8 U.S. Troops Die in Afghan Copter Crash

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_HELICOPTER_CRASH?SITE=CACHI&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

8 U.S. Troops Die in Afghan Copter Crash
Feb 18, 7:38 AM EST
By NOOR KHAN
Associated Press Writer

AP AUDIO
A U-S military spokesman in Bagram, Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta, confirms that a chopper has crashed.

8 U.S. Troops Die in Afghan Copter Crash

SHAHJOI, Afghanistan (AP) -- Eight U.S. troops were killed and 14 wounded when a military helicopter crashed Sunday in southeastern Afghanistan after reporting engine failure, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement.

The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was carrying 22 passengers and had a "sudden, unexplained loss of power and control and crashed," the statement said.

"It was not enemy fire related," said Col. Tom Collins, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force. "The pilot was able to radio in that he was having engine problems. We're confident it was not due to enemy action."


..snip

U.S. and Afghan military blocked reporters from entering the crash site.

Are they flying in helicopters that need repairs or maintenance? Was it over-loaded?

I think more of these are being shot down than they are reporting. Seems like a few days after the crash, a report comes out that it was indeed shot down.

"We're confident it was not due to enemy action." Well, we'll see....

they seem pretty confident. On the others they hedged a little and said "did not appear to be" or "could not confirm" enemy fire.

The question about maintenance is quite appropriate though.

One thing about helicopters vs. fixed-wing aircraft - if you lose power you're toast. Fixed wing has at least a small chance of making a controlled-crash landing and maybe some or all surviving. A chopper that loses power has no aerodynamics whatsoever, drops like a rock, usually spinning crazily. Makes top-notch maintenance even MORE crucial. That 14 survived supports the contention that it was not shot down, imo.

We had had only two Afghanistan-theatre US fatalities since Dec 15 prior to this. And one of those was "natural causes" aboard ship off the coast of Africa enroute to the area. The juxtaposition of this incident with the recent press conference saying "oh yeah, by the way, we still have Afghanistan" is eerie. Nothing more than coincidence, I am sure, but it creeps me out.

No word on casualties; military points to engine failure as cause

A helicopter from Afghanistan’s U.S.-led coalition force crashed on Sunday after reporting an engine failure, the coalition said, but it did not say if there were any casualties.

A search and rescue operation for the helicopter and its occupants had been launched, the U.S. -led force said in a statement.

It said the helicopter crashed in a southeastern area. It did not say what type of helicopter had crashed or how many people were on board.

The helicopter went down near a road in Shah Joy district of the province of Zabul, residents there said. Taliban insurgents are active in the southern province on the border with Pakistan.

International forces have lost several helicopters in recent years but only one was believed to have been shot down. That aircraft was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade as it was coming in to land during a clash.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17209153/

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/02/17/helicopter-crash.html

I suppose that would mean it was part of the strictly U.S. force, rather than the NATO contingent (which I believe includes some U.S. forces).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6372813.stm

<<A helicopter from the US-led coalition has crashed in south-eastern Afghanistan after reporting engine failure, the coalition has said.
The coalition did not give any details about possible casualties, how many people were on board or what type of helicopter was involved.>>

<<The helicopter is reported to be an American Chinook, but the coalition did not give any more details. An operation has been mounted to locate and rescue the helicopter's occupants.

.....

<<A Taleban spokesman said the helicopter had been shot down, but the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says they frequently make similar claims that are unfounded.

Nato and coalition forces are bracing for an expected spring offensive from regrouping Taleban fighters.>>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6372813.stm

General characteristics
Crew: 3: pilot, copilot, flight engineer <6>
Capacity:

33 troops or
24 litters and 3 attendants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-47_Chinook

"The pilot was able to radio in that he was having engine problems. We're confident it was not due to enemy action."

After years of combat related use and minimal downtime; it's a horrific example of how strained our military has become.

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070218/ts_afp/afghanistanunresthelicopter

8 U.S. troops die in Afghan copter crash
2/18/2007, 7:17 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S.-led coalition says eight American troops killed and 14 wounded in helicopter crash in southeastern Afghanistan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070218/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunresthelicopter

KABUL (AFP) - Eight US servicemembers were killed and 14 injured when a helicopter crashed in southeastern
Afghanistan after a "sudden loss of power and control," the US-led coalition said.

The twin-rotor chopper crashed in the southeastern province of Zabul, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, not far from a main highway, residents and officials said on Sunday.

"Eight coalition personnel were killed and 14 others were wounded early Sunday when a coalition CH-47 helicopter had a sudden, unexplained loss of power and control and crashed in eastern Afghanistan," a coalition statement said.

"The helicopter was transporting a total of 22 people, including aircrew, at the time of the crash," it said.

The coalition said an investigation would be launched to verify the cause of the crash. It had said earlier the chopper came down after reporting engine failure.

"Recent reporting indicated a Taliban build-up for operations against the coalition forces in the region," the statement said.

Zabul is a rugged and mountainous area that sees regular clashes between security forces and fighters from the Islamist Taliban movement.

The chopper was on a transport mission and not a combat mission at the time of the crash, coalition spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta told AFP.

"The loss of these servicemembers is felt by all of us here in Afghanistan, and we offer our deepest sympathy to the families of those who were killed," he said in the statement.

The coalition would not release the exact location and details of the incident until the recovery operation was completed.

All the hundreds of billions of dollars they extracted from Congress, and yet military hardware gets shortchanged in favor contractor and Halliburton executive salaries.

are troops still dying in our name? It's *'s war, not mine.

Afghanistan? This isn't in Iraq.......

There is a special hell for these neo-cons, and I want to be in charge of it.

:grr: