Anyone care to do the research on these things' safety record? It seems we lose these things all the time, don't we? Or am I thinking of another military helicopter?
There accidents all the time. We also have jets that crash. I think that cars even crash sometime too. The point is that accidents happen. However, the Blackhawk helicopter has an altitude limit. The closer it gets to that limit they tend not to perform in an ideal manner. This has proven to be a problem in Afghanistan as it is a mountainous region.
Re: Re: Blackhawk down...again. Yes, thank you. I was unaware of these - how you say - Accidents? They hppen lot time in Amerika? You helpful very much. Thank you nice man. Anyway, what I was asking about was about the crash ratio of the Black Hawk compared to other helicopters that we have in service. It just seemed to me that they are crashing at a high frequency. But maybe I'm wrong. That's why I was asking.
Accidents are going to happen when war training is going on. If you want an aircraft with a terrible saftey record look at the Osprey. That thing is a flying coffin.
Well, yeah. Talk about not giving up when defeated. Man, those engineers are bound and determined to prove that that death trap is gonna work someday and they aren't about to let dead serviceman after dead serviceman stop them from their goal.
AFL. the uh-60 blackhawk is the main helicopter used by the united states military and may be why when a helicopter crashes it is a blackhawk. it pretty much carries troops, equipment, does just about everything as it replaced the uh-1 huey <the vietnam era helicopter> as the multi-role helicopter in the armed forces. hence when one crashes, a backhawk it is...
So it's really not that unsafe of a helicopter then? Just that it gets used so often that eventually something's gonna go wrong? Okay, thanks.
yea pretty much. i wondered the same thing during the afghanistan conflict when it seemed like one crashed every other week. i read up on one of those defense group sites like FAS and i could not find a thing about the bad safety record of the blackhawk. i believe during desert storm they had problems with the helicopter in the sandy conditions initially but that was corrected back then, it was something to do with the engine intake...
ABC News has something. Not a lot but something. http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20030224_778.html
Yea, well in case you didn't know, they fixed the problems with the Osprey, and it has operated much better in the last two years. It's a very unique design, and allows the Marine corps to do a lot of things with it. People need to wake up and realize that it has been fixed,and it's a good tool, so stop mindlessly ragging on it.
They usually cover military accidents. It's not a US military-run site, it's a private site which runs military-related stories copied from wire services and other websites--the headline story right now is the Air Force Academy rape scandal, so it's hardly a propaganda website. Alex
Ah. Gotcha. It should be up soon, then. I think the details are too sketchy for anything solid yet anyhow.
It's true that the Blackhawk is the most widely used Army helicopter, so it would likely have the highest accident occurrence. The OH-58D actually has a higher rate (per flight hour). Most of the accidents, however, are not due to the safety of the aircraft itself. It's a very safe, dependable aircraft with redundant systems. It can take a beating too. The problem usually lies with pilot error, specifically as it relates to the flight profiles and conditions that the mission dictates, as well as environmental conditions. Several accidents are directly the result of brown-out, landing in dusty, sandy environments. The only way to deal with that phenomenon is to use proper technique, which still is not a guarantee, and has a lot of variables. Add night vision goggles to the scenario and it can become much more critical. Mechanical malfunctions do occur, but are usually minor. The vast majority of accidents are due to adverse weather, environmental conditions, or the pilot unwittingly exceeding his/her or the aircraft's performance envelope.
Accident rates for Army aircraft in FY02: AH-64 Apache 31% CH-47D Chinook 21% OH-58D Kiowa Warrior 18% UH-60 Black Hawk 14% MH-47 4% MH-60 4% Fixed Wing 4% Other 4% These were for class A accidents -- fatality and/or acft destroyed.
Blackhawks are far safer than Hueys which were safer than previous helicoptors. All helicoptors have problems with altitude and hot weather - it is just the nature of the machine. The Osprey is a technological marvel and is a beautiful piece of machinery. It is also too complicated and will never be reliable. That is too bad, as having a machine of that capability was to be the cornerstone of the new Marine plans for the future.
You got it exactly right up to where you said it will never be reliable. It will be, they've already done so much to fix it, it needs more time. Revolutionary machines such as this need time to develope.
Okay, it may be a great technological marvel, and its safety record may be improving a hundred fold, and it could very well become a much more widely-used product. Fine, I won't dispute those. But to call the the thing a beautiful piece of machinery is really stretching things, doncha think? Honestly, it could be one of the ugliest things we've ever flown in the military. God-awful, I'd call it.