Latest news with #DarinGaub
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
What are Black Hawk helicopters and how are they used? What to know after the D.C. aircraft crash
The military helicopter that collided with a regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in a crash that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft was a UH-60 Black Hawk, considered the 'workhorse' of Army aviation. The helicopter is a 'utility tactical transport' aircraft — used for everything from air assault to relief operations — that the Army says it has relied on for every major operation around the world for more than four decades. First introduced in the Army in 1979, the aircraft is generally considered safe and has a strong track record for reliability and survivability in combat and transport missions, said Timothy A. Loranger, an aviation attorney and former aircraft mechanic. Sikorsky, a subsidiary of the aerospace and defense giant Lockheed-Martin, says it has built more than 5,000 of the helicopters for 36 countries. The Army has said it expects the aircraft to be a key part of its fleet for the next three decades. The Black Hawk that collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 was from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and it was on a training mission, the Army said. Military officials described the three soldiers on the aircraft as a very experienced crew that included an instructor pilot with more than 1,000 flight hours. The officials said the training mission was a routine annual evaluation of the pilot's ability to fly at night. The crew was well aware of the route and the rules in the airspace around the airport, the officials said. The cause of the collision remains unclear and is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Speaking to MSNBC, retired Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub said video of the collision appeared to show that the helicopter did not appear to change course, speed or altitude before the crash, indicating the crew may not have known the passenger jet was in its path. He added that the training mission had fewer crew chiefs than normal to scan the sky for potential dangers. While such missions typically have three, he said, Wednesday's had one. "That's a fact," he said. "It may have bearing in the future. It may not. But it does reduce ability of crew to identify an aircraft in flight at night." Nearly two years ago, two Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided during a training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard them. That crash and a second fatal collision that involved two Apache helicopters in Alaska prompted the Army to ground all aviation except flights on critical missions. Army Chief of Staff James McConville said the stand-down was necessary to ensure the Army was doing everything possible to prevent accidents. A review of fatal incidents involving Black Hawk helicopters published by after the collision in Kentucky found 60 people had died in training incidents over the previous decade. The review concluded that while that number may appear high, Black Hawks account for the fewest deadly incidents relative to hours flown in the Army's fleet and are involved in far fewer fatal incidents than other helicopters, including the AH-64 Apache and the CH-47 Chinook. This article was originally published on
NBC News
31-01-2025
- General
- NBC News
What are Black Hawk helicopters and how are they used? What to know after the D.C. aircraft crash
The military helicopter that collided with a regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in a crash that killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft, was a UH-60 Black Hawk, consid ered the 'workhorse' of U.S. Army aviation. The helicopter is a 'utility tactical transport' aircraft — used for everything from air assault to relief operations — that the Army says it has relied on for every major operation around the world for more than four decades. First introduced in the Army in 1979, the aircraft is generally considered safe and has a strong track record for reliability and survivability in combat and transport missions, said Timothy A. Loranger, an aviation attorney and former aircraft mechanic. Manufactured by Sikorsky, a subsidiary of aerospace and defense giant Lockheed-Martin, the company says it has built more than 5,000 of the helicopters for 36 countries. The Army has said it expects the aircraft to be a key part of its fleet for the next three decades. The Black Hawk that collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 was from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and it was on a training mission at the time, the Army said. Military officials described the three soldiers on board the aircraft as a very experienced crew that included an instructor pilot with more than 1,000 flight hours. The officials said the training mission was a routine annual evaluation of the pilot's ability to fly at night. The crew was well aware of the route and rules in the airspace around the airport, the officials said. The cause of the collision remains unclear and is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Speaking to MSNBC, Retired Lt. Colonel Darin Gaub said video of the collision appeared to show that the helicopter did not appear to change course, speed or altitude before the crash, indicating that it may not have known the passenger jet was in its path. He added that the training mission had less crew chiefs than normal to scan the sky for potential dangers. While these missions typically have three, he said, Wednesday's had one. "That's a a fact," he said. "It may have bearing in the future. It may not. But it does reduce ability of crew to identify an aircraft in flight at night." Nearly two years ago, two Black Hawk helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided during a training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircraft. That crash and a second fatal collision that involved two Apache helicopters in Alaska prompted the Army to ground all aviation except those on critical missions. Army Chief of Staff James McConville said the stand down was necessary to ensure the service was doing everything possible to prevent accidents. A review of fatal incidents involving Black Hawk helicopters published by after the collision in Kentucky found there had been 60 deaths over the last decade in training incidents. The review concluded that while that number may appear high, Black Hawks account for the fewest deadly incidents relative to hours flown in the Army's fleet and are involved far fewer fatal incidents than other helicopters, including the AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Midair collision draws attention to military helicopter training and previous accidents
