Oh.My.God.
Watch this insane video of an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter perform an extremely low pass over a snow-covered U.S. outpost (some say it’s FOB Sharana in Paktika Province) in the mountains of Afghanistan before slamming onto the ground narrowly missing some troops, bouncing back into the air and spinning out of control for what looks like a few hundred feet before crashing. It’s damned intense.
Miraculously, no one was killed in the incident but criminal charges may be brought for such a reckless maneuver right over a U.S. base, according the video’s description on Liveleak.
{ 93 comments… read them below or add one }
Where is the "Dont like" button when you need one ..
I'm glad they are both Alive. I'll bet that was the biggest adrenaline rush that co-pilot has ever had. It was probably exhilarating, in retrospect. Kinda like getting thrown off a motorcycle (I can vouch), painful, but exhilarating once you realize what just happened. Lol you don't get demoted from crashing a bike usually.
Well, we know what the pilot will be flying next……
Cargo planes full of rubber dog**** out of hong kong?
Classic
Let's face it, their names won't be the best in the Army, they gotta be doing it better and cleaner than the other guy.
I think even a desk might be out of his reach at this point.
Told them not to let Biden behind the controls……
Way to throw your career away.
That's probably an easy maneuver at normal altitudes, but much harder in the thin air of that mountain pass.
Pilots get paid to be able to calculate that differential- this guy was def. not earning his paycheck.
Or this was not his first flight in-country? Though if it was, probably not much of an excuse…or an indicator someone needs more high-altitude flight training.
Training is not the issue. Those pilots receive focused high altitude mountain training before they deploy. Poor discipline is the problem here and it is a leadership issue.
I'm not a pilot, but I did pay attention in high school physics and I could see that wouldn't work. Winter temps, very high altitude, and screwing off in front of your peers don't work well in combination when flying. At least it wasn't a Longbow.
Cold air actually helps a bit, but not enough to make a difference at this altitude. I hate to see a pilot get jugged for demonstrating their aircrafts best attributes and their own skills, but if you destroy your aircraft you have destroyed your career, as well. But I hope there are no criminal charges filed, as the article indicates may be possible.
I wonder how many WWII aces would have been jugged for buzzing towns or flying under the Golden Gate Bridge, before they were sent overseas? The difference of course, is that they didn't crash.
those things dont exactly cost peanuts ala second-hand car…thats millions of dollars of US government property that he just wrecklessly destroyed in an attempt to dick wave.
so i think criminal charges may not be entirely unreasonable.
On the other hand, you can be pretty sure that pilot will never try that maneuver that close to the ground again. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the "one strike and your whole life is crap" philosophy. I want the best pilot flying the aircraft, not the one whose ass is so tight he can crap diamonds.
If the pilot was joy-riding, then criminal charges are entirely appropriate. If he was conducting legitimate manuevers and lost control, then that is something else. Buzzing towns, airfields, and bridges has never been allowed because it's dangerous with little of use to show for it. It would help for us to be able to see what he was doing before making that first pass over the FOB.
Oh, it was a Longow.
Oh man that was painful to watch. Poor Apache *crying*
That's one career down the drain. Hope a CH-47 or something can haul that out of there.
Send the Pilot home for retirement w/o pay.
if there was no enemy contact occuring then I would hope he would be facing a court-martial because what he did could have resulted in the deaths of others if after crashing the helicopter went in a different direction
Wow. I totally agree with you on this one. Well, actually I wouldn't be so lenient. I'd have them summarily executed.
Wonder what happened
Nevermind just read the last part of the article…
Anyone have a YouTube link?
Nevermind.
Wow! Someone’s been playing too much Xbox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgDtYD69k-U
Much appreciated.
Meet the newest Lakota Chopper pilot. LOL Showing off in combat is not needed at all.
not THAT, just charge him…. what are you some kind of monster?
What's wrong with the UH-72s?
There are old pilots and bold pilots, but very few old, bold….
If the "target" you are returning to is a demotion, then maneuver accomplished.
Missed it by THAT much! ouch.
Missed those troopers by that much too.
I'm not easily impressed by damn that video left an impression. Then again I think the Apache left an impression on the ground also.
Ouch. Or, to quote "Oh.My.God."
But they are still alive, both of them. Wonder if the pilot wishes it otherwise though. lol
If the wings are moving faster than the fusilage, it is a Helicopter, and, therefore inherently unstable in flight. I'd rather walk home…and, in some cases, I have…
Helicopters do not Fly. They Beat the air into submission. Or in this case, the ground.
Another one: Helicopters do not fly, they are so ugly that the ground repels them. See? The Helicopter was just making a point!
A Marine pilot once told me helicopters are nothing more than 50,000 loose and leaking parts and it is the pilot's job to keep them moving in the same direction.
How do idiots like this get into the military? Make them pay for that chopper 4 the rest of their lives!
Prince Harry would not have made this mistake.
No. It's not very British.
Because Harry would never get into an Apache perhaps?
No. Harry is piloting the Apache for the Army Air Corps.
They love sticking the princes in choppers, helps them when they want to illegally use them to get to parties.
isnt he a tanker?
Nope. He was just in the US last year training on AH-64's.
hard to make that mistake when you are a CP/G not a pilot. He doesn't fly, he's a gunner.
