"Lost American Military Choppers Drop In On Rural Poland... " Topic

…Fields To Ask For Directions.

This is funny! (smile)

"The Black Hawks and Chinooks landed in Gruta and Nowa Wies in northern Poland as they returned from military exercises in Lithuania. Shocked locals were at first concerned, until they realized it was lost Americans and rushed over to take photos with the crews.

A total of 12 American military helicopters, thrown off course by foggy weather, dropped down onto farmers' fields in rural northern Poland to ask locals for directions.

The appearance of five Black Hawk helicopters and a twin-rotored Chinook helicopter in a Gruta rapeseed field shocked locals, who, after overcoming concern, rushed to the aircraft to snap pictures with the American pilots…"

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Suddenly the idea of lost Russkies elsewhere on the Continent doesn't seem so outlandish :D

Yup and if these had of been lost some 100 km east they would have cried no foul.
'Exercises in Lithuania' yeah- I'm a believer.

The difference is they were prob given the ok (element commanders discretion) or ordered to set down rather than stray into hostile territory. Based on the wing hard points and external fuel tanks these UH60 look like The L direct action penetrator versions. these pilots have been flying in the ME dealing with brownouts so prob were very easily thrown off by Fog and european conditions. They prob wont't hear the end of this for a while tho ,till the next crew gets lost….Mikey

Did the Poles (is that an ok term to use) point the helicopters east ;)

As Mikey said ! And I've flown a number of hours as a Rifle PL and then the BN Air Ops Officer [ S3 Air] in CH-47s & UH-60s [ and UH-1s & OH-58s too] in the 101 … You'd be surprised how much weather conditions still can affect aircraft … And it's a 0 – Sum game … you'd rather be on the ground when visability is limited … believe me … But you'd know that Dave, Zargon and Redroom, cause you have a lot of air hours in rotary and fixed wing aircraft too … And I'm sure the flight was given permission to land by local Polish ATC. Also after all, if things go as planned, NATO will be deploying troops including choppers to Poland … again. IIRC, the US had or has a Company of Paras from the 173d ABN Reg/Bde … There already …

"you'd rather be on the ground when visibility is limited" yes indeed, and I recall flying across the Yellow Sea in an SH-60 when the viz was not exactly benign. The pilot must have had balls of steel!

But, had I landed due to bad viz I'd make sure the story was that I'd landed due to bad viz rather than I'd "got lost" :D

Indeed ! … I loved the Chopper pilots, because that meant we could fly instead of walk. But I too could tell a number of stories of being put into the wrong LZ in the middle of the night … a few times ! happens !

I still remember a sighn posted by the ramp of a 101st CH47 as I exited the AC it said "Beware of pickpockets and Loose women"…That sighn Imeadiately put me at ease. Its odd how little things like that stay with you forever and make the ghosts easier to live with…Mikey

My comment was that the Poles wanted the helicopters more to the east next to where the Russians are.

I kind of already knew that flying in bad weather fairly close to the ground was problematic without having any air hours in rotary or fixed winged aircraft :\

I guess Polish GPS is in metric.

Just jerk'n your chain Redroom … No harm … No foul …

That is more than a little embarrassing.

Alas, just another sign of the times……..

Happens (and has happened in the past) more often than you want to know, Mako. Nothing unusual, just part of doing business….

Unfortunately true to a point … but better than it was a few years back … take my word for it !

It's interesting that all the other news reports of this incident reported it as the helicopters forced to land by loss of visibility caused by weather.

But the NY Daily News reports it as the helicopters were "lost". Which of course makes for a more interesting headline.

With modern electronics, it would be highly unlikely for one helicopter to be lost. The chances for a flight of 12 helicopters to all lose their location is extremely small.

Just goes to show how much it matters what media outlets you pay attention to.

I have to agree tuscaloosa … modern avionics are much better today then when I was a 101 Bn S3 Air, '82-'83 … And when it comes to the media, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story …"

So much for modern technology! Really we get all these news stories about the awesome power of technology and then a dozen advanced helicopters belonging to the world's most technologically advanced power get lost in the same way they would in 1906! :P

Again … Take my word for it … Tech or not … happens …

Helo drivers don't like running into power lines, Thomas, and NVGs or even the fancy thermal sights on the Apache can't see the wires (which is why helos have dedicated wire cutters attached ahead of the rotor mast!)

Helo drivers don't like running into power lines,

Very aware of this. It used to be quite a source of accidents in the 1950s-1970s.

I remember when you had to learn land navigation (pre GPS days with maps, compass and dead reckoning). You could really get yourself turned around back then. Do they even teach that these days?

Again, based on my pre GPS experience. Flight Lead made the correct decision, better to err on the side of caution. Then run into power lines, a ridge or mountian, etc. … Usually such accidents end up very badly, even horrifically. As I said, I have many hours in choppers. I'd have rather not taken any more risks then needed to accomplish the mission. Then that are already inherent to flying in assault helos, etc. in combat or training …

I've re-read a book by M.Gallay, one of the famous Soviet test pilots. It has a very interesting part that I wasn't paying attention before – in the beginning of 20th century, all airfields had their names in huge chalk letters, so the stranded pilot could just get closer to earth, read "Pskov" or "Kursk" and then correct his course. The practice ended shortly before WWII, but I guess it could have saved landing trouble in this case ;)