Third US Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq in 8 Days

So what if it was an Apache, a Cobra, or a Kiowa? ALL helicopters are vulnerable to a SAM, and there is no amount of armor you can put on it that will protect you, and still let you fly. As I said before, anyone that knows about military systems, that has a brain, knows that an Apache is just as easy to kill with a SAM as anything else out there is.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
So what if it was an Apache, a Cobra, or a Kiowa? ALL helicopters are vulnerable to a SAM, and there is no amount of armor you can put on it that will protect you, and still let you fly. As I said before, anyone that knows about military systems, that has a brain, knows that an Apache is just as easy to kill with a SAM as anything else out there is.

I know how Easy it is to shoot down a Helicopter, especially when it is hovering in an Urban combat zone. My points WAS, that this sure is a Bad Start of a New Year, since in 10 Days US Military already lost 3 Choppers, which is the same that they have lost in the ENTIRE year 2005.

Now, was last year really that GOOD, or will this year be VERY BAD.

Or somebody is Lying to us.

Again.

Or MAYBE it will level off, or even drop off completely, and they will only lose one or two in the rest of the year. You can't look at the first 17 days of a year, and say "Oh my god! They already lost three helicopters! That's all they lost in all of last year that means they're going to have a horrible year!" I can remember years when there were 5 or 6 major plane crashes in the first month of the year, and not a single major one for the entire rest of the year. MY point is that we just don't know. Unless of course you're John Titor in disguise. Oh wait, he just didn't know either.

What a bunch of friggen liars those insurgents are. Two Groups are making the claim they shot down the Chopter which is good for a laugh.

Then you have preliminary US intelligence reports (as shown on MSNBC-TV) saying they highly doubt this is an actual video of that particular chopper going down since the time of day as shown in the video indicates it would have been around noon when the actual time it went down was around 8AM. Definitely proof positive those insurgents do not have both oars in the water nor does their elevator go to the top floor.

Here's something to think about for you Souljah. There may have been three US Helicopters shot down last year, but there were a lot more than that lost due to accidents. I can think of at least five just off the top of my head, due to:

1. Pilot error
2. Bad weather
3. Mechanical malfunction

In the order of the list:
1. Pilot error. Most operations in Iraq are carried out at night, which means Night Vision Goggles. I have tried NVGs, and you have ZERO depth perception. Even people that have used them for years have trouble with them. If you aren't using NVGs, you are using the Infrared systems in the helicopter, which means you're looking down in the cockpit. It's very easy to miss things like light poles, radio wires, or some other small things that do Bad Thigns to helicopters.

2. Bad Weather. Helicopters react Badly to sand and high wind. Period.

3. Mechanical Malfunction. 25,000 parts, vibrating and moving in different directions. Sooner or later parts are going to fail.

Three helicopters down in the first month of the year doesn't necessarily mean a bad year for the US Military in Iraq. It just means that three helicopters went down for various reasons in the first month of the year.

There you have it:

Associated Free Press



A Russian-made surface-to-air missile launched by anti-American insurgents brought down a US military helicopter that crashed in
Iraq on Monday, US television reported, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.

The ABC News network said the shootdown represented "a troubling new development" because there are hundreds and possibly thousands of SA-7 missiles that remain unaccounted for in Iraq.

The AH-64 Apache went down north of Baghdad, killing its two crew members and becoming the third US helicopter to be shot down in 10 days.

Pentagons Says:

A Missile Brought down the Apache.