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Ah, see its now been confirmed as a Pave Hawk out of Lakenheath.
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I see that the BBCAAIB have now decided it could have been a bird-strike.....I am so impressed that public money is being used so efficiently.
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>> I see that the BBCAAIB have now decided it could have been a bird-strike.....I am
>> so impressed that public money is being used so efficiently.
It reads "Richard Kelham, chairman of Cley Parish Council, said he believed the helicopter had crashed in the middle of a bird reserve"
Which is most of that length of coast.
I don't see anywhere where the BBC suggested it was caused by a Bird Strike.
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The presenter said on News 24 when this information was presented to him "So it could have been a bird-strike ?" should have mentioned the media I was in at the time !
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Ah, well News Presenters the world over are not the brightest buttons in the box, if they don't have a script, they end up asking the most mundane questions and absurd suggestions just to fill the voracious monster that is a rolling news channel. Silence is not allowed, so all you get is noise.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 7 Jan 14 at 23:09
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The skies are full of US weaponry round there. It's pretty amazing actually, or used to be a couple of decades ago.
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8:00pm? How many owls in coastal Norfolk?
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A low level training exercise. Why the live Ammo as reported? Were they on a live firing exercise then? Or is it just that the Yanks can't go anywhere without Packing a Piece?
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Wouldn't be live firing exercise, I don't think there is a military "weapons free" zone along that stretch, the nearest is north of the Wash, or south down to Foulness.
However, the crew will be armed, with ammo as routine, with instructions to protect their bird in the event of an unscheduled landing.
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>> 8:00pm? How many owls in coastal Norfolk?
Locals on radio were speculating about geese of which there are apparently thousands on the marsh. While not normally night flyers they might take to the wing if disturbed by a pair of large choppers.
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I wondered that as well. Wouldn't that sort of risk be part of the prre-flight briefing....?
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Rather than personal weapons I suspect the munitions described in the report to mean aircraft flares and the such. Might have been crew served weapons as there are ranges just west. Pre flight briefings do cover areas prone to flocks of low flying birds but even so they do move great distances. Although it was at night I'm not sure what type of flocks move at night? Even still they can easily bring an aircraft down, I remember a Tonka going down on the way to one of the ranges by the wash. Brought down by a flock of birds.
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There was definitely a reference to bullets by the police officer briefing the press conference this morning.
Inference I drew was that they're normally carried as part of a representative operating payload.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 8 Jan 14 at 11:05
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As above may well be crew served weapons for use on the range. I wonder where the birdstrike idea came from, it may well be true as it has happened before, just curious as to where it started?
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BBC Presenter verbalised at 1030 last night when he was talking to a witness who mentioned the bird sanctuary.
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As they were flying through a bird reserve, perhaps they put two and two together?
Of course, it seems that there were two helicopters flying close together, perhaps they touched? The other machine also landed nearby, but perhaps that is routine?
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I would say it was a natural human reaction as much as anything
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I would imagine the other helicopter landed when they saw the other hit the ground. And it remains grounded because they don't know what brought the other one down.
Mention just now on the BBC news that there are bullets all over the place so it seems the helicopter was carrying ammunition. Obviously the bullets are scattered because so is the helicopter.
If it turns out to be a bird strike, you'd have thought they were aware of this being a bird sanctuary.
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The second helicopter, which landed, appears to have landed on soft ground as its underside is very close to the ground and the non retractable undercarriage is not visible.
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>> The second helicopter, which landed, appears to have landed on soft ground as its underside
>> is very close to the ground and the non retractable undercarriage is not visible.
It appears to have landed on the sand bank that separates the sea from the marsh. Huge expanses of sand along that coast line. Run the dogs a lot a few miles along the coast.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 8 Jan 14 at 13:23
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I haven't seen that image, but I have walked around Cley marsh reserve many times. On the seaward side there is a high bank all the way along, seemingly consisting entirely of pebbles, quite hard work to walk on but exhilarating leaning into the wind.
I thought helicopters were relatively immune to bird strikes, but I suppose a 'cloud' of geese would be a different matter.
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An impact with a bird may have caused damage other than to engines. I don't know what sort of birds are at this nature reserve. But hitting something big could have damaged the helicopter causing the crash?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IAF_UH-60_after_birds_strike_outside.jpg
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So why do we spend billions of pounds on weaponry to bring them down, and defensive systems to keep them up, when all you need to do is throw a 6 quid goose at them that you can't defend against.
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I don't think a goose or turkey would damage the rotor of a heavy military helicopter gunship. Huey used to be able to chop through tree branches and get away with it when really necessary.
What is it, by the way, that makes people imagine US or British come to that military aircraft are flying tamely about without any live ammo? Do they think those missiles under the wings are just dummies, that there aren't belts of .50 calibre for the nose Gatling? That all that stuff is just for empty show?
Spend taxpayers' billions, better have something properly, scarily convincing to show for it, knowImean?
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I think Joe public would be horrified or comforted if the knew how much military hardware was dotted around the country. Even after the governments best efforts to run it down. At least these days one aircraft can do more damage than a squadron of WW2 aircraft.
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Now a US Navy helicopter has gone down off Norfolk, Virginia.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25659531
Sort of ironic it's Norfolk again.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 8 Jan 14 at 17:40
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Cause of the accident which killed four people was a bird strike (geese).
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28224917
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Black Hawk Down - In Norfolk - R.P.