The Apache has dual flight control, is not true?
ABC news showed an edited version of this video. If you saw their version you would never know that there was some serious pilot stupidity involved .
Could be he had trouble judging altitude. The ground is pretty featureless with all that snow, nad flying more or less into the sun.
Could also have lost an engine. We won't really know until after the investigation.
Regardless! was it really necessary to try and pull of this maneuver??? No! I don't think so…..That was just a Dumb A#@ at the controls. For the reason you stated meneuvers like this are risky enough when it is actually required. Why push your luck while putting fellow comrads at risk.
only thing is, that's what an altimeter is for. he could see the altitude in front of him. plus the co pilot in front is supposed to watch that when flying in that terrain
pilot stupid error, no other excuse!!!
http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/v2/nr-sp/index-e… This is what Canadian Sea King pilot's get trained to do. Also future British King's.
can we get our $20M back?
Try $43 million.
It looked like a scene from Airwolf until he crashed. Every kid can't be a star.
The scene on the movie set with the MD500, that's what this reminded me of.
Hmmm, i suppose that 4.0 in Sports Fitness doesn't always translate well to aviation.
Ok it was stupid. But what I find impressive is how well she held up on the initial impact. They really are flying tanks.
I like your point, great aircraft, great helicopters.
This is why they are feared. Even if you throw the earth at them they'll just bounce off!
While statistically likely pilot error, nevetheless a sad result of the man/machine mix. Glad no-one died; since the dishonored one will promulgate words of wisdom for the future, and regain his/her honor. Still, it's time to bring helicopter design into the 21st century so helicopter piloting needn't be so far out in the envelope of human capacity.
I'm guessing this was preceded with a …" Hey Ya'll, watch this ! "
Fly boys. God love 'em, they can be stupid.
Reaction from ground soldiers: Woah, WOOAH! AWESOME!! Holy SH***!
Saw some stupid things in 'Nam….but what was this guy trying to prove????
This is what happens when they believe the chopper controls just like Battlefield 3.
I’ve done that maneuver a hundred times!
…With an Xbox controller.
What do they do with a guy who fails at a frozen outpost? Moonbase Alpha?
its sad to see my favorite aircraft destroyed in such a manner
"Hold my beer and watch this…"
lesson learned:
If you cant do that without the distraction of somebody firing at you, probably should not do it at that altitude and approach angle when some is. Problem is even if your are practicing you are expected to be betterer than close to perfect. This experienced crew probably wont experience any more Apache air time.
You can only TIE the record for the lowest flyby, it cant' be beaten…
That's great Jarhead. That's going in my favorite quotes page.
A perfect execution of the maneuver know as the "career-ender".
Stalling, kills pilots from 1901.
Sad thing is he could have left it just on the first idiotic near miss a building pass, but no he needed to do a second run.
He will lie to regret it for the rest of his life.
I have seen some dumb maneuvers by Army pilots, but this one beats all.
reminds me of another video I saw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW5Dxizy4ZE
Pilot: Think we can make it through there?
Gunner: Nope.
Pilot: Oh ye of little faith
How come pilot is idiot !?! the manuver he made to save ground cabins and reduce his speed, the hundreds of Gs he suffered on crash!?! I m just wondering if he would have crashed it on some nearby hill slope to turn his crash into slide or roll. pilot's cage and strapings could have saved him. Also since every tom dick and harry is thinking to land on moon … can someone build the rotor shaft popable .. so pilot would just rlease the rotor crank on some uninhabitant area and some shuttle type shoot decends heli safely to ground !?!
Anyone whos flown an appache knows just how difficult it is. And hundreds of hours in the sky and i damn sure can tell you that there was human ignorance involved in this. you never to a lateral turn in acceleration epsecially over your base idiot. Add to it the suns reflection off the snow and damn near the lack of a horizon to guide you due to the snow cover and you got yourself and accident. IDIOTS
Thank God everyone survived/wasnt hit by a falling attack helicoptor…
The video "appears" to show what is called "lack of flight disipline". The US Army is intolerant of this behavior. Why? Too many aviators have blatently violated rules, resulting in accidents that kill and destroy equipment reducing combat effectiveness. The first Apaches cost $20M, the first Longbows were $46M, they are now $51M+. (I am US Army Master Aviator/Aviation Saftey Officer/ Aircraft Accident Investigator retired)
one guy was hit………..
That crash was most likely due to pilot error – many pilots fail to account for thin air in the mountains. A famous stunt pilot recently lost his life at a Colorado air show because of this oversight.
Here Am I.
Having flown and worked on apaches for 3 and 6 years so just by seeing that i can tell you that whoever was flying that should be get a court martial. this is so because 1: that was just showing off and endangering everyone around them 2: a maneuver that should've been done at 700 ft off the deck and not ******* 150-200 3: had the pilot(s) been thinking fast, they could've saved that had they let it roll in the snow and not tried to go vertical when your tires are that deep in the snow.
Maddox. If your takeaway from that incident is that they were just a little too low, and the pilots didnt think fast enough, you need to turn in your wings now. Have a serious talk with your unit SP before its too late.
OK OK now on count of three pull the ejection handle WHHHHAAATTTT the #### this is a helicopter SIR! just kidding…LMAO!
lol betcha he was hot-boxing the cockpit, and it made perfect sense at the time