Post by Admin on Aug 30, 2007 8:46:13 GMT -6
160th Black Hawk makes hard landing
Pilots and passenger walk away unharmed
By CHANTAL ESCOTO
The Leaf-Chronicle
Army officials are trying to determine what caused the MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to make a hard landing in the rural foothills of East Tennessee Wednesday morning.
The two 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment pilots and passenger walked away unharmed from the minor crash in Sullivan County near Bristol. Although no injuries were reported, the helicopter was damaged and a storage building near where the aircraft made it's final stop. It appeared the rotor blades on the aircraft had snapped in half upon landing.
"As usual, the pilots did a tremendous job in bringing in a crippled aircraft and walked away from it," said Walt Sokalski, deputy Public Affairs officer for U.S. Army Special Operations Command, headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The helicopter had undergone maintenance at Fort Eustis, Va., and was returning to Fort Campbell when the incident happened.
Trudy Wood, who owns the property with her husband Kenneth Wood, was home at the time when she heard what she thought was an explosion, according to the Bristol Herald Courier.
Sokalski could not give an estimate of the damage until an Army aviation technical team can evaluate the helicopter. It will then be determined how and when the aircraft will be transported to a military facility.
"There are a lot of factors that go into that like weather and accessibility," Sokalski said, adding that the cause of the incident will also take time.
"These things do not move swiftly."
But it is the fact the crew landed in tough terrain and came away from the helicopter with hardly a scratch that has amazed the aviation community.
"I've talked to several aviators, and they say any landing you walk away from is a good one," Sokalski said.
The 160th SOAR "Night Stalkers" stationed at Fort Campbell is the only Army helicopter regiment used specifically for special operations missions.
Pilots and passenger walk away unharmed
By CHANTAL ESCOTO
The Leaf-Chronicle
Army officials are trying to determine what caused the MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to make a hard landing in the rural foothills of East Tennessee Wednesday morning.
The two 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment pilots and passenger walked away unharmed from the minor crash in Sullivan County near Bristol. Although no injuries were reported, the helicopter was damaged and a storage building near where the aircraft made it's final stop. It appeared the rotor blades on the aircraft had snapped in half upon landing.
"As usual, the pilots did a tremendous job in bringing in a crippled aircraft and walked away from it," said Walt Sokalski, deputy Public Affairs officer for U.S. Army Special Operations Command, headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The helicopter had undergone maintenance at Fort Eustis, Va., and was returning to Fort Campbell when the incident happened.
Trudy Wood, who owns the property with her husband Kenneth Wood, was home at the time when she heard what she thought was an explosion, according to the Bristol Herald Courier.
Sokalski could not give an estimate of the damage until an Army aviation technical team can evaluate the helicopter. It will then be determined how and when the aircraft will be transported to a military facility.
"There are a lot of factors that go into that like weather and accessibility," Sokalski said, adding that the cause of the incident will also take time.
"These things do not move swiftly."
But it is the fact the crew landed in tough terrain and came away from the helicopter with hardly a scratch that has amazed the aviation community.
"I've talked to several aviators, and they say any landing you walk away from is a good one," Sokalski said.
The 160th SOAR "Night Stalkers" stationed at Fort Campbell is the only Army helicopter regiment used specifically for special operations missions.