31 killed in Marine chopper crash

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,732

31 killed in Marine chopper crash

Very sad news. What kind of chopper could it be? MH-53?

Original post

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 251

News says CH-53 and that it's a weather related crash (sand/dust storm or something).

Member for

20 years 6 months

Posts: 208

31 killed in Marine chopper crash

Very sad news. What kind of chopper could it be? MH-53?

A CH-53E, from what I understand. An Echo, as the Jarheads know it....

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,316

A CH-53E, from what I understand. An Echo, as the Jarheads know it....

Apparently so. Two H-53 accidents in the past 24 hours, actually: a USN MH-53E ditched and sank in the Atlantic (offshore of Virginia Beach) yesterday whilst flying off the Ike. Thankfully, all eight crew got out in good shape.

Cheers

Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News

Member for

19 years 9 months

Posts: 12,109

sad really..but all a part and parcel of being a soldier.

Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 214

"Ours is not to reason why,ours is but to do and die"

That quote pretty much sums it up

RIP Marines, and Semper Fi. :(

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 251

True. And to put it in perspective, keep in mind that 10 people got killed out in L.A. today when a commuter train ran into an SUV that was parked on the tracks by a guy who wanted to commit suicide (he changed his mind at the last minute and got out of the SUV, but he didn't move it off the tracks).

For some people luck just runs out.

Member for

19 years 3 months

Posts: 284

"weather related" my ass.Most likely the resistance shot it down,but as usual when shoot downs are denied,its blamed on the "weather".How could it be sand bringing it down? All UK & USA helicopters are fitted with sand filters for desert operations.They have to be,to even consider flying in a desert.
Makes no sense.Especially the TV news coverage of it.Anyone else notice how they say a "US Marines CH-53 Sea Stallion" crashed,yet the TV news show pictures of a grey CH-46 Sea Knight? Weird huh?

Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 214

"weather related" my ass.Most likely the resistance shot it down,but as usual when shoot downs are denied,its blamed on the "weather".How could it be sand bringing it down? All UK & USA helicopters are fitted with sand filters for desert operations.They have to be,to even consider flying in a desert.
Makes no sense.Especially the TV news coverage of it.Anyone else notice how they say a "US Marines CH-53 Sea Stallion" crashed,yet the TV news show pictures of a grey CH-46 Sea Knight? Weird huh?

About the TV pictures,when covering a crash such as this the likes of CNN are providing coverage for the masses,who aren't into aviation and the military as much as we are,so they won't know what a CH-53 looks like for the large part and hence they'll show any old crap they have to hand in the footage archieves for US military helicopters.

And about the crash itself, if it's it's weather related as they say,it's more than likely going to be a brown out incident,common in the desert when a helicopter's downwash throw's up tons of sand and dust from the surface below which then shrouds the chopper in a thick wall of dust,the crew becomes disoreintated and............booom! Game over for all on board.

And besides,the US has admitted to losing enough helo's to the insurgency in Iraq before now,why cover this one up?

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 251

And besides,the US has admitted to losing enough helo's to the insurgency in Iraq before now,why cover this one up?

Agree in general, but there's something more palatable to the public when an aircraft goes down by accident rather than from an attack.

I don't know whether anyone would lie about it, but the army makes a big distinction between combat deaths and non-combat related ones. I remember one guy who had been crippled when his vehicle overturned during an attack on a convoy. He wanted a purple heart, but the army initially said that it was merely a traffic accident and didn't qualify. Like the driver just coincidently lost control of the humvee as the RPG went shooting by.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,316

It was an HMH-361 CH-53E that crashed. I have never once seen any evidence that any of the US forces have tried to pass off what they classify as a "combat loss" for an accident.

Please don't believe some of the BS posts you see on the web, including here on this forum. If you check the thread on " a/c shot down by SAM missiles" (something like that anyway) it has pictures of an Army AH-64D supposedly shot down by an SA-6. The real circumstances were that it crashed on a FARRP due to the brownout conditions Lawdart described.

This is the official status report of the CH-53E that came down in the early hours of Wednesday morning:

Mishap Date: 01/26/2005 Severity: A FM Time: 01:20 Evt Ser: 68591
Acft: CH053E Count: Y Destroyed: Y Major Command: MARFORPAC
Custodian: HMH-361 Fatalities: 31 Location: IRAQ
Summary: SECTION FLT ENTERED INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND CRASHED.
Env: Aviation Operational

Best regards

Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News