[AFPhys]

That poor old chopper has been a great workhorse. No reason to get angry at the 'Toon for this, any more than getting angry for still using B52s. The real problem with this thing is that I don't believe there are real good options if you have mechanical failures with this chopper... with most you can quite often "autorotate" (something like using the rotor as a parachute) and make a very hard, but survivable, landing. I do not believe that is very likely with this double prop job.

Recall, we had two other choppers down from mechanical problems today, and safe crews from them. nevertheless.

Any chopper pilots available on FR now?... This pilot could use your true expertise on this!

[Balata]

The first thing people seem to automatically jump on with these chopper crashes is mechanical problems when in reality the deadliest thing by far is the whirling sand. It can quickly disorient the pilots and without altitude and airspeed the results are disasterous. More mechanical problems are cause by sand as opposed to age of aircraft.