To learn to fly a military helicopter is to take a master class in multitasking. You need both hands and both feet to control the aircraft while keeping a close eye on the horizon and your altitude. If it's nighttime and you're flying low, you may be scanning the ground for familiar landmarks using night-vision goggles while also checking GPS instruments. 'You have six to seven radios to mess with,' said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, who flew Black Hawk helicopters for 22 years. 'You're using everything. And by the way, you're also supposed to fly the aircraft, which is why most military aircraft are crewed by a minimum of two pilots.' The training for U.S. military helicopter pilots is getting heightened attention in the wake of Wednesday night's fatal midair collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet in the skies above Washington. The accident follows a dozen fatal crashes during Army Black Hawk training missions since January 2014 that have claimed the lives of 47 service members. But former military helicopter pilots and experts stood by the nation's rigorous military training Thursday, insisting that it's the world's best. 'Once you get it down and get proficient at it, it's amazing what you can do in it,' said Mark Miller, an associate professor at the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on its Honolulu campus, and a former Marine helicopter pilot. 'But it's all about training where you really become one with the helicopter.' Intense training in the classroom and sky The education includes intense classroom training about aerodynamics, aircraft systems and the many things that can go wrong, Miller said. 'There are real idiosyncrasies on just landing the helicopter," he said. 'You can actually flip over a helicopter really easily if you don't know what you're doing. But you become very well-versed in that stuff. And then you learn as you go. And you can actually see these things happen and know what to do.' Pilots are trained to fly visually by looking out of the windows and to fly using their instruments in bad weather and at night. The instruments can include an attitude indicator that informs the pilot of the helicopter's orientation in relation to the horizon as well GPS instruments and night vision goggles. 'You get that instrument scan down right away, sometimes painfully so,' Miller said of the training. 'It's not that easy. And then you get it to the point where you're proficient at it. And at night, you use those instruments all the time.' Challenges remain, Miller said. Artificial light on the ground potentially can be blinding when viewed through night vision goggles. Bodies of water can present visual illusions, depending on the lighting and other factors. Nickolas Macchiarella, an aeronautical science professor at Embry-Riddle in Daytona, Florida, said helicopter pilots at night also rely on 'pilotage,' which is using identifiable locations on the ground, such as the side of a building or a piece of shoreline jutting into a river. This is particularly important when flying low and near restricted airspace, Macchiarella said. GPS can tell you where you are, but pilotage can tell you where you'll be in five seconds. 'If the helicopter is 100 feet above the ground and traveling at 120 knots, the pilot has to project forward in time where they'll be in like 10 seconds,' he said. 'A few seconds can make the difference in being in the proper airspace and being wrong.' Challenges of flying near Ronald Reagan National Airport Pilots operating around Reagan National Airport face unique challenges and must have a 'heightened level of awareness' when navigating the area, said Clint Balog, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle. The Washington-area airport, known to pilots by its abbreviation DCA, is relatively small and doused in light pollution from the surrounding metropolitan area, said Balog, who has flown dozens of corporate flights in and out of the airport. 'In DCA, whenever I've flown in there, I found that the light pollution there is among the worst I've flown into," he said. It's always pretty bad, especially early at night.' Balog said pilots have to be precise, especially when landing, because that light can distort the surroundings. He said other cities also have light pollution but the compactness of Reagan Airport intensifies the potential confusion. 'All the lighting starts to look the same,' he said. Gaub, the retired Black Hawk pilot, said there have been thousands of military helicopter flights over many years in that particularly dense airspace. 'And this is one that didn't go right out of all those thousands,' he said. 'So it's a testimony to the great procedures that are there, to the pilots that train there and how they operate on a daily basis. It's basically a highly choreographed dance with very little room for maneuver.' Army concerns over helicopter crashes Army leaders sounded the alarm over a rash of helicopter crashes last year, and in April they ordered extra measures including added training. In a briefing with Pentagon reporters after the crash on Thursday, Army aviation chief of staff Jonathan Koziol said there was 'a spike in incidents' last year that prompted the Army to do a safety stand-down, in which units pause flight operations to evaluate safety procedures 'to not allow these types of incidents to happen,' Koziol said. At the time of the stand-down, there were about a dozen Army helicopter accidents that caused 14 deaths in a six-month period, about twice the rate of the previous 10 years, according to Army officials. The Black Hawk helicopter involved in Wednesday's crash is one of many helicopter types used by the military. Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of Army aviation, told reporters last year that 'spatial disorientation' was a trend in the spike in accidents. Rugen said training must reinforce that pilots know 'where you are and where your aircraft is with respect to the ground.' Twelve crashes of the Army Black Hawk helicopter since 2014 have killed 47 service members, according to data provided by the military. One of the crashes was a nighttime midair collision of two Black Hawk helicopters near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 2023 that killed nine service members. The pilots were wearing night vision goggles during the training exercise, army officials said. The most recent crash was on Nov. 10, 2023, when five Army soldiers were killed during aerial refueling training in the Mediterranean Sea. ___ Associated Press journalists Tara Copp and Kevin Vineys contributed to this report. 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Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mid-air collision draws attention to military helicopter training, previous accidents
To learn to fly a military helicopter is to take a master class in multitasking. You need both hands and both feet to control the aircraft while keeping a close eye on the horizon and your altitude. If it's nighttime and you're flying low, you may be scanning the ground for familiar landmarks using night-vision goggles while also checking GPS instruments. 'You have six to seven radios to mess with,' said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, who flew Black Hawk helicopters for 22 years. 'You're using everything. And by the way, you're also supposed to fly the aircraft, which is why most military aircraft are crewed by a minimum of two pilots.' The training for U.S. military helicopter pilots is getting heightened attention in the wake of Wednesday night's fatal mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet in the skies above Washington. The accident follows a dozen fatal crashes during Army Black Hawk training missions since January 2014 that have claimed the lives of 47 service members. But former military helicopter pilots and experts stood by the nation's rigorous military training Thursday, insisting that it's the world's best. Intense training in the classroom and sky The education includes intense classroom training about aerodynamics, aircraft systems and the many things that can go wrong, said Mark Miller, an associate professor at the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on its Honolulu campus, and a former Marine helicopter pilot. 'There are real idiosyncrasies on just landing the helicopter," he said. 'You can actually flip over a helicopter really easily if you don't know what you're doing. But you become very well-versed in that stuff. And then you learn as you go. And you can actually see these things happen and know what to do.' Pilots are trained to fly visually by looking out of the windows and to fly using their instruments in bad weather and at night. The instruments can include an attitude indicator that informs the pilot of the helicopter's orientation in relation to the horizon as well GPS instruments and night vision goggles. 'You get that instrument scan down right away, sometimes painfully so,' Miller said of the training. 'It's not that easy. And then you get it to the point where you're proficient at it. And at night, you use those instruments all the time.' Challenges of flying near Ronald Reagan National Airport Pilots operating around Reagan National Airport face unique challenges and must have a 'heightened level of awareness' when navigating the area, said Clint Balog, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle. The Washington-area airport, known to pilots by its abbreviation DCA, is relatively small and doused in light pollution from the surrounding metropolitan area, said Balog, who has flown dozens of corporate flights in and out of the airport. 'In DCA, whenever I've flown in there, I found that the light pollution there is among the worst I've flown into," he said. It's always pretty bad, especially early at night.' Balog said pilots have to be precise, especially when landing, because that light can distort the surroundings. He said other cities also have light pollution but the compactness of Reagan Airport intensifies the potential confusion. 'All the lighting starts to look the same,' he said. Gaub, the retired Black Hawk pilot, said there have been thousands of military helicopter flights over many years in that particularly dense airspace. 'And this is one that didn't go right out of all those thousands,' he said. 'So it's a testimony to the great procedures that are there, to the pilots that train there and how they operate on a daily basis. It's basically a highly choreographed dance with very little room for maneuver.' Army concerns over helicopter crashes Army leaders sounded the alarm over a rash of helicopter crashes last year, and in April they ordered extra measures including added training. In a briefing with Pentagon reporters after the crash on Thursday, Army aviation chief of staff Jonathan Koziol said there was 'a spike in incidents' last year that prompted the Army to do a safety stand-down, in which units pause flight operations to evaluate safety procedures 'to not allow these types of incidents to happen,' Koziol said. At the time of the stand-down, there were about a dozen Army helicopter accidents that caused 14 deaths in a six-month period, about twice the rate of the previous 10 years, according to Army officials. The Black Hawk helicopter involved in Wednesday's crash is one of many helicopter types used by the military. Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of Army aviation, told reporters last year that 'spatial disorientation' was a trend in the spike in accidents. Rugen said training must reinforce that pilots know 'where you are and where your aircraft is with respect to the ground.' Twelve crashes of the Army Black Hawk helicopter since 2014 have killed 47 service members, according to data provided by the military. One of the crashes was a nighttime mid-air collision of two Black Hawk helicopters near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 2023 that killed nine service members. The pilots were wearing night vision goggles during the training exercise, army officials said. The most recent crash was on Nov. 10, 2023, when five Army soldiers were killed during aerial refueling training in the Mediterranean Sea. ___ Associated Press journalists Tara Copp and Kevin Vineys contributed to this report.
Associated Press
30-01-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Mid-air collision draws attention to military helicopter training, previous accidents
To learn to fly a military helicopter is to take a master class in multitasking. You need both hands and both feet to control the aircraft while keeping a close eye on the horizon and your altitude. If it's nighttime and you're flying low, you may be scanning the ground for familiar landmarks using night-vision goggles while also checking GPS instruments. 'You have six to seven radios to mess with,' said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, who flew Black Hawk helicopters for 22 years. 'You're using everything. And by the way, you're also supposed to fly the aircraft, which is why most military aircraft are crewed by a minimum of two pilots.' The training for U.S. military helicopter pilots is getting heightened attention in the wake of Wednesday night's fatal mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet in the skies above Washington. The accident follows a dozen fatal crashes during Army Black Hawk training missions since January 2014 that have claimed the lives of 47 service members. But former military helicopter pilots and experts stood by the nation's rigorous military training Thursday, insisting that it's the world's best. Intense training in the classroom and sky The education includes intense classroom training about aerodynamics, aircraft systems and the many things that can go wrong, said Mark Miller, an associate professor at the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on its Honolulu campus, and a former Marine helicopter pilot. 'There are real idiosyncrasies on just landing the helicopter,' he said. 'You can actually flip over a helicopter really easily if you don't know what you're doing. But you become very well-versed in that stuff. And then you learn as you go. And you can actually see these things happen and know what to do.' Pilots are trained to fly visually by looking out of the windows and to fly using their instruments in bad weather and at night. The instruments can include an attitude indicator that informs the pilot of the helicopter's orientation in relation to the horizon as well GPS instruments and night vision goggles. 'You get that instrument scan down right away, sometimes painfully so,' Miller said of the training. 'It's not that easy. And then you get it to the point where you're proficient at it. And at night, you use those instruments all the time.' Challenges of flying near Ronald Reagan National Airport Pilots operating around Reagan National Airport face unique challenges and must have a 'heightened level of awareness' when navigating the area, said Clint Balog, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle. The Washington-area airport, known to pilots by its abbreviation DCA, is relatively small and doused in light pollution from the surrounding metropolitan area, said Balog, who has flown dozens of corporate flights in and out of the airport. 'In DCA, whenever I've flown in there, I found that the light pollution there is among the worst I've flown into,' he said. It's always pretty bad, especially early at night.' Balog said pilots have to be precise, especially when landing, because that light can distort the surroundings. He said other cities also have light pollution but the compactness of Reagan Airport intensifies the potential confusion. 'All the lighting starts to look the same,' he said. Gaub, the retired Black Hawk pilot, said there have been thousands of military helicopter flights over many years in that particularly dense airspace. 'And this is one that didn't go right out of all those thousands,' he said. 'So it's a testimony to the great procedures that are there, to the pilots that train there and how they operate on a daily basis. It's basically a highly choreographed dance with very little room for maneuver.' Army concerns over helicopter crashes Army leaders sounded the alarm over a rash of helicopter crashes last year, and in April they ordered extra measures including added training. In a briefing with Pentagon reporters after the crash on Thursday, Army aviation chief of staff Jonathan Koziol said there was 'a spike in incidents' last year that prompted the Army to do a safety stand-down, in which units pause flight operations to evaluate safety procedures 'to not allow these types of incidents to happen,' Koziol said. At the time of the stand-down, there were about a dozen Army helicopter accidents that caused 14 deaths in a six-month period, about twice the rate of the previous 10 years, according to Army officials. The Black Hawk helicopter involved in Wednesday's crash is one of many helicopter types used by the military. Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of Army aviation, told reporters last year that 'spatial disorientation' was a trend in the spike in accidents. Rugen said training must reinforce that pilots know 'where you are and where your aircraft is with respect to the ground.' Twelve crashes of the Army Black Hawk helicopter since 2014 have killed 47 service members, according to data provided by the military. One of the crashes was a nighttime mid-air collision of two Black Hawk helicopters near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 2023 that killed nine service members. The pilots were wearing night vision goggles during the training exercise, army officials said. The most recent crash was on Nov. 10, 2023, when five Army soldiers were killed during aerial refueling training in the Mediterranean Sea.
