Another helicopter video

That's sad. Any news on survivors?
 
I seem to recount that this was a training excersise. The helicoptor is a Chinook and it appears its approach speed was too fast. You can tell because the rear landing gear hits the back corner of the landing pad and its speed may have contributed to the pilots mis-judging the landing point. At that point the pilot reduced power to the rotors, then realizing the trouble tried to take off again w/o enough power to do so. :(
 
I wonder what would have happened if he would have just stayed there and not tried to take off again. It looked liked most of the helicopter was on the ship. I don't know if it was stable enough to stay put until they could secure it though.
 
That's a Marine CH-46 ( a Sea Knight, not a Chinook) from 4-5 years ago. It was doing a VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) exercise for an upcoming deployment off the San Diego coast. He came in too fast, too low, and didn't have enough power to prevent from settling while decelerating. I'm not sure on this mission, but usually the intent is not to land on the boat. Usually the Marines would fastrope out of the helicopter onto the deck. However,this time, settling into the deck, he tries to take off again, but one of the main mounts got caught in the man overboard netting, causing a rolling moment. I can't remember how many died, but luckily the boats behind were full of SEALs or divers and they were able to rescue several onboard.

Bill
 
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