Army Helicopter Crashes at Texas A&M
According to local authroities, a Black Hawk helicopter carrying six people crashed this afternoon on the campus of Texas A&M University, killing one.
From Fox News:
The helicopter crashed at about 3:30 p.m. near the Corps of Cadets field on the school’s College Station campus, about 100 miles northwest of Houston. A crew of four and an Army lieutenant assigned to the school’s ROTC unit were the only ones aboard the Blackhawk, Texas A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson said. No students were among the injured.
Melissa Purl, spokeswoman for College Station Medical Center, said three men were taken to that hospital. All three were in critical condition. Another crash victim was at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan, a spokesman said.
Officials did not release the names of the dead and injured.
Witnesses told the Bryan-College Station Eagle they saw five Blackhawk helicopters taking off and landing throughout the day.
Tags: A&M Crash, Army Crash, Army Helicopter, BlackHawk, College Station, Helicopter Crash, Lane Stephenson, Melissa Purl, ROTC, ROTC Helicopter, ROTC Winter Field Training Exercises, Texas A&M, Texas Crash
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
January 12, 2009 at 7:41 pm
The reason given was that a “rudder” failed. Helicopters do not have rudders. They have an anti-torque rotor on the tail. If that failed at altitude, the pilot would immediately remove power and enter autorotation. That close to the ground, however, he would have simply pulled up on the collective pitch control and converted the momentum of the rotor to direct lift for a gentle descent.
I hate to see such erroneous reporting.
BTW I am a helicopter pilot.