NEWS.com.au | Seven dead in Black Hawk disaster (November 30, 2004)

NEWS.com.au | Seven dead in Black Hawk disaster (November 30, 2004)


Bad enough been killed fighting in Iraq than at home praticing.
God Bless them.

Bogs Doddy

Seven dead in Black Hawk disaster
From correspondents in Bruceville-Eddy, Texas
November 30, 2004

A US Army helicopter crashed and burned today in Texas after hitting a TV transmission-tower wire in fog.


Wreck ... the crew had no chance as the chopper went down / AP


All seven soldiers aboard were killed, military officials confirmed.

The tower had not been spotted because its warning lights were not working, a TV station official said.

The UH-60 Black Hawk, bound for the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, went down in a field about 48km north-east of Fort Hood, where the soldiers were based.

The fog was so thick when emergency crews arrived that they could not see more than halfway up the tower, authorities said.

Everyone aboard was killed, said Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Withington, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood. Their names were not immediately released.

Rock Eicke, who lives about 400 metres from the crash site just south of Waco, said he was getting ready for work about 7am (1am AEDT) when he was startled by a loud metallic rattling sound. He said he looked out his window and saw the helicopter hitting the ground.

"All of the sudden I just saw a big ball of fire erupt from the ground and then boom, an explosion," Mr Eicke said.

Mr Eicke called emergency services and then accompanied a deputy sheriff who needed directions to the crash site.

The main part of the fuselage went down in a field about 200 metres from the tower, McLennan County constable Ken Brown said.

Mr Eicke and Con Brown said charred and smouldering pieces of the helicopter were scattered for hundreds of meters. Two of the bodies were seen inside the helicopter; others were lying in the field.

An investigation team was sent to the scene to determine the cause of the crash.

Lt Col Withington said the team's priority now was "to secure the scene and recover the bodies".

He said other Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Hood would pick up the bodies and return them to the post.

The helicopter hit several of 21 wires stabilising the 540-metre tower, said Jerry Pursley, general manager of Waco-Temple-Killeen station KXXV, which owns the tower. The tower itself was not hit, he said.

The tower's lights stopped working early last week after strong storms hit the area, Pursley said. He said the station notified the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said the agency sent a notice to a computer database checked by pilots before they fly for information on potential hazards.

Hundreds of such notices are issued every week around the country, and they typically stay posted for 15 days, he said.

The crash occurred at the highest point in McLennan County, with 30 different towers within an 8km radius of where the helicopter went down, Sheriff's Deputy Shannon Mitchell said.

The Black Hawk, which the military began using in 1979, is the Army's main troop transport helicopter. It can carry 15 people and usually is flown by a crew of four.

In November 2003, 17 soldiers were killed when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Iraq, apparently as a result of enemy fire.

The Associated Press