An MD Helicopters Inc (MDHI) MD530F+ Cayuse Warrior belonging to the al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Lubnania (Lebanese Air Force) has been written off after it crash landed into some trees on January 5.
The light attack/scout helicopter was conducting flight operations over the Bsharri District in the North Governorate of Lebanon before an emergency landing was attempted in some trees near the town of Hadath al-Jebbeh. All of the helicopter’s occupants are reported to have survived the crash.
According to the Lebanon 24 news service, the mayor of Hadath al-Jebbeh has said that the two soldiers on board the helicopter heard a strange sound during flight, which led the crew to attempt an emergency landing on some trees.
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— leb news 🇱🇧 (@Lebnews2004) January 5, 2022
An LAF helicopter made an emergency landing in the Hadath al-Jabba area, and the mayor explains: The soldiers who were on board the helicopter heard a strange sound while they were flying, so they landed on the trees, all of them are in good health pic.twitter.com/mzb8LyoHft
This attrition event has reduced the Lebanese Air Force’s newly acquired fleet of MD530F+ helicopters – which are operated by 31 Squadron – from six to five. The batch of six rotorcraft were delivered to Lebanon aboard a chartered civil-operated cargo aircraft in October 2021.
While the initial contract with MDHI (signed in October 2018) stated that Lebanon would receive the more advanced MD530G platform, the US Embassy in Lebanon referred to them as being MD530F+ rotorcraft following their delivery last year.