re: La Nat Guard soldiers among those killed in helicopter crash. *PRAYERS*

quote:

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I assumed that the 2nd helo wasn't going to fly itself home if it's crew was traveling by ground

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Couldn't they just leave the chopper at Eglin? Not sure why they would have to bring it home with them.

It's all good. Just a bit of miscommunication

confused now. Thought you were saying they "were" bringing it via ground back to hammond. I was simply stating i thought it would stay longer for investigation. Soldiers should go home.

Anyways, hopefully they are safe. Marines too.

Sorry I should have put this in here.

I was talking to a buddy of mine from Bay St Louis in Mississippi yesterday about noon on a cell phone when all the sudden he goes "What the hell?" phone went out for a few seconds.

He came back laughing and I ask what happened. He said "this big black military helicopter flew right over my head. It seemed like only a 100 feet or so. I have never seen one fly that low before. Scared the hell out of me." I think we was on the beach in Bay St Louis.

Then the sad news story last night. We were asking how did everyone die, and why couldn't it attempt to land it or something but obviously the were doing some kind of low altitude flying mission yesterday. They must have hit something or had massive mechanical failure and no time to correct it. Prayers to all the families.

We used to see this all the time fishing camping at the Barrier Islands but usually jets. They would get bored and buzz us, wing tip, etc sometimes which was fun. (Fishing can be boring sometimes) My buddy used to run the war games radar station for these test for a number of years. WE would always know when this was coming because our GPS would be off. (They denied doing this for years but everyone knows they did.) It was fine we get an airshow in exchange for the extra 30 minutes to find the wrecks. Plus when you saw the jets you knew your GPS unit was working ok, just being scrambled a little bit.

Prayers again to all those impacted by the tragedy.

no sticky for this?

It sounds like the accident took place in the Santa Rosa Sound ("bay" side of the island), not on the Gulf side. I'd assume that this will make the recovery and investigation somewhat easier, as I believe the water is pretty shallow.

An airliner ditched in the sound near the Pensacola bridge about 35 years ago. After it sank, it was clearly visible on the bottom and I think the tail was sticking out of the water.

I realize that a broken up Blackhawk isn't the same as an intact airliner, but I'd think the shallow water will make the recovery easier.

The water temperature in Lake Pontchartrain was mid-50s last week. Does anyone know what the water temp is near the accident site and if someone could survive 18+ hours in it?

You're probably right, but crazy things happen.

I was reading a book about the 160th SOAR that described a cold weather training accident near Ft Campbell. A MH-6 Little Bird hit some power lines way above a river and one of the pilots was ejected through the windscreen. He fell about 100', landed in the mud on the river bank and wasn't found for hours. He was all messed up, but he survived.

For those LANG members that post on here, I'm sure many of them will know one or all those in the crash. I pray for the best but a helo down is never a good thing.

Thoughts and prayers from the middle east, to the families of these Soldiers!!