Bin Laden Raid May Have Exposed Stealth helicopter

Originally posted by merka
I dont believe I've seen this explained so if someone please could enlighten me:

How exactly does a helicopter loose its entire tail section, rotor and all, then apparently fly away without leaving a single trace of itself other than said tail section?

edit on 5-5-2011 by merka because: (no reason given)

The official word from the pilot was when he tried to hover over the compound he lost lift causing the helo to crash onto the wall tail went outside the rest went inside. In there hurry they blew up the body but nobody went outside the wall to get the tail section.

Originally posted by SpookyFox
This definitly doesnt look like a blackhawk or anything normal does it.
Does anyone know what it was?

It looks like a modified HH60 to me so it is a blackhawk. However i have a feeling it was modified to be very quiet. People keep saying stealth with a helicopter thats unnecessary they can fly below radar. What gives a helicopter away is noise and if nobody seemed to realize something happened until they heard an explosion these things were very quiet.

reply to post by clay2 baraka


Talked to a blackhawk crew chief today. He sais he was 100 percent sure it wasn't a mechanical failure. That the pilot just crashed into the wall. He said it happens all the time especially when two are landing in close proximity in a combat zone due to the dust.

He guessed it was the 160th group? Which are the best pilots and are saying it was mechanical instead of pilot error to keep from "embarrassing " their record.

Just an FYI for some people who are interested, but I see that Discover Channel will be playing a special this evening (Sunday, 5.15.2011), "Killing Bin Laden".

From what it appears, based on a couple different commercials I've happened to catch, they will be talking a good bit about the helicopter 'accident', which had occurred during the raid. This also includes some CGI visuals, etc. However, from what I've seen, there seems to be no graphic or representation of a 'stealth' helicopter.. lol

It'll be interesting to watch, and see just HOW MUCH they lie through their teeth about it, or obviously steer away from the matter of the Silent Hawk, being used on the raid.. lol, but we'll see

I got this throuygh professional/work sources today - apparently it is from AVwebFlash 12 May 11 - AvWeb being an aviaitn magazine that I don't usually have access to.

The (Stealth) Blackhawk Crash
The reason a stealthy version of the MH-60 Blackhawk crashed during the May 1 raid that killed Osama bin Laden includes the vortex ring state phenomenon, according to officials, but helicopter crashes in the Middle East are far from uncommon. Hot air close to the ground and the aircraft's proximity to the high walls of the compound could have caused that thin, hot air to be driven by propwash up the walls and then down through the rotor, causing the vortex ring state. With those conditions, the helicopter would have lost lift and settled with power, which is what officials say happened. The resulting hard landing immediately altered the original plan for SEALS to fast rope to the ground from a hovering aircraft. They fared better than they might have. In Iraq, only IED explosions and being shot by the enemy rank higher than U.S. helicopters for killing American soldiers, according to the Armed Forces Journal. And 80 percent of the helicopter accidents occur without the intervention of hostile forces. That said, the military helicopter crash rate is actually better than that of GA aircraft.


The non-hostile, non-combat accident rate for military helicopters currently stands near 2.1 per 100,000 hours while flying in some of the least hospitable conditions available to helicopters. Meanwhile, the accident rate for GA aircraft stands at 6.86 per 100,000 hours. The military helicopter pilots are most often brought down due to a combination of weather conditions and terrain. Night vision goggles have improved matters, but dust storms, brownouts caused by rotor wash, wire strikes and controlled flight into terrain are still problems the military and Congress hopes to better address. Proposed fixes include terrain avoidance avionics that would warn pilots of potential hazards. That specific technology would not have helped during the bin Laden raid, for which the mission profile put the aircraft in a hover at treetop level. Three-dimensional radar, also a proposed fix, penetrates brownouts and could have produced a synthetic image of the landing zone, but may not have saved the aircraft from vortex ring state.

I understand there is no need for the US government to disclose this secret type of helo, but do you think they will reveal it in the next, let's say, 5 years (like showing full pictures/ videos of flights...) ?

reply to post by Dalbeck
I guess that depends on how long it has been operational. If it is not that 'new' as far as the technology goes, they will probably release something more about it fairly soon. I would hope that the technology is not too new, as the use of it in a combat operation of this sort would have been too risky, IMO.

If the Chinese get their hands on it, via the Pakistanis, we will probably release something, but that will more than likely be disinfo to try to confuse the Chinese.

I believe this helo was modified with tech from blue edge rotors, having worked under an a&p extensively on rotorcraft, I have observed several helos with low noise blades from several manufacturers, the tail rotor image is shrouded at the rotor hub like a fenestron type, but it isnt shrouded.

reply to post by chopperswolf


Good info chopperswolf. Thanks for the blue edge rotors part particularly. I found this with your little tidbit.

Great contribution with the Blue Edge tech info, guys

Let's keep this thread alive.. Because I'd certainly like to figure out what kind of heli this was, with details, etc., as well!! Lol.. As there have stated though, it'll be highly unlikely that the gov't releases any detailed info or declassifies the craft, unless China or North Korea get their hands on the tail rotor wreckage.. Sighhh lol

Great job guys! Keep up the good work!

Bumping an old thread here as it has been over two years since the "bin laden raid". Has anyone seen a picture of an undamaged helicopter like the one used in the raid?

reply to post by tomra

No pictures, however I've seen the real thing in-person a few years back. Didn't really cross my mind about it, until after the raid.

reply to post by weavty1


Cool!

Are the artistic renditions circulating on the web close to the real thing or does it look entirely different?