U.S. Army Helicopter Goes Down in Mosul

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Helicopter-Down.html

January 13, 2006
U.S. Army Helicopter Goes Down in Mosul
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:37 a.m. ET

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter went down near Mosul in northern Iraq on Friday while aiding Iraqi police who came under hostile fire, and its two pilots were seriously injured, military officials said.

Both pilots of the OH-58 Kiowa, which is armed, were alive but unconscious when they were evacuated, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joel Burger, of the 172nd Stryker Brigade's 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, said at the scene of the crash. It was unclear why the helicopter went down at about 2:15 p.m.

..little more at link...

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Yes, it's often a great mystery why helicopters go down in a war zone

:eyes:

[katinmn]

2. So this is the second one shot down in a week

This would coincide with the increase in air attacks.

[Centered]

3. or an increase in ground to air weapons

perhaps a bit of both

[cliss]

16. I think this is the 2nd one.

This may be why the Pentagon delays notification of things like this. They're hoping the public will merge the two events and assume they are the same = not so much loss.

This MUST be the 2nd one shot down this week.

Again, I am at a loss why they can't figure this out. These helis are not cheap. I think they cost $7 million dollars (?) a huge loss /not to mention the loss of life which is worse.

But we've lost maybe 60 helis since the start of the war. We've lost 80 Abrams tanks. Imagine losing one of those. And I've read that ordinary Iraqis have taken down Black Hawk helicopters with an old Kalashnikov rifle. Unbelievable.

[kineneb]

17. Afghanis took out Soviet choppers with rocks

They discovered that the choppers had poor armor on top. They would wait until the choppers had to fly through one of the high elevation mountain passes and then just drop rocks on them from above. So having high tech equipment does not make up for superior knowledge of the locale.

[katinmn]

19. Yes, the first was on Sunday, just five days ago. Killed 12

First they tried to suggest "bad weather"
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-09T113938Z_01_ARM941530_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-CRASH.xml&archived=False

Here it's a "coalition helicopter"
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/Releases/Jan/060108d.htm

DOD list 8 were killed. (Maybe there was a third crash)
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060110-12291.html

[UpInArms]

4. related: US helicopter shot down in Iraq: witnesses

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=fundLaunches&storyID=2006-01-13T140629Z_01_DIT348968_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-HELICOPTER.xml

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. army helicopter crashed near the city of Mosul, north of Baghdad, on Friday after coming under fire from insurgents on the ground, witnesses said.

The witnesses in al-Sukar district north of Mosul told Reuters they saw gunmen fire on the helicopter, causing it to crash.

It was not immediately clear whether the crew survived the crash. U.S. forces had sealed off the site, the witnesses said. The U.S. military said it was checking the report.

It was the second U.S. helicopter to crash in Iraq in less than a week. A military UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed on Saturday, killing all 12 aboard in one of the worst incidents of its kind since the war began in 2003.

...more...

[leftchick]

5. of course it was shot down

like all of the rest the US Military won't admit to. I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of these..




The question is whether they were shot down. The US assaulted the city of Tal Afar in August, emptying the city, leveling neighborhoods with air strikes, and sending in Kurdish and Shiite troops after Sunni Turkmen, their political rivals. A lot of Sunni Turkmen had been Baath Party members and supported the Saddam regime, and enough had serious military experience that they would know how to get hold of a shoulder-fired missile and how to use it (typically they use SA-7s, but on occasion the guerrillas have managed to get more sophisticated SA-14s.) At least one other Blackhawk was shot down this way.

http://www.juancole.com/

[katinmn]

6. All the reports say the cause is "unknown"

being investigated.

How stupid do they think people are?

Oops. Never mind.

[leftchick]

22. what do you know!

I just heard on NPR the US Miliary confirmed "It was probably shot down"! Amazingly fast for a change. The two pilots are dead. :(

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Military confirms helicopter shot down near Mosul

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-13T144720Z_01_DIT348968_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-HELICOPTER.xml&archived=False

A U.S. military helicopter was shot down on Friday by insurgents near the city of Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, a senior U.S. command official said.

Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon from Baghdad: "The indicators are that it was due to hostile fire." A defense official said it was an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, a two-seat, single-engine helicopter. Officials did not offer details on any casualties.

[maddezmom]

9. AP: Two Killed in U.S. Chopper Crash in Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_helicopter_down;_

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Military folks correct me if I'm wrong

These Kiowas are like the old Loach, yes? Don't battalion commanders fly around in these things to direct activity on the ground?

[Tin Man]

14. Yes, primary mission is forward observer & fire designator

but also can be armed w/ rockets, guns, or hellfire missiles.

http://www.aviation.army.mil/factsheets/OH58.html

[sabra]

10. Two pilots killed in U.S. helicopter crash in N.Iraq

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL354715.htm

Two pilots killed in U.S. helicopter crash in N.Iraq


BAGHDAD, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Two pilots were killed in Friday's downing of a U.S. military helicopter in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement.

"Two pilots were killed Friday when their Oh-58D Kiowa helicopter went down in the city of Mosul... The aircrew members were recovered from the aircraft," the statement said.

[Swede]

11. The nightmare begins for two more families.

This is such a waste.

[llmart]

18. Well, they can always take a course in how to laugh......

at their dead loved ones.

[wildwww2]

20. Bu$h could teach the course. He sure has no problem laughing after

all the needless death he has caused.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[Auntie Bush]

21. Yes, a nightmare that will NEVER END for those poor families.

A PAIN that will never leave their consciousness. God Bless them!

[KansDem]

12. Mechanical failure?

Or did one of the Reagan/Bush Iran/Contra missiles find its way into Mosul?

[theHandpuppet]

24. CNN ticker

CNN reported the copter was brought down by hostile fire.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[saigon68]

15. Adios

Vaya Con Dios

[reprobate]

23. This is a light attack, standoff target designator chopper.

It is meant to standoff out of harms way and light up targets for the Apache attack choppers.

To use this machine as close air support is to assign two pilots to a suicide mission. It can be taken down by rifle fire!

Our military leaders are just as fucked up as our civilian leaders.

http://www.aviation.army.mil/factsheets/OH58.html

[Zodiak]

25. Thanks for this thread

I a wise in the ways of science, but woefully inept in war knowledge. I appreciate all of the dogged research and the concise way in which was presented on this thread. All participants are a credit to DU.

[Barkley]

26. "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended" - * 5/03 - nt

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

27. Two Killed When U.S. Chopper Shot in Iraq

By NICK WADHAMS

Associated Press Writer

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents apparently shot down a U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter in this northern city Friday, killing its two pilots, in the second fatal helicopter crash in Iraq in less than a week.

One witness said he heard machine-gun fire before the helicopter crashed, and children told soldiers that the sound of gunfire came from three or four directions and that the helicopter was flying erratically, possibly trying to evade it.

The helicopter looked like it crashed on a muddy plateau and then cartwheeled down a 25-foot embankment that was sloped at about a 45-degree angle. It came to rest near strewn garbage. The helicopter's two pilots - the only people aboard - were killed.

The pilot may have tried to land it in the dirt clearing, about 20 feet from some mud huts with clothes hanging along lines.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5544662,00.html

[nautibits]

28. yeah, were in control over there

:eyes:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

30. Welcome to DU, nautibits! (it certainly seems that way. n/t)

[Qanisqineq]

31. Welcome to DU, nautibits!

:hi:

Very sad, isn't it? So many lives lost and for what?

[robbedvoter]

29. Iraq, Iraq - enough Iraq already - new wars to prop, new victories

to advertise. let's just pretend Iraq moved in...Afghanistan.

[0007]

32. Pile em high and then higher

Grass Bush

Pile the bodies high in Austerlitz and Waterloo Iraq
Shovel them under and let me work--
I am the grass; bush; I cover all.

And pile them high in Gettyburg Baghdad
And pile them high in Ypres and Vedum Mossoul and Al Fallaujah

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?

I am the grass bush.
Let me work.

Carl Sandburg


Support the war - Donate a Son a daughter
The GOP working for a better America

[xchrom]

33. they were helping the copter down -- they wanted to greet

them with flowers and stuff.

obviously the ap hates america for our freedoms.

[osaMABUSh]

34. and so it goes...

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. The insurgents were holding up a sign

It said Welcome to the Desert of the Real

[Barkley]

36. "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended" - * 5/03 - nt