hubby, Mike....has been down in Jacksonville Fla for two weeks to pick up his BN blackhawks from Iraq....right now he and 10 other crews are weathered in in Tn....their radios don't work and their instruments are out..Im praying for clear weather tomorrow so they can fly home to Illinois......Im guessing from what Mike has told me about the area, that it was a sudden sand storm......and hitting wires is very common when flying choppers....it's a dangerous business
TN wouldn't be a bad place to be weathered in in. . . . unless it's near algore's hometown. Tell hubby to have a safe trip.
They said the same thing about the UH-1 when they used it to replace the pioston-engined choppers. Also, the US-101 got the contract.
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