Post by Admin on Mar 30, 2005 19:09:04 GMT -6
UH-60 down in TAC X
COFFEE SPRINGS - An instructor and two flight students from Fort Rucker were sent to local hospitals Tuesday morning after their UH-60 Black Hawk made a hard landing at a rural Geneva County airfield, sending debris as far as 100 yards away from where the aircraft came to rest.
One of the aviators was released Tuesday afternoon, but the other two were kept overnight for observations and to ease their discomfort, according to military spokesperson Ken Holder. Their injuries are not life threatening.
It is the third hard landing since January, but Holder said it would be premature to establish a connection between the accidents that would indicate a larger problem.
It is unclear at this time what caused Tuesday morning’s crash at Tactical Training Area X, but an investigation has been launched to establish the cause and to determine whether the $4.6 million aircraft is salvageable, Holder said.
The crew suffered only minor injuries, but the aircraft, which is considered one of the more durable machines in the military, may not be as fortunate.
The UH-60 landed upright but its tires were deeply embedded in the airfield’s soil with broken rotor blades, a fragmented tail and parts, like the tail rotor, strewn across the airfield.
“I’ve seen them in worse shape - externally - than this, and they’ve been able to recover it,” Holder said, adding that the potential for recovery hinges on the extent of damage done to the air frame. “And that really attests to the air worthiness of the aircraft.”<br>
The names of those on board were not released, but the two students were far enough along in their coursework to be considered aviators, Holder said. Traditionally, the instructor and student both have access to the controls but it is unclear at this time who actually had control of the helicopter at the time of the crash.
“For us, we’re not out trying to affix blame but identify the root of the problem,” Holder said, a sea of orange flags behind him pinpointing scattered pieces of the mangled aircraft.
The UH-60 is considered the “work horse” in the military and it is being used in Iraq to transport troops and supplies, Holder said.
The Apache, Chinook and Kiowa Warrior are the three other main aircraft being used.
The tactical airfield, which is off of County Road 40 and more commonly called TAC-X, is where students can practice hovering, taking off and landing, and it is also where three aviators died in the late 1990s during a flight training exercise, according to a report published in a 1997 edition of the Dothan Eagle.
The last crash involving a Fort Rucker helicopter happened on March 8 when an AH-64D Apache helicopter, valued at $21 million, made a hard landing near the Roeton community. And the other happened March 1 when another UH-60 Black Hawk clipped the top of an electricity transmission tower near W.M. Donnell Trucking. Both hard landings resulted in only minor injuries.
COFFEE SPRINGS - An instructor and two flight students from Fort Rucker were sent to local hospitals Tuesday morning after their UH-60 Black Hawk made a hard landing at a rural Geneva County airfield, sending debris as far as 100 yards away from where the aircraft came to rest.
One of the aviators was released Tuesday afternoon, but the other two were kept overnight for observations and to ease their discomfort, according to military spokesperson Ken Holder. Their injuries are not life threatening.
It is the third hard landing since January, but Holder said it would be premature to establish a connection between the accidents that would indicate a larger problem.
It is unclear at this time what caused Tuesday morning’s crash at Tactical Training Area X, but an investigation has been launched to establish the cause and to determine whether the $4.6 million aircraft is salvageable, Holder said.
The crew suffered only minor injuries, but the aircraft, which is considered one of the more durable machines in the military, may not be as fortunate.
The UH-60 landed upright but its tires were deeply embedded in the airfield’s soil with broken rotor blades, a fragmented tail and parts, like the tail rotor, strewn across the airfield.
“I’ve seen them in worse shape - externally - than this, and they’ve been able to recover it,” Holder said, adding that the potential for recovery hinges on the extent of damage done to the air frame. “And that really attests to the air worthiness of the aircraft.”<br>
The names of those on board were not released, but the two students were far enough along in their coursework to be considered aviators, Holder said. Traditionally, the instructor and student both have access to the controls but it is unclear at this time who actually had control of the helicopter at the time of the crash.
“For us, we’re not out trying to affix blame but identify the root of the problem,” Holder said, a sea of orange flags behind him pinpointing scattered pieces of the mangled aircraft.
The UH-60 is considered the “work horse” in the military and it is being used in Iraq to transport troops and supplies, Holder said.
The Apache, Chinook and Kiowa Warrior are the three other main aircraft being used.
The tactical airfield, which is off of County Road 40 and more commonly called TAC-X, is where students can practice hovering, taking off and landing, and it is also where three aviators died in the late 1990s during a flight training exercise, according to a report published in a 1997 edition of the Dothan Eagle.
The last crash involving a Fort Rucker helicopter happened on March 8 when an AH-64D Apache helicopter, valued at $21 million, made a hard landing near the Roeton community. And the other happened March 1 when another UH-60 Black Hawk clipped the top of an electricity transmission tower near W.M. Donnell Trucking. Both hard landings resulted in only minor injuries